Western Standard - Alberta isn’t asking permission anymore

00:00:00.000 Surprise

00:00:29.000 Surprise! Good afternoon. I'm Lindsay Wilson with Link Strategies and today I'm subbing in for

00:00:35.120 Corey Morgan. So buckle up buttercups. Oh John we just got oh oh hang on we've got a teleprompter

00:00:42.340 issue here. Buckle up buttercups and get ready to sound off in the comment section with all your

00:00:46.780 questions and we will do our best to answer them. So let's start right here at home as in Alberta

00:00:51.900 because once again this province is making national news whether Ottawa likes it or not.

00:00:56.520 oh Alberta what would Canada ever do without you and will they ever have to seriously ask

00:01:03.160 themselves that question whether or not you like it we've got a provincial government that is very

00:01:08.520 clearly not interested in asking permission before before they choose to govern and they

00:01:14.220 want this province to have more say over how their tax dollars are spent Alberta remains open for

00:01:19.340 business stubbornly optimistic and occasionally allergic to consensus for consensus's sake

00:01:24.300 So that brings us to the topic, lighting up coffee shops, community halls, group chats, and Facebook and Instagram feeds across the province this month.

00:01:33.320 Alberta separation.

00:01:35.760 I'm talking about the Stay Free Alberta Petition, which is now officially underway, and the referendum question is quite blunt.

00:01:44.860 Do you agree that the province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?

00:01:51.140 No legalese, no hedging, just a straight-up, choose-your-own-adventure moment for Albertans.

00:01:56.180 Here's the mechanics. Registered canvassers have 120 days until May 2nd to collect some 177,000

00:02:02.800 signatures, which represents about 10% of the eligible voting population. If they succeed,

00:02:08.600 it triggers a presumed fall referendum where Albertans can actually cast a ballot. Now,

00:02:13.280 this timeline is subject to change, but for the sake of conversation, let's keep it there.

00:02:17.320 By contrast, the Forever Canadian petition garnered over 400,000 verified signatures to support asking the question, do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada in a potential future referendum?

00:02:29.540 It's an impressive turnout for sure.

00:02:31.580 This was headed up by Thomas LeCouzac, the former long-term PCMLA who finds themselves at odds with the current UCP government.

00:02:38.920 This movement takes the stance that Alberta should stay in a united Canada.

00:02:42.420 But a lot of Albertans don't feel like the rest of this country has their backs.

00:02:46.620 and this is where it's worth slowing down because a lot of people are already skipping this step.

00:02:52.680 Signing the petition is not the same as voting for separation. Signing the petition is about

00:02:57.700 triggering the question and not answering it. Signing the petition means you want to see

00:03:02.800 democracy in action and you want Albertans to have the opportunity to cast their official vote

00:03:07.240 on whether or not Alberta should separate. Now early reports from both social and traditional

00:03:12.820 media show long lineups, well-organized canvassing teams, and a coordinated effort by a broad mix

00:03:18.740 of grassroots groups and recognizable personalities, including the regular host of this show,

00:03:23.780 Corey Morgan. Whether you're cheering or cringing, it's hard to ignore this movement is organized.

00:03:29.380 Now if I were a betting woman, and I assure you I am, I would say that they'll surpass the minimum

00:03:34.900 signature requirement by a mile. Now will the various groups and the big personalities behind

00:03:40.420 this movement be able to unify that's another question entirely the historical problem of

00:03:45.460 conservatives not playing nicely in the sandbox rarely takes a day off so time will tell

00:03:50.340 but if there's one thing that is already clear in these early days it's this a lot of Albertans

00:03:54.980 are fed up they want a better deal economically excuse me politically structurally and they're

00:04:01.700 tired of bureaucrats in Ottawa who always seem to be on the take with very little in return

00:04:06.180 senate reform electoral reform possibly pension reform according to many all these are long

00:04:11.780 overdue all talked about endlessly and all somehow perpetually parked in the we'll get to it later

00:04:16.900 pile so even for albertans who have no appetite for separation whatsoever this petition raises

00:04:22.340 a legitimate question could this finally deliver a message to ottawa where every other attempt has

00:04:27.460 truly failed or on the flip side is it too divisive of an issue for the smith government

00:04:31.540 when it comes to election time these are early days and no one knows how this ends but here's

00:04:36.260 my one takeaway and it's an important one be mindful of labels it's a common tactic for media

00:04:42.420 politicians and keyboard warriors to pit people against one another our increasingly vitriolic

00:04:47.620 culture is very quick to flatten complex motivations into very convenient insults

00:04:53.220 and it wasn't that long ago during the pandemic that neighbors were being pitted against neighbors

00:04:58.740 in ways that permanently changed relationships families and communities so be nice to each other

00:05:03.300 out there if you have a friend or a co-worker or a family member who signed either the forever

00:05:08.980 canadian petition or the stay free alberta petition understand that their decisions

00:05:13.940 likely come from a whole host of factors it's probably not fair or accurate to assume their

00:05:18.180 signature neatly maps onto a political party ideology or worldview i will tell you this

00:05:23.940 i've been personally very surprised by some of the people i know who have signed these petitions

00:05:28.740 Life is complicated and politics is messy. People don't fit neatly into boxes that we build for

00:05:34.900 them. So now, moving on, today's show takes a sharp turn from big constitutional questions

00:05:40.740 to something far more personal and far more volatile. Well, I think. A Facebook marketplace

00:05:47.220 post turned into political weaponry. My first guest today is a well-known Calgary political

00:05:52.060 commentator and the woman behind the Madam Premier brand, Sarah Elder. Many of you will

00:05:56.600 recognize Sarah from her podcasts, her writing, and most recently her run for mayor in Calgary's

00:06:01.360 2025 civic election. For years through Madam Premier, Sarah has advocated through a multi-partisan

