An eye for an eye. On Wednesday, July 8, Sunshine Coast RCMP announced that they're looking to track down the person responsible for a banner that was hung between two totem poles near Sechelt, B.C. The B.C. banner threatened to topple totem poles. The cryptic message is believed to be in response to the defacing of historical statues in recent weeks.
Sunshine Coast RCMP's police report provides more details on the banner and also includes photos of the person who hung it.
The report explains that shortly after 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 7, the police were called by the Pender Harbour Secondary School principal.
The principal told the cops that a banner threatening to tear down totem poles was hung right outside the school.
As depicted by a photo of the banner, it read, "If u touch George/Stanley/or John A., ur totem's will start falling."
The police said that the banner was made out of fabric, hung using rope, and the text was written in spray paint.
Patrick Bocking, superintendent from the Sunshine Coast school district, told CBC News that "George," "Stanley," and "John A" are references to historical figures in Canada.
Recently, a number of statues of historical figures across North America have been either defaced or taken down.
A statue of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, was vandalized in an Ontario town late-June. The former PM has long been a topic of controversy due to his alleged harsh treatment of Indigenous populations.
Bocking told CBC News that "George" and "Stanley" could refer to other historical statues that are in B.C.
Sunshine Coast RCMP
Sunshine Coast RCMP
"Given the sensitive nature of this threat, police are working diligently to locate a suspect and are asking for the public's assistance in identifying the person in the surveillance video," Constable Jihan McDougall of Sunshine Coast RCMP said in the police statement.
The photos attached to the statement show someone in a hoodie and beige pants tying up the banner.
hiwus Henry Warren Paull of shíshálh Nation condemned the banner and also mentioned another incident in which the word "Conquered" was scribbled onto a sign on the highway. The word was reportedly painted in the shíshálh language.
Narcity has reached out to shíshálh Nation for comment and we will update this article upon receiving a response.