THUNDER BAY — A home in Port Arthur displaying items in support of the LGBTQIA2S+ community was recently vandalized.
A video that has gone viral on social media shows a person approaching the front steps of a home and ripping a Pride flag off the railing.
The individual then turns to a Pride sign and proceeds to also rip it off the stairs and stomp on it.
The person then heads back down the stairs and attempts to rip another Pride sign, this time out of the frozen front lawn.
When that attempt at vandalism fails, the individual flashes their middle finger to the front door and walks away.
One of the social media posts that shared the video states the incident has been reported to city police. Thunder Bay Police said they are looking into if this incident has been reported.
Jason Veltri is the president of Rainbow Collective of Thunder Bay and said actions like this spread fear in the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
"You know, it's disheartening. It's upsetting to see that somebody would find a polyester flag and plastic signs so hurtful that they would walk onto someone's private property and destroy it."
Veltri said this is just one of many incidents.
"We are of the understanding now that there have been five incidents at this particular home alone. That's concerning in itself, but clearly, we haven't caught anybody responsible for the damage.
"My hope is that Thunder Bay police continue to do the good work that they do to investigate and lay a charge because, like I said, the queer, trans and two-spirit community in this city are scared. I'm scared."
TBPS was not able to confirm if there have been multiple incidents.
While Veltri felt this was a hate crime, he also knows the justice system doesn't see it that way.
"Hate crimes in Canada are a really high bar - while I consider this a hate crime, the justice system probably does not," Veltri said.
"This is definitely mischief; it's fear-mongering. I have called on MP Patty Hajdu and Marcus Powlowski to do more. We have asked to meet with the Attorney General of Canada to ensure that we are modernizing the hate crime laws so that things like this are punishable by law because without that, folks just get off scot-free."
"So we echo our calls from before that we need to do more to change the laws in this country to modernize hate crime laws so that to LGBTQIA2S+ communities, Indigenous racialized communities don't feel unsafe in their communities."