00:06:06.620 lens for getting more women into political spaces. As she turns a page, Sarah is now in the final

00:06:12.020 days of closing her physical storefront at 1012 9th Avenue Southeast and transitioning Madam Premier

00:06:17.840 to an online-only model. Like many of us would, she posted some of her store furniture for sale

00:06:23.000 on Facebook Marketplace. And what started as a garage sale gone wrong quickly escalated into a

00:06:28.640 highly charged confrontational incident that took place inside her store, one that has since

00:06:34.900 exploded across social media. A woman has alleged that Sarah kicked her out of her store because

00:06:39.660 she was wearing a hijab, the traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women. Following this interaction,

00:06:45.700 the woman posted a video filmed outside of Sarah's store. And since then, Sarah has faced a torrent

00:06:50.440 of online attacks, accusing her of being racist, Islamophobic, a Zionist, and unworthy of public

00:06:56.560 office. Now, I got to know Sarah a little bit on the civic campaign trail, so I'll be honest,

00:07:01.560 I was very surprised. My experiences with Sarah Elder have consistently reflected somebody who

00:07:07.180 is socially progressive and fiscally conservative, or what many would simply just call a centrist.

00:07:12.840 I have seen no evidence ever of racism tied to Sarah or the Madam Premier Brand, and in fact,

00:07:18.780 I've seen quite the opposite. So after speaking with Sarah directly and reviewing her public

00:07:24.580 explanations that she's posted on social media, it became clear to me that this story deserved

00:07:28.780 context, nuance, and quite frankly, her voice. So today, Sarah joins us to share her side of what

00:07:34.920 happened, how quickly situations can spiral in the age of social media, and what it's like to

00:07:40.460 find yourself at the center of an online firestorm. Sarah, thank you for being here. Thanks, Lindsay.

00:07:46.360 oh my goodness so give us in a nutshell what happened okay yeah so i mean as you summarized

00:07:53.180 um i'm in the process of closing down my physical storefront in inglewood and had listed some

00:07:59.940 store furniture for sale on facebook marketplace as myself as an individual um and have received

00:08:07.640 a lot of responses anyone who's ever posted something for sale will receive you can depending

00:08:13.100 on the price and what it is you can receive maybe one response or dozens and i have received hundreds

00:08:18.780 of responses and so i created what like a standard response so i just said you can come at this day

00:08:24.140 and time during these hours and you can see what i have take it or like that's the approach first

00:08:30.380 come first serve first come first serve i'm a busy mom i don't live perpetually online um and so um

00:08:36.860 there was someone who had reached out. I had provided this. And so we had this wildly

00:08:46.460 uncomfortable and difficult encounter where in the midst of after entering the store,

00:08:54.620 she spent a few minutes there. And then while she was in the store in front of me, she

00:09:00.860 confirmed my identity. So asked me, are you Sarah Elder? And are you running for mayor?

00:09:06.460 either running or ran whatever grammatical context you want to pastor present or future

00:09:11.820 and i said yes um but my spidey senses were immediately going off because i don't think

00:09:16.300 that's a normal kind of interaction um so to confirm my identity and so um went on the item

00:09:25.100 that she had been interested in wasn't actually what she thought it wasn't a desk or a counter

00:09:29.660 it was like a small low table more like a coffee table anyways the she was frustrated from the

00:09:35.420 the moment she entered the store on top of the fact that, you know, she was asking me these

00:09:40.100 questions and I had already started texting my husband saying, I think there's something

00:09:45.320 happening here. This doesn't seem right. And like, cause she was very anxious, right? Like

00:09:51.920 she was very, it was very aggressive. And she said, after she had confirmed my identity,

00:09:56.880 she had said um you're very rude this must be why your store is closing um and you will never win

00:10:06.800 in an election okay yeah um i didn't say anything in this interaction because like if someone says

00:10:18.100 that to you you can tell when someone is kind of looking for something right they're looking for

00:10:23.120 response um fast forward again um she looks at the thing it's not what it is uh she thought it was

00:10:30.400 um she turns to me and she says again you're very rude um and you know you'll again why this is why

00:10:38.080 your business is closing and i'm not going to be buying anything as she starts to leave um she's

00:10:44.320 going out through the door and i just said have a nice day right was it a little bit you know sorry

00:10:50.560 was it sarcastic right yes i absolutely admit to that i don't know who would be friendly at that

00:10:56.800 point well right like it's hard it's okay it's hard to you right but i honestly just wanted this

00:11:03.520 random encounter to be over it was far from over lindsey far from over um so uh she circles back

00:11:13.760 and starts like you know engaging confronting me um and at this point i realized i had already

00:11:21.280 realized i think that something was going on um so i had actually decided to film her at this point

00:11:28.560 so she's out on the sidewalk i'm at the door um and then it was then um that she alleges that

00:11:35.360 i was being racist against her islamophobic actually because she is a woman of color wearing

00:11:41.200 a hijab and my response immediately was this is absolutely insane um because little do you know

00:11:47.840 and this is the thing you just don't know right um the spoiler is that i'm actually a dual citizen

00:11:53.680 of iran i am both canadian and iranian through my marriage to my husband who was born in iran

00:11:59.600 um and i myself have been a woman who has worn a hijab um in iran which i mean especially in

00:12:08.960 in the current political climate and context of what's happening in Iran, takes on a whole

00:12:14.000 other meaning. But I would never actively, or even passively, I would never participate in

00:12:22.560 the discrimination against someone that would actually end up, I would be discriminating,

00:12:29.760 perpetuating the discrimination against my own husband and family.

00:12:33.760 Yeah, you and your husband have two children.

