The Transgender Day of Remembrance poster was posted in the mall in the south end of North Battleford. It was found defaced. (submitted photo/Bobbisue Thompson)

By Angela Brown

RCMP investigation

Battlefords Pride upset after Transgender Day of Remembrance poster defaced

Nov 22, 2019 | 2:00 PM

Battlefords Pride is taking action after the group’s poster about a Transgender Day of Remembrance event was found scrawled with graffiti where it was posted in a public space at Frontier Mall.

The vandal wrote on the poster: “Remember Sodom and Gomorrah!!” and “Eternal Fire.”

Battlefords Pride President Bobbisue Thompson received information Friday morning of the vandalism.

“I’m very disappointed and very upset. This was a poster about remembering our people who have been murdered, and it was defaced with hate messages,” she said. “That’s very disturbing.”

The Transgender Day of Remembrance event was held Nov. 20 in North Battleford to recognize transgender people from across Canada and around the world who lost their lives by violence or died by suicide.

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Thompson said no other posters on the public bulletin wall were damaged, adding the vandals’ words on the Day of Remembrance poster in effect “send a message that it’s OK to hate us, it’s OK to hate marginalized communities.”

“We’re the ones targeted this time, but people who hate hate more than one group,” she added. “They are obviously targeting us at this point.“

Thompson reported the incident to the RCMP.

Battlefords RCMP Sgt. Neil Tremblay said any kind of property damage is illegal.

“If we can determine who the person or persons were who did it and what their motivation was, it could be an aggravating circumstance in sentencing,” he said.

The RCMP will investigate to see if there is any video surveillance in the mall where the poster was located in an effort to identify the suspect.

“It’s the same with any type of property. If you see a poster in terms of it promoting something that you are personally opposed to for some reason, then it doesn’t give you the right to damage that person’s property,” Tremblay said. “Even if it’s being done for non-political reasons, it’s still someone’s property and you don’t have the right to damage it. It is a mischief [offence] at the very least.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW