Posts targeted residents of First Nation communities after a wave of vandalism in Flin Flon

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Two women in Canada have been arrested and charged after social media posts discussing killing indigenous people and holding a “shoot a [sic] Indian day”.

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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Tuesday that a 32-year-old from Manitoba and a 25-year-old from Saskatchewan were charged with uttering threats and public incitement of hatred.

The social media posts, which targeted residents of First Nations communities, were made after a wave of vandalism hit people’s vehicles and property in Flin Flon, a city of some 5,000 people in north-west Manitoba.

Some turned to a public page on Facebook to vent about the damage, police said in a statement. The posts quickly escalated into what police described as “hateful and threatening” language.

While police did not name the two women charged, their description matched those behind an exchange that was widely shared on social media earlier this week.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Screenshots of the posts. Photograph: Facebook

Screenshots of the online conversation suggested that one of the women had posted pictures of her vandalised car, blaming the incident on the indigenous community and threatening to “kill some Indians when I get home”.

One reply called for a 24-hour purge, to which the woman proposed a “shoot a [sic] Indian day”.

The idea was met with enthusiasm: “Yah girl purge! Let’s grab Budweiser and some shot guns.”

Police said they were also considering charges against a third person as part of the investigation.

After the posts began to circulate online, a hair salon where one of the women worked said they had fired her, citing a zero-tolerance policy for racism or discrimination.

The local school division also condemned the social media exchange, acknowledging reports that one of the women had previously worked there.

The incident is not the first time social media has exposed Canada’s deep racial divisions; in 2016, after a white farmer killed a young Cree man on his property, hate-filled comments flooded social media taking aim at the young man and the friends who had been with him.

“His only mistake was leaving three witnesses,” wrote one rural councillor who later resigned. Another commenter said: “He should have shot all five and been given a medal.”

Months earlier the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said it would close comments on its stories about indigenous peoples, explaining that a disproportionate number were descending into hate speech and personal attacks.