00:12:36.240 yeah i don't wish this upon anyone um so but it was she clearly there was intent

00:12:45.360 it was very odd um and so she started recording herself um and the recording was very aggressive

00:12:52.320 and i will tell i will tell the western standard listeners you know i i went and i watched the

00:12:57.040 video that's really gone wild online that this woman posted uh and it was very aggressive of

00:13:03.600 saying that you said a very profane word which you know Sarah I don't even know if I've heard

00:13:08.080 you swear in all my conversations with you which I thought I mean I do like a good I do like a good

00:13:12.840 f-word well that's fine this was more extensive than that that you said that and it's it just

00:13:18.420 lacked a lot of context it was a really bizarre video and then of course you know the social

00:13:22.340 media warriors are going nuts in the comments so I think let's so that happened but I mean I know

00:13:29.360 for you it's personal because not only are you um a dual citizen with iran well yeah but it's

00:13:35.520 it's completely counter to everything you've done through madam premier yeah i mean i as someone who

00:13:39.520 actively um you know advocates for the participation of all women from a multi-partisan standpoint and

00:13:47.200 um you know what's actually been really inconvenient throughout you know my time of having the store

00:13:51.920 and always has been actually that um it's been people more on the center center left who have

00:13:58.160 always wanted me to advocate specifically for what you would call progressive women in politics and

00:14:03.760 my response has always been i'm multi-partisan i believe that every woman no matter if i agree

00:14:09.200 with them or not has a place to be in politics that's for people to decide at the ballot box

00:14:14.320 um it is not about left or right or center you know polka dot or whatever it is um that's for

00:14:23.280 voters to decide. I just want more women to step forward and put themselves into the political

00:14:28.620 realm. This is honestly a very cautionary tale, I think, in a lot of different ways. First of all,

00:14:35.020 that an allegation can, you can have, you know, the most innocuous interaction with someone. And

00:14:40.480 let's just say, like, there were, like, you know, you're disappointed, this whole, you know,

00:14:48.060 exacerbated by the fact that you're actually actively googling me right and weaponizing

00:14:53.820 my identity in different ways both being political um and having a store right um it's just so this

00:15:02.060 could happen to anyone and i think that where we've gotten to in a as a society is that um

00:15:08.700 it's actually you know the rife of you know cancel culture um it's actually easier for

00:15:15.340 this to be perpetuated by people who who see this as like a transactional right whatever it is social

00:15:21.900 media clout um whatever narrative it is that they want to put out there um and that gets

00:15:29.340 that explodes on the other side very understandably people don't want to weigh in and say like

00:15:34.860 this is unacceptable because they themselves become a target um so like i've cautioned friends

00:15:40.540 for example or i you know honestly i just wanted this to go away like the police have been involved

00:15:46.620 in this like i honestly felt like my personal safety was at risk um because of the intensity

00:15:53.420 of the situation and the way it escalated um and you faced a lot of comments yeah and your

00:15:58.140 your business as well yeah you're getting probably bizarre google reviews and i mean as of sunday

00:16:03.100 night they sent me a notification saying that i'd gotten 85 one-star reviews and people were

00:16:08.220 actually commenting on facebook um they were monitoring they wanted to see that decrease

00:16:13.980 they so the the piling on the the the community that was created in the attacks and attempted

00:16:24.060 takedown and allegations of racism and islamophobia against me became you know just absolutely insane

00:16:31.260 everything from comments on my physical appearance to weaponizing my positions on the attack,

00:16:44.700 the massacre that happened against Jewish Australians, labeling me a Zionist, which I

00:16:52.320 actually am. I am a proud Zionist, and I am a defiant supporter of Israel. But do you know

00:17:01.080 that's what this but you can support israel and not be islamophobic right i think those two things

00:17:07.320 can actually well as someone who really tries to you know challenge people um to be able to

00:17:12.600 hold multiple truths whether you know and very complicated ones um it's it this is really

00:17:20.120 frustrating and disappointing and it's been very difficult personally um both on me my friends and

00:17:25.560 my family, but also in thinking about, you know, there have been people in the comments of this

00:17:32.280 individual. And I just wanted to say, I was going to start by saying, I don't want anyone to go and

00:17:36.600 find this individual online and target them in any way. I do not want what has happened to me

00:17:43.400 to happen to anyone else, including her, even though I've been incredibly challenged and hurt

00:17:49.720 by the situation i that is not i don't want anyone to do that i wish this upon no one including her

00:17:58.280 um and so um

00:18:03.960 you know it's just where are we as a society as a culture when it's easier because the the advice

00:18:10.600 you know that many have told me is like just wait for this to blow over so we're going to accept

00:18:15.720 cancel culture we're going to accept that you can just label someone racist or islamophobic

00:18:20.840 um like i do plan on continuing hopefully my political career um how can i let this stand

00:18:27.320 lindsay you can't and that's that's the thing is is a lot of people would just ignore this and

00:18:31.560 we've gotten into that as a society but i like to think we're on what i call the back end of the

00:18:36.200 cancel culture era i think it it peaked i don't know probably roughly about three or four years

00:18:41.720 ago and it got so ridiculous people are getting cancelled for things they never did for very

00:18:46.520 loose um well everything is a microaggression absolutely right and i mean i had i mean consider

00:18:52.200 this a coming out party politically um because i had really hoped for the store to like wind down

00:18:57.160 before you know i was going to um you know take a different track in terms of um speaking out on

00:19:03.080 different issues where i was going to be asking people to you know to really hold themselves

00:19:08.040 open to the possibility of holding more uncomfortable truths, you know, those dueling

00:19:14.640 two or multiple truths. This has forced my hand in a way that I did not anticipate and did not

00:19:21.120 want. But there are some uncomfortable conversations that I think we need to have

00:19:26.580 as a society, especially in the face of, you know, of a decade-long Trudeau government that really

00:19:34.280 kind of embraced this. And I'll say I did too in different ways. How naive was I? I thought that

00:19:43.680 we were going to end up in a better place than where we started and we're not. So I think this

