On Canada’s first ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation the office of Vancouver’s MLA was vandalised with a spray painted swastika.
The vandalism occurred Thursday (Sept. 30) just blocks away from the Vancouver Art Gallery where Indigenous leaders were speaking of the atrocities carried out in Canada’s residential schools. Spencer Chandra Herbert, the MLA for Vancouver-Burrard said the day on which the vandalism was carried out was no coincidence.
“I don’t think it was a coincidence that it was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that my West End office was vandalized with hate,” Chandra Herbert wrote on Twitter. “Indigenous people have faced white supremacist racism from contact. Residential Schools were tools of genocide paid for by all Canadians.”
Chandra Herbert posted his remarks along with a photo of him scraping the remains of the red swastika off the front window of his office.
“I was reminded again that the work to stop hate, and build a better world is 24/7,” Chandra Herbert continued. “Thank you to all those who stand up, who speak out, and those who work behind the scenes against racism, anti-semitism, and homophobia.”
