Nanaimo District Secondary School vandalized with hateful graffiti

Nanaimo District Secondary School was vandalized with racist, homophobic and transphobic graffiti on Saturday, but people in the community saw it and removed it on Sunday. Photo: Denise Pace

Nanaimo District Secondary School (NDSS) was vandalized over the weekend with racist, homophobic and transphobic slurs written on the front doors of the school.

Denise Pace noticed the vandalism as she was returning from the gym at the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre on Sunday.

“As part of the LGBTQA+ community for decades when I saw the door I was saddened that vulnerable youth would have to see such hatred when going to school tomorrow, so went to see what they used and if it was easily removable,” she told CHLY.

Pace says that a “young man” saw what she was doing and started helping her remove the slurs from the doors. Pace then went home to get a razor to help remove the slurs but by the time she returned it was already gone.

NDSS principal Jane Reynolds says that the vandalism was disturbing and she first learned about it early Sunday morning from emails from parents and former NDSS students and that the vandalism occurred on Saturday.

“It was really disturbing,” she said. “There was homophobic and transphobic graffiti on the front of the school, and it was really troubling and worrisome. I'd really like to thank the community members who took it upon themselves to remove that graffiti before staff and students got to school today”

Reynolds says the school has security camera footage of two suspects and that the school is working to identify them. She urges anyone with additional information to contact the RCMP.

“This awful act goes against our core values and commitment to providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all of our students and staff,” she said. “We have taken immediate action to address this incident by checking our surveillance cameras and we hope to be able to identify the individuals who are responsible.”

Reynolds says there is no evidence that the vandalism is linked to the protest against the sexual orientation and gender identity policies at the School District 68 building last week.

According to Statistics Canada the number of police-reported hate crimes in Canada increased by seven per cent in 2022. There were 1,950 police-reported hate crimes targeting a race or an ethnicity and 491 hate crimes with sexual orientation as the motivation, both up 12 per cent from the previous year.

Police reported hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity have increased by 246 per cent since 2018 while hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation increased by 264 per cent and those motivated by sex and gender increased by 165 per cent over the same five-year period.

There were 539 police reported hate crimes in B.C in 2022, down from a high of 612 in 2021, and it has increased by 208 per cent since 2018.

There were 34 police reported hate crimes in Nanaimo between 2020 and 2022, for an average of 11 a year.

Reynolds says that any students who need support can see a school counselor and they can approach any adult in the school to talk.

“If a student is feeling like they're being targeted, please come and see us in the office, the counseling area, tell a trusted adult, and we will work with the student and family to make a plan to help keep them safe” she said.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.