00:19:50.520 is about respect for people you live alongside, whether you agree with them or not. You can have

00:19:56.320 a bad interaction with someone. We can have a falling out at some point, but that doesn't need

00:20:02.500 to result in you know the cancelling of anyone or the labeling of them as anything um but values

00:20:09.660 respect um you know how do you how do you live beside people how do you like how are you showing

00:20:18.120 up in the world what what are you saying when the first thing that you go to is racism and

00:20:23.160 islamophobia absolutely you know you're brave sarah not everybody is going to come on a show

00:20:29.220 like this and talk about this and i think um i i i think that you are very brave for doing this and

00:20:35.940 i think you you have to set the tone right this is obviously going to chart things in a new course

00:20:40.260 for you politically right because this is i mean would you say that this is the most crushing

00:20:46.260 situation that you've been like you ran for mayor no okay actually you've done a lot of things

00:20:51.140 surprisingly not you would be shocked because i think in in the context of being a public person

00:20:57.220 in social media whether political or as a small business you don't want to talk about bad things

00:21:03.060 like you um even since yesterday i actually um i made a post that says like the inconvenient

00:21:09.620 truth of labeling me as a lot islamophobic is actually so i put together like a little

00:21:14.420 compilation of me wearing actually a headscarf right um just to say like this is not this is

00:21:21.780 is not accurate in any way um i've already lost hundreds of followers wow since yesterday when i

00:21:28.920 made that post so and it's because i you know i'm um you know i'm saying i'm you know not you know

00:21:35.340 i call out anti like all of it it's just all of it so the approach from business and politics is

00:21:40.800 like you don't talk about any of this you don't say anything because you're always risking a lot

00:21:45.260 if it's not money it's reputation or brand all of these different things um how do we

00:21:52.780 like it's just it's enough it's enough we have to we we've like gotten into the world upside down

00:22:02.240 times in terms of the world um and and it really it ruins people's lives it ruins people's

00:22:08.260 livelihoods i think that's a really important thing like people have to remember that you are

00:22:11.740 a mother, you are a wife, you're a business owner, you're a human being. And sensationalizing

00:22:18.860 something for personal gain, I presume, I don't know what this woman's motivations would be. I

00:22:23.300 don't know if somebody else put her up to it. I mean, the whole thing is so bizarre. It seems

00:22:26.380 so constructed and contrived. It's become, it's now, it's been championed by people who,

00:22:32.840 who within, within her community, who have views that, you know, that I absolutely fundamentally

00:22:39.920 disagree with. But it's become, like, it's a culture of either you agree with me or, you know,

00:22:48.240 like, I'll cancel you too. I mean, I'll share this. And there's actually, there's a public

00:22:54.080 record of this because I was actually targeted by a neo-Nazi several years ago who left white

00:23:01.280 supremacist literature on the door of my store um and you know so like am i too woke am i too

00:23:11.760 not like what am i like you know it's i guess i'm if i'm making everyone unhappy

00:23:17.840 is that the sweet spot i don't know right in the same way that you know we're in such a quick

00:23:22.800 world of wanting to label someone like liberal or conservative or whatever it is

00:23:31.280 we've become so obsessed with labels in our society and you know in the opening monologue

00:23:36.140 when I was talking about Alberta independence I'm very surprised by some of the people who I know

00:23:40.780 who signed either petition truly and we we assume that people who maybe signed the forever Canadian

00:23:46.080 petition are very left-wing I know some serious conservatives who signed that petition yeah and

00:23:50.600 on the flip side I know people that are really surprised that are getting on board with the

00:23:54.720 separation movement people who are fed up who I would never have thought were separatists or

00:23:58.240 conversations with them a year ago on the political at a political level they weren't

00:24:03.460 interested at all in separation but it's a quickly evolving issue so people people can be

00:24:08.440 can be different things at the same time 100 again you having space for holding those multiple truths

00:24:14.320 and that also there's so much behind how every how anyone appears right um that we are all very

00:24:21.420 complex people multifaceted multicultural you know if that you know that's like a whole other thing

00:24:28.820 but um we're just nothing if we operate from a place of um from grace honestly in giving people

00:24:37.100 that um but then also you know not jumping to labeling one another not jumping to um i'm going

00:24:44.420 cancel you because i'm pissed off about whatever um like we it's a race to the bottom is that where

00:24:52.740 how fast do we want to get there absolutely well sir any parting words for the folks listening

00:24:58.340 today i just i mean i again i'm really grateful that you're able to come on the show and to

00:25:02.740 and to share this because it's you deserve to tell your story and in all the time i have known you

00:25:07.540 and getting to know you on the campaign trail and and learning you know your very grassroots

00:25:12.100 motivation for running to be Calgary's mayor and you were brave when you did that and I think you

00:25:17.240 won over a lot of hearts and minds and uh I think a lot of people would would just never believe

00:25:23.120 this story about you and I think you know to be mindful that the people who are sounding off on

00:25:28.420 say this woman's post or other posts that come out of it online they don't know you

00:25:32.500 they don't understand that this is so far-fetched for for you to to be a racist or anything like

00:25:39.800 that but there are consequences to our actions people you know we teach our children this and

00:25:44.640 we need to live by this as adults when you're cruel and malicious to people online there's

00:25:48.980 consequences to that and sometimes people are brave like Sarah Elder and they're going to

00:25:53.300 go on to public platforms and they're going to share the truth of what happened and I choose

00:25:57.400 to believe Sarah and I think most of us knowing you would believe your side of the story well and

00:26:01.880 I've gotten multi-partisan support from people you know because they how can you build a business

00:26:07.820 based on the multi-partisan participation of all women in political spaces right like going

00:26:15.940 very intentionally creating and holding space for diversity for divergent views

00:26:21.680 why would I do that with uh one week to go why would I right yeah it just doesn't make sense

00:26:29.340 nothing about her video made sense nothing about well and also can we just not like google someone

00:26:33.760 in front of them and then confirm their identity like that to me even her phrasing was that shit

00:26:38.640 this woman's running for mayor yes and in a lot if you knew anything politically you would know

00:26:42.600 that this yes election is done although wouldn't you love a redo uh in many ways i would

00:26:48.220 or would i yeah maybe maybe not depends on the day and the provincials next year right so like

00:26:55.340 So, you know, but there, I think this warrants a larger conversation in terms of what we, where we have gotten, how we have allowed this to happen. And I think we're at a really critical time in terms of like our province and our country in terms of, you know, having some tougher conversations around who we are as Canadians and Albertans.

