Ste Genevieve man faces no charges for ‘disturbing’ Halloween display

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Manitoba RCMP won’t be laying charges against a Ste Genevieve property owner who set up a Halloween display showing municipal councillors hanging from a gallows outside his home. Provincial officials and experts condemned the display, calling it “disturbing.”

“The file in Ste Genevieve is concluded and there are no charges,” said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Melanie Roussel.

The police investigation finished after the property owner took down the display on Sunday. Roussel said RCMP began investigating last week after two complaints were made.

The display, located on a Ste Genevieve property on Municipal Road 41E, showed five life-sized dolls hanging from nooses on a make-shift gallows. Four of the dolls had different municipal ward numbers painted on, including wards two, four, five and six. A sign labeled with “politics all tricks no treats” was above the gallows.

One doll hanging from the centre was dressed in a red cap, crown and wore a dollar-sign necklace.

The dolls also each had a letter attached, which, combined, spelled “karma.”

Beside the gallows, a sign hung around a dummy dressed in a firefighter uniform, read “Tache Municipal Masters For Sale” and references to Tache’s mayor, council and fire chief.

The fenced-in property had various no-trespassing signs, declaring the property as “sovereign land.”

Rural Municipality of Tache mayor Armand Poirier said the display had to be taken seriously because threats were made against council and there could be dangerous consequences. He said council is considering upping security measures for municipal staff, council and firefighters.

“We certainly don’t want them exposed to situations where they could be encountering confrontations. It’s certainly not fair to them, and our administration and staff at the office,” he said.

The property owner is known to council, and the municipality is considering legal action, Poirier said. As elections approach next year, he’s concerned the threats will cause people to reconsider running.

“Who’s going to be prepared to come and serve in an atmosphere where some individuals believe that they have the right to threaten others. It’s just not right. It’s not the way to do things,” he said.

When speaking with The Carillon, the property owner, who refused to identify himself, said the display was a “theatrical statement.” He said he has no intention to harm the politicians.

“Is this serious? Absolutely not. There would be no violence that would come from here. I don’t have any weapons,” he said.

He said the firefighter display referenced the rural municipality issuing a bill to him following an incident when Tache’s volunteer fire department responded to his property. The response was unnecessary, he said.

The man recorded a video while he attended a September council meeting to appeal the invoice, which an official told him was $3,720. Wood and branches were burned in a pit in his yard, council heard.

Council denied the appeal and upheld the invoice.

Meeting minutes published on the municipality’s website said the fire department responded to a 911 call about a fire, which breached Taché’s burning bylaw, at a property in August 2024.

The minutes said firefighters responded to an open fire on the same property in 2021, when a burning ban was in effect, and afterward formal communication explained an invoice would be issued if the department responded to another fire that violated the bylaw.

“I don’t like to see things like this,” Premier Wab Kinew said at an unrelated event Friday afternoon. “I don’t think any of us want to see violent imagery or allusions to that. I know (Minister of Municipal and Northern Relations of Manitoba) Glen Simard has been reaching out to local leadership in Ste Geneviève. We will offer support in the appropriate way.”

“No matter what the issue is, no matter how fired up you are about politics or policy, we’ve got to keep things calm, we’ve got to keep it respectful. You can find a way to articulate your objection, maybe even a personal criticism of a politician such as myself. But we don’t need to have a visual or something that is violent.”

University of Manitoba political studies professor Christopher Adams called the display “disturbing” and said it “crosses the line” for what’s culturally acceptable for political demonstrations.

While there’s a rise in hateful messages towards Manitoba politicians, Adams said depicting local officials being hung is another level.

“If I lived in that town and I were a local politician, I would feel very, very threatened. I would feel very angry that somebody’s demonstrated that I should be hanged,” said Adams.

He said the rise in hateful rhetoric towards Manitoba politicians on all sides of the ideological spectrum stems from U.S. political discourse fueled by President Donald Trump.

Adams cited Trump telling far-right extremist group the Proud Boys, a designated terrorist organization, to stand down during a 2020 political debate as one example. In Manitoba, constituency offices for cabinet ministers Nahanni Fontaine and Bernadette Smith were set on fire and vandalized multiple times in August and September, which Adams labeled as political violence.

He said displays like the one in Ste Genevieve can discourage potential candidates, particularly women and minorities, from running for political office. People could also feel less safe expressing stances on political issues, Adams noted.

“People in small communities know each other, and so the animosity becomes even more focused on a one-to-one basis, compared to if you’re in Toronto or Winnipeg,” he said.

In a Friday statement, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities said the display has “no place in our communities.”

“Municipal officials are democratically elected to serve and represent their residents and deserve to do so safely and without fear,” the statement read.

With files from the Winnipeg Free Press