EDMONTON—An Alberta man said decals he was selling depicting a train running over protesters are intended merely as a source of amusement.

Matt Bussey made the decals, which depicts a train with the words “Alberta Strong” and stick figures scurrying around it to avoid being struck. One of the figures is falling under the train while another appears to have been tossed in the air after being struck.

On Thursday, an Alberta woman says she complained to the RCMP about a decal bearing an energy services company’s logo below a cartoon depicting what appeared to be the sexual assault of 17-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The company’s general manager, Doug Sparrow, did not return messages seeking comment, but has denied having anything to do with the stickers.

Bussey, who works at an Edmonton body shop, said he wasn’t initially planning on selling the train decal until he posted the one he made for himself and the post “blew up.”

“Honestly I found it funny and that’s about it,” Bussey said. “It’s just purely entertainment.”

He decided to print more and post them for sale for $5 after several people commented asking where they could purchase one.

On Thursday afternoon, a Facebook user with the name Penny Ramone said they were reporting the decal to police as a death threat. The post was either removed or made private shortly after.

Bussey said he’s not encouraging violence.

“It’s a joke. … Some people are offended by everything and you can’t tiptoe around everything because some people are going to be offended,” he said.

He added he’s not making any money off the decals.

Bert Crowfoot, founder and CEO of the Aboriginal Multimedia Society of Alberta, posted the decal on Facebook on Thursday and was surprised to see it get hundreds of shares and numerous comments. He found the decals a problem.

“I was really disappointed. … I see them blowing through and killing and injuring people that don’t agree with his point of view,” Crowfoot said.

He said as a media person, he typically shares posts he sees without commenting. He said he shared the post to encourage discussion, but he saw the conversation getting heated and decided to delete it.

“Look at the result of it. What he may have thought started off as a joke, it didn’t end up as a joke. I had to delete it because of all the negative comments going back and forth,” Crowfoot said.

He wasn’t surprised by the decal’s sentiment and said he’s disappointed overall in the state of race relations in Canada.

“If you really want to find out what the average person’s views on Indigenous people are, wait until something like a blockade and … read the comments,” Crowfoot said.

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“You get depressed reading all the negative stuff from both sides,” he added.

He said he believes the anger needs to be toned down on both sides of the conversation.

“I honestly believe we need to sit down, have a coffee … and just share our views,” Crowfoot said.

‘It’s 2020. We should be a lot farther along. And we’re not.”

With files from the Canadian Press

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