00:27:20.940 and um i'm gonna be frank i don't want alberta or canada to be a place where you can just throw

00:27:27.760 around accusations like you're racist you're islamophobic um that is absolutely unacceptable

00:27:34.180 whatever the label is no this is not something that we want to contribute to this is not a part

00:27:40.720 of our identity this is not a part of how we manage our community this is not how we live

00:27:44.280 with one another and it is unacceptable but i just want to say one last thing again i don't want

00:27:49.000 anyone to reach out to this woman I don't want I don't want to I don't want this to happen to her

00:27:55.540 in the same way that this has happened to me um so you know go go take a look but please don't

00:28:02.620 engage with the content um that also helps the algorithm and the social media companies because

00:28:07.900 it spreads it wider um but do not please don't don't comment or target her in any way okay well

00:28:13.980 Thank you, Sarah, Sarah Alder. So, uh, and Madam Premier lives on.

00:28:18.040 This is a great brand. If you've never checked out Madam Premier or Premier,

00:28:21.220 it's madampremier.ca. Yeah. Or com. Yeah. Or.com. Whatever you're,

00:28:26.960 whatever you're feeling like that day. Uh, anyhow, and then you,

00:28:30.520 your store's open until January 24th. Is that right? Well, yeah.

00:28:33.400 So Saturday or Sunday is supposed to be the last day. Okay. Um, 10, 12,

00:28:38.260 9th Avenue Southeast. Yes. Right on like some great deals to clear out stuff.

00:28:41.680 you don't let's help Sarah not schlep boxes okay she's got a lot of things to do let's let her get

00:28:46.520 rid of her inventory and get rid of her stock and then you're online so for people to continue

00:28:50.420 and and continue to hold space for you know hard things yeah absolutely yeah thank you Sarah I

00:28:57.640 appreciate you yeah thanks so much all right well we're going to get into our next segment uh we're

00:29:03.740 shifting to an issue that's happening right here in Calgary uh not somewhere else you know it's

00:29:08.580 not behind closed doors. It's in our own communities. It's human trafficking and

00:29:14.100 prostitution. Joining me today are two incredible women. They're working on the

00:29:19.440 front lines to change lives. The organization is called Her Victory. So

00:29:23.840 please go to hervictory.ca. Check them out right now. It's a really cool

00:29:30.040 website and it lays out everything that they do. Her Victory operates out of

00:29:33.720 Forest Lawn. It's one of Calgary's last known prostitution strolls.

00:29:38.440 Comprehensive, hands-on approach to women impacted by sexual exploitation, addiction, and trafficking.

00:29:45.960 Their work spans prison outreach, pregnancy care, housing, food hampers, street strolls,

00:29:51.640 strip club outreach, massage parlor outreach, you name it. And the reality is staggering.

00:29:57.000 There are more than 3,000 individuals currently working in the sex industry in Calgary.

00:30:02.600 According to Her Victory, the stats here, 96% of trafficking victims in Canada are female, 71% under the age of 25, 91% know their trafficker, and 93% are Canadian citizens.

00:30:17.380 Now this isn't smuggling, this isn't something happening somewhere else, this isn't a Hollywood movie, it's right here, it's right down the road from you.

00:30:25.300 Just last week, one of Canada's top women's charity golf tournaments, the Peanut Butter Classic,

00:30:31.620 announced her victory is its top charitable recipient for their June 8th annual tournament.

00:30:37.940 Now, Heather will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is their 23rd or 24th year.

00:30:42.660 It's been held right here in Calgary, and each year registration fills up just in minutes,

00:30:47.620 and a number of charitable endeavors benefit from the hardworking women that are behind

00:30:52.100 the peanut butter classic last year these ladies raised three hundred and twenty six thousand

00:30:57.140 dollars in a day that is remarkable multiple charitable endeavours benefited but each year

00:31:04.580 the gals select one of the benefiting charities to be the star of the show and this year it is

00:31:08.980 her victory so joining me are jackie meyer founder and executive director of her victory

00:31:15.220 and the honorable heather forsyth founder of the peanut butter classic and a former long time

00:31:20.500 calgary mla ladies thank you so much for joining me i appreciate you taking the time out of your

00:31:26.340 busy days goodness knows you're both very busy women who've done a lot of things so i appreciate

00:31:31.380 this so uh let's let's start out here um i will go over to you heather why did you why was it her

00:31:39.540 victory why did it come down to her victory of all the charities that peanut butter classic supports

00:31:43.460 every year why her victory well i think for us was uh we support not my city which is run by

00:31:53.140 paul brandt and i have spent probably the majority of my life in this issue which i call the dark

00:32:01.460 side on child prostitution sexual exploitation human trafficking so we reached out to jackie

00:32:09.460 and Jackie presented before my board about what her organization does and my board as I said to

00:32:16.500 Jackie was quite taken and as Jackie went on on some of the things they were doing their eyes

00:32:21.720 just got bigger and bigger and bigger on all the things that she is doing to try and deal with

00:32:28.100 trafficking so we had a board decision and unanimously decided to support Jackie at her

00:32:35.100 Victory. We gave her $50,000 already and have helped her with other things. And we're very

00:32:44.360 excited having her with us this year. Oh, that's tremendous. And Jackie, thank you. Welcome to the

00:32:50.680 show. Why don't you tell me a little bit about Her Victory and where it all started from? Because

00:32:54.560 you're the girl behind this charity. Yeah, thank you, Lindsay, for having me. Yeah, Her Victory.

