A St. Henri mural denouncing white supremacy has been vandalized for the third time in three months, leading residents to call on the borough to more to prevent vandalism in the area.
The artwork, which covers the side of a building near where St. Jacques and St. Antoine meet, reads “White Supremacy is Killing Me,” and is part of a larger group of street art in the area. According to the group of Indigenous women who painted the mural, the message of the pieces is to improve the relationship between their people and the broader community.
Resident Yves Lavoie said he was shocked when he saw the work covered in red paint.
“It wasn’t the first time so I took a picture and put it on Facebook to show my (anger) regarding this issue,” he said. “Those murals improve our city. They look better than what it was before and they bring a message.”
Southwest borough councillor Craig Sauvé said varnish will be applied to the mural to ensure it won’t be damaged again. He said the vandalism is indicative of the issues faced by Indigenous people throughout Canada.
“I think it was the act of an individual person,” he said. “This mural isn’t going anywhere.”
St. Henri has seen a spate of vandalism in recent years, with shops accused of gentrifying the neighbourhood often the target. This past summer, a Notre-Dame St. restaurant was broken into and covered in paint for the second time.
However, other targets have been seemingly random.
Lavoie said his own home was recently defaced.
“There should be police patrolling in the neighbourhood to try and catch them,” he said.
Sauvé said the city implemented an anti-graffiti program in the past few years wherein residents can have tags removed from their property for free. The program also includes installing anti-graffiti measures such as vines and moss in areas that have been repeatedly vandalized.
