WINNIPEG - A Manitoba-based Facebook page called "Aboriginals Need to Get a Job and Stop Using our Tax Dollars" has been taken down -- but not before amassing more than 5,000 likes.

The page was littered with posts and memes targeting aboriginal people, even going so far as to say "we need to bring back the death camps to eliminate aboriginals from the city."

Aboriginal educator and community activist Tasha Spillett said when she came across the page Tuesday, her immediate thought was, "Here we go again."

"To be honest, I am not shocked by that level of ignorance because I think there is lot of racism in society and this is just a tiny representation of that," she said.

But the silver lining, Spillett said, is it gets people talking about the issues.

"A lot of people see that Facebook page and how atrocious it is. It can get people talking and start the discussion," she said. "We can deal with racism that is out there in the open, so let's talk about it."

Spillett took to Twitter, along with an army of Winnipeggers, to campaign for Facebook to have the page taken down.

According to the page's description, it is connected to a controversial local blog similar to The Dirty, that makes damaging accusations about specific people.

QMI Agency has chosen not to name the blog.

Meanwhile, the Manitoba Real Estate Association condemned the Facebook page as a form of a cyberbullying because it falsely named a staff member of the MREA as the page's administrator.

"The racist Facebook page being discussed in today's news is deplorable," the MREA said in a prepared statement. "Any connection to the Manitoba Real Estate Association is unfounded, and appears to be connected with an ongoing cyberbullying matter."

After the intense backlash, the blog claimed on Wednesday afternoon that the Facebook page was the "this year's biggest April's Fool Joke."

But Spillett and many other Winnipeggers aren't laughing.

"Racism isn't a joke and critically thinking, engaged community members are no fools," Spillett said.

The bloggers claim they were responsible for having the page removed, but several Twitter users posted screenshots from the Facebook Help Team saying the page was removed because it violated its "community standards."

A spokesman for the blog, who only identified himself as Lucenzo, said the blog's administrators felt bad for Brad Badiuk, the Winnipeg high school teacher suspended earlier this year after posting controversial comments about aboriginal people on Facebook.

"My comment would be, it is a freedom of speech issue," he argued. "If I had it my way, I would let freedom of speech speak and let it go up for another few weeks or two years."

kristin.annable@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @kristinannable