00:33:02.820 So we empower and reach those that are caught in the sex trade, exploited at risk of or currently being trafficked.

00:33:10.460 We started, as you mentioned, right here in the city of Calgary.

00:33:13.640 We do have an outreach center that's located right on one of Calgary's last very active prostitution strolls.

00:33:20.980 And, you know, our heart was just to serve and advocate and provide practical needs for these women.

00:33:27.240 And it's just expanded as the problem, if you know, as human trafficking.

00:33:31.460 It's a multi, multi-billion dollar industry worldwide, and it's one of the fastest growing crimes in the world.

00:33:40.080 And Calgary is no exception to that.

00:33:43.160 And, you know, when I say caught in the sex trade, it's absolutely not what I would call a trade that's inaccurate as it can be.

00:33:51.520 There is no fair trade that occurs with these individuals.

00:33:55.000 Their spirits are shattered, their hearts are torn, their bodies are abused.

00:33:58.300 and it takes everything from these girls and gives nothing back and so we just saw a need in

00:34:04.460 the city and jumped right in and so we are in the local women's prisons meeting with women that are

00:34:11.020 incarcerated that have faced trafficking or some form of exploitation we do have a safe home here

00:34:18.520 in the city of Calgary for women that are fleeing trafficking and that's all across our province our

00:34:23.180 nation cross-border and we do have teams that go in the illegal massage parlors like I mentioned

00:34:29.680 the local prisons we are working this year to get in the strip clubs and as well just you know

00:34:36.200 reaching these women at our outreach location where they're at but not leaving them there.

00:34:41.380 I see now how important is the wraparound care I think what really struck me about your

00:34:45.440 organization is a lot of organizations I find in charitable sector they're very hyper focused on

00:34:51.040 one thing and that may very well be a good thing but what i loved about this is i went to her

00:34:54.660 victory.ca and you do it all you really do it all you're really like this hub for all the help and

00:35:01.540 support you know it's it's like the whole you know it's it's like addiction treatment you don't just

00:35:06.240 take somebody off the streets get them sober and then say hey have a nice day right that's you have

00:35:11.580 to you have to re-educate them you they need they need therapy they need uh housing supports they

00:35:16.940 need job training. They need the whole, the whole thing. So when women kind of, when you make that

00:35:21.900 initial contact from women, when they say, you know, I need, I need help. I want out of this

00:35:25.220 life or however that interaction is with, with your team, you know, you talk a lot on the website

00:35:30.980 and maybe you can just add a little bit to that. How, how, how many of these are these really

00:35:35.480 long-term relationship where you are actually in these women's lives for, for not just months,

00:35:40.260 but potentially years. Yeah, that's correct. Women exiting situations or caught in these

00:35:49.040 situations, they have the most barriers to success of any population. And psychologists

00:35:54.640 will tell you that their level of trauma is like a soldier returning from war. And so we really

00:36:02.800 embrace, we're all about the trusting relationship. And for most women, this is years and years and

00:36:08.080 years. We've had women come in our doors that are ready today even just to choose sobriety which is

00:36:14.080 success and then we've had women where we've had to do backdoor escapes and they're ready to get

00:36:18.780 into our safe house and we do provide wraparound support so that includes right from your practical

00:36:23.940 needs. The first thing I did was raise money for a shower because as much as the shelters are doing

00:36:29.500 everything that they can they're not sometimes the most safe place and so we wanted a safe space for

00:36:34.480 women where they could shower, they could get clothing, they could get, you know, winter coats,

00:36:38.420 boots, hygiene packs. You know, the necessities when they're leaving prison, usually it's with

00:36:43.720 a shirt on their back. And then we have social workers, case workers, and a plethora of volunteers

00:36:48.020 to meet them where they are at when they walk through our doors. And, you know, we know their

00:36:53.220 journeys. We know these women's stories from beginning to end. And even as they leave our

00:36:58.120 housing program we continue to provide them with uh community supports um and with everything

00:37:05.380 sorry that's not on my end uh that they need um just in what stage they're at now our staff

00:37:14.080 are completely we provide fully trauma-informed support we do have a crisis trauma counselor that

00:37:19.700 is specific to exploitation that walk with these women on a weekly basis and we just like i said

00:37:24.840 we meet, every story is different. Every circumstance is different. I explain it as

00:37:29.780 we almost feel like we work in the ER. We never know what's going to walk in our doors. We can

00:37:34.740 see up to 40 to 50 women, like I said, that are either currently in the sex trade exploited or

00:37:40.600 some don't even realize that they're being trafficked. And we're able to support them

00:37:44.860 moving forward where they're at and where they're ready. We're all about choices here.

00:37:49.060 It's where they want to go and we'll support them through that walk.

00:37:51.860 Well, that's so powerful. You know, I think I'm really hanging on to these stats that there's over 3000 people at any time, mostly women, of course, working in right here, just in Calgary, let alone Alberta, let alone the rest of the country in the sex trade, and that these are young girls, these are young girls, these are girls who are under 25. Most of them, I think my oldest daughter is 16. And I just think that's crazy to think of somebody her age, caught up in this life and this addiction.

00:38:16.500 Heather, I want to go over to you because Heather, I mean, so, you know, Heather Forsyth, you were in MLA for many, many years, and you were in the Ministry of Children and Family Services, and you are on a provincial committee around this, you work with Paul Brandt and his organization, now Her Victory, like you have a powerful wheelhouse of information and experience on this.

00:38:39.540 And so Jackie says this problem is rising, it's increasing.

