It’s wasn’t something Mel Compass wanted to see on her Mother’s Day walk.
“I felt ashamed,” she said.
The Squamish resident headed out to the dike near Fisherman’s Park for a stroll with her husband and young son. That’s when they happened across graffiti of racist slurs on a Squamish Nation sign.
Raised in Ontario, Compass said she has seen how racism can hurt communities firsthand, recalling the Ipperwash Crisis in the 1990s. Compass said she hasn’t encountered a lot of racism in Squamish, but the graffiti was a reminder of how it’s still an issue that needs to be addressed.
“They were hateful words,” she said. “This is what creates a wedge in society.”
The new sign was erected to educate people that they are entering traditional lands and asking them to respect it, Squamish Nation spokesperson Chris Lewis said. The graffiti was disrespectful and hurtful, he said. But Lewis believes it was the work of one individual rather than a contentious slur from the masses.
“I want to thank those of the non-Squamish Nation community that spoke out on this,” he said.
While the graffiti may come from an individual, the racist sentiment is something that should be addressed through education about indigenous cultures, he said.
“The graffiti on the sign is contrary to our teachings. We treat people the way we want to be treated. We need to focus on the positives, move forward and work together,” Lewis said.
The graffiti was reported to the Squamish RCMP.
“Our officers did mark it as a hate crime,” Sgt. Wayne Pride said.
Police have no witnesses or suspects, he noted. There is nothing to indicate that the graffiti was aimed at a specific individual. As such, police may be forced to downgrade the incident’s status, Pride said.
Compass took her concerns to social media. Someone saw the Facebook post and removed the graffiti. Compass is glad the words have been erased, but is saddened that they were there in the first place.
“Eventually I have to explain to my child why there is hate,” Compass said, noting it’s something no parent wants to do.
