Controversial German politician Christine Anderson was pictured at the Petroleum Club last week, sporting one of the iconic symbols of Calgary’s host culture: A white cowboy hat.
That hat though wasn’t granted by either the City of Calgary, Tourism Calgary, or the Calgary Stampede, according to Mayor Jyoti Gondek. LWC confirmed this with the other organizations beyond the mayor’s office.
Tourism Calgary, the Stampede, and the Mayor’s Office have all in the past presided over white hat ceremonies giving the gift to prominent visitors to the city. They’re asked in a ceremony to uphold Calgary’s values as a welcoming host city.
“Please allow me clarify that neither Tourism Calgary nor the Calgary Stampede gave a white hat to Christine Anderson,” wrote Mayor Gondek in a statement made on Sunday.
“And I think it’s pretty clear that I don’t endorse her views in any manner.”
Video obtained by LWC showed the white hat ceremony occurred at the Petroleum Club in Calgary by an individual not associated with the City of Calgary, Calgary Tourism, or the Calgary Stampede.
That person claimed the ceremony was performed on behalf of the Independence Party of Alberta, which not not been a historic granter of the Calgary white hat.
A new video that surfaced on YouTube via the Street Church, identified the speaker as Artur Pawlowski.
Anderson pushed back on criticism of receiving hat on social media
Anderson wrote on Twitter after being criticized for wearing the white hat, stating that “I feel very honoured to have been presented the Calgary White Hat.”
In that video of her speech at the Petroleum Club, she called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a disgrace to democracy.
“It’ll be interesting to see what Calgary Petroleum Club has to say about hosting the event,” said Mayor Gondek.
Anderson, a member of the Alternative for Germany Party, has been quoted in the European press expressing anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant views. More recently, she has promoted vaccine conspiracy theories, and supported the convoy movement on far-right Canadian media outlets.
The German press revealed that the Alternative for Germany Party was placed under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, after the federal agency said that the AfD included members of the far-right extremist movement in that nation.
Reports by Deutsche Welle have tied local members of the AfD, although not Anderson, to neo-Nazi extremists in that nation.
During her trip to Calgary, Anderson was pictured meeting with members of Canada’s far-right, posing with a flag from accelerant hate-group Diagolon.
That group seeks to divide North America, creating an independent, anti-immigrant Euro-centric nation out of Alaska, B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and midwestern states from the U.S., according to extremist research done by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network and the Accelerationism Research Consortium.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre condemned Anderson’s views as vile, after photos emerged of CPC party members meeting with her earlier during her Canadian tour.