00:38:44.540 Should we be surprised by that, Heather, or did you see this coming for the last 20 years?

00:38:48.540 Oh, it's been coming.

00:38:50.540 I just want to make one comment on what Jackie said.

00:38:52.540 I think it's important that one in five women that are trafficked are under the age of 17.

00:38:57.540 And we saw a good example of that in the charges recently that were laid in Lethbridge.

00:39:03.540 Our kids are very, very vulnerable, and they're very vulnerable in many aspects on social media,

00:39:08.540 social media etc the traffickers know if they're vulnerable they know where to meet them on shopping

00:39:14.220 malls you know around the schools so i think parents have to start waking up to what social

00:39:21.500 media their children are on but yes it's 150 billion dollars annually globally and each victim

00:39:30.700 is around 280 000 a year our traffickers our organized crime are actually making more money

00:39:38.380 on those that they are trafficking than they are on drugs and they can move the girls and guys

00:39:45.740 very quickly across the country as Jackie well knows so I think I guess in the I've been doing

00:39:54.860 this since the early 90s and was on the streets with street teams before I got elected I think

00:40:00.540 people are finally starting to understand what's happening and in my estimation Jackie maybe you

00:40:06.700 can add uh they're starting to care a lot more now now josti over to you yeah i mean i'm happy to say

00:40:15.420 i would say you know paul brandt is such a great advocate especially at the political level and

00:40:19.820 raising awareness um but i think it's important to note that he is highly connected with us

00:40:24.860 those of us that are on the ground at the community level that are seeing actually what's

00:40:29.100 happening and and i'm glad you brought up uh that new case out of brooks and sorry out of lethbridge

00:40:35.260 we're supporting four women with the richard mantha case um and also to speak to lindsay

00:40:40.220 your stat the average age of an individual being trafficked is between age 12 and 14 years old

00:40:46.620 and i too am a mother of two teenage daughters and this is an incredibly scary stat uh they not

00:40:54.220 only are traffickers you know obviously grooming and recruiting the vulnerability of individuals

00:40:59.340 so unhoused addictions no support of family or community but they're going online and i don't

00:41:04.780 want to give them a lot of credit but they're really really good at what they're doing and

00:41:08.780 they have these grooming tactics i'm i will throw it recently here in the city of calgary at one of

00:41:13.820 the malls uh they were using a an older woman pushing a baby in a stroll to recruit girls

00:41:19.980 uh that were in in the mall setting because they know a female generally will trust a mother

00:41:25.820 female figure and so um is is this issue growing yes it's a dark underbelly of our city uh we are

00:41:34.780 really great partners with calgary city police uh their you know their frontline teams their alert

00:41:40.620 um department and the sexual exploitation unit uh just being you know we're here to support and

00:41:46.780 advocate for these women but it's also a very dangerous um sector to be in and really i think

00:41:54.540 you know it's it's it's cultural right we have to come around to it you know i was sifting around

00:41:58.700 through your website and as well as not my city's website not my city's collecting signatures right

00:42:02.940 now and heather i'm going to go to you to to comment on this um for you know joining the

00:42:06.860 fight for stronger protections against child uh sexual exploitation so there was that recent fall

00:42:13.180 decision by the supreme court it was a narrow uh five to four decision to strike down the mandatory

00:42:19.180 minimum one-year jail sentences for possessing and accessing child sexual abuse material

00:42:24.700 i mean explain it to me like i'm five with why this is a thing i i really struggle to understand

00:42:29.340 why we wouldn't want to have mandatory minimums for that i mean the the best indicator of future

00:42:34.780 behavior is past behavior so heather do you have anything to say on that that supreme court decision

00:42:39.420 and and not having these mandatory minimums for p i think it's crazy just crazy to me

00:42:46.860 i can't second guess what the liberals are thinking federally and i mean i think we have to

00:42:52.060 call a what it is it's pornography and we have those who are watching pornography think it's

00:42:59.740 cool to watch a baby getting raped or getting off on a young child and how you would think

00:43:06.380 it's okay for one year we have victims and people need to remember that about the victims here

00:43:12.140 and the lasting impressions that is left from the abuse that these kids and younger children

00:43:25.740 are going through it uh it seems to be in the federal government's mind it's okay

00:43:33.020 and i would suggest that if it was their child or some other child that's close to them whether it's

00:43:39.420 a niece or a nephew if they would still think it's okay yeah it's remarkable you know I have

00:43:45.780 I have three children one son and two daughters and I uh I have big conversations with my 16

00:43:50.460 year old because I think you have to in this day and age and I always tell her you know it takes

00:43:54.440 five minutes alone in the wrong in a room with the wrong guy or girl but typically man to change

00:44:01.120 the course of your life for the rest of your life and I have had friends close to me who

00:44:06.500 underwent sexual abuse and it changed them forever they're never the same they never

00:44:12.440 you don't get over it you get around it you work your way through it hopefully

00:44:15.880 but it's it's unbelievable it's devastating it rips families apart it destroys lives

00:44:20.960 so there's a comment here I think Jackie who are the traffickers this is just in our in our super

00:44:28.360 chats or our super chats are open so sound off on here as we we have I think just a few minute

00:44:32.560 more minutes left on the show but uh jordan here asks who are the traffickers who are the women

00:44:38.000 who are the clients jackie do you want to address that a little bit sure um so the traffickers

00:44:46.960 this can range it's very highly organized crime and um so you've got um some very you know we'll

00:44:54.560 call them high-end gangs prolific gangs but you also have organizations within corporations

00:45:03.120 believe it or not we have seen people that are you know in political spheres we have seen lawyers

00:45:14.960 we have seen doctors we have seen you know we deal with we let the police deal with it at that level

00:45:22.320 but we're also dealing with a lot of pimps and johns. And, you know, it used to be it would be

00:45:26.920 the guy with the gold teeth, he's got, you know, the pit bull in the back of his truck. But this

00:45:30.820 is anyone, it can be any, any, any walk of life. So we have had pimps that obviously, you know,

00:45:41.500 float in the low income circles, but we've also got people that men from middle class,

00:45:46.200 we've got professionals it's really not as cookie cutter as you might think but as far as

00:45:53.460 as trafficking goes you've definitely got I would say it's it's people involved in the gang life

00:45:59.720 and but again there can be high-end professionals that are involved as well. I think there's a

00:46:07.420 little bit of this assumption that maybe most of these women are have been illegally brought into

00:46:12.320 this country but then your stats show quite the other side of that that it's 90 93 percent are

00:46:17.440 actually canadian citizens is that 90 yes 93 of people that are trafficked in canada are canadian

00:46:23.600 citizens and that is one of the biggest i know um you we used to hear from police even paul branch

00:46:29.440 will tell you 10 years ago he was going to police and they were like trafficking isn't happening

00:46:33.680 here um it's it is happening in our country calgary is actually one of uh because with

00:46:39.760 the international airport we are a hub as well it's active and well there is a circuit they

00:46:45.040 called a circuit throughout the province where they are moving women very very quickly

00:46:49.040 um so it's it is it's highly organized it's highly funded and like heather mentioned on average i

00:46:54.880 think you know a trafficker can make 280 000 a year on one individual um their commodities it's

00:47:01.520 not like a drug that's sold and that's that's done they can sell them over and over again and i just

00:47:06.080 want to mention lindsay i think it's important that with exploitation and trough exploitation

00:47:11.360 and this kind of trauma it often puts lies about their worth it blames it goes right to their

00:47:16.880 identity you know it's my fault my body's not mine value is only what i give them i'm damaged

00:47:22.400 goods so when you talk about the lifetime of um you know healing through through this what these

00:47:27.920 people are doing to these these poor victims it's you know we're dealing with that right on a

00:47:32.560 frontline level so it is an issue in calgary and to just go back circle back to your question

00:47:38.960 um you know there is obviously i would say majority is within the gang life but it's

00:47:43.440 very organized crime well just to comment if i if i may lindsay one of the things i've always found

00:47:52.640 fascinating through all the years that i've done this is uh people always seem to think it's not

00:47:57.600 their kid and it can be their kid and it is somebody's kid and uh no child or adult for that

00:48:08.160 matter are safe quite frankly and uh the younger the kid the more we're feeding the pedophiles so

00:48:16.480 i think people really need to start being very conscientious about what's going on in

00:48:20.400 this province and this country quite frankly yeah there's this you've got to take the blinders off

00:48:26.800 right i mean it's it's just because it's not necessarily happening to your family doesn't

00:48:30.080 mean that it can't right and again five minutes interaction your child has with a stranger could

00:48:35.600 to change the whole trajectory of their life or not a stranger i shouldn't even say a stranger

00:48:40.080 it's oftentimes people that you know right it often is uh you know people that they know and

00:48:45.680 we work with a lot of and it's middle class families uh that their daughter they call it

00:48:50.160 boyfriending um we're just you know someone gave them a lot of attention buying them a lot of gifts

00:48:55.200 it's the whole grooming process ace you know an ace student going to high school and all of a

00:49:00.800 sudden they're gone like that remarkable um heather tell me just a little bit more do some

00:49:07.760 do some plug for the for the peanut butter classic um is registration open when does

00:49:12.000 registration open because i think people have like five seconds to sign up for this incredible golf

00:49:16.160 tournament uh no registration isn't open uh we're meeting tonight and we're very excited to have you

00:49:22.960 join us uh lindsay and i'm very excited we will build filling uh survivor bags jackie uh jackie

00:49:32.720 can talk about the survivor bags that are given to the women on the street we're going to have

00:49:36.880 socks and there's some underwear some uh you know toothpaste and different things like that

00:49:43.360 uh we will uh the tournament's june 8th and probably around the month of may open the

00:49:49.840 tournament right now we're after our donors and sponsors so if anybody's interested www.peanutbutterclassic.com

00:49:58.800 and uh you're changing a lot of uh people's lives by donating not only to her victory

00:50:05.360 we do dogs with wings not in my city the veterans and our firefighters so would love to have your

00:50:11.200 support oh that's incredible well thank you again jackie meyer with her victory and the honorable

00:50:18.400 heather forsyth with the peanut butter classic um thank you so much i'm excited to be involved

00:50:24.800 with peanut butter this year and um here's hoping for a rain free and wildly successful tournament

00:50:30.400 this june 8th again you can learn how to volunteer you can get or donate and get involved at the

00:50:37.520 peanutbutterclassic.com learn more about supporting women exiting exploitation at hervictory.ca

00:50:43.760 and with that we are going to bring our show to a close so a huge thank you to our sponsors

00:50:49.760 to the incredible Corey Morgan for trusting me with his microphone and to all of you for tuning

00:50:56.900 in so if you haven't already please head over to westernstandard.news and grab yourself a

00:51:03.180 subscription it keeps us accountable and it gives you full access to all of our reporting

00:51:08.040 investigations and commentary. Subscriptions are just $10 a month or $100 for the full year

00:51:14.080 and that support goes directly into producing the kind of journalism that you are here to see.

00:51:20.440 And for those of you watching, know that there's always the super chats open on the comments and

00:51:26.060 to feel free to try and interact with us as we're doing these shows and we've got a lot of moving

00:51:30.060 parts. But again, thank you so much. Be skeptical, be decent and try not to torch your neighbors in

00:51:37.420 the comments section. As always, I'm Lindsay Wilson with Link Strategy. It's my honor to host

00:51:42.320 today on behalf of Corey Morgan. You will see him next time. Thanks so much.

00:52:07.420 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - January 22, 2026

Alberta isn’t asking permission anymore

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