VANDALISM OF STATUE
No regrets, accused plans guilty plea
Despite now facing a charge and a court date, a Vibank man accused of defacing a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in Victoria Park says he has no regrets about coming out in the media to take responsibility for the crime.
Patrick Johnson reached out to the Leader-post on Wednesday to claim he was the one who sprayed red paint on the statue’s hands one day earlier. Johnson said he painted the controversial statue in the early hours of Aug. 21 as an act of civil disobedience in protest of injustices against Canada’s First Nations people. The red paint was meant to symbolize blood on the hands of a man who was not only a Father of Confederation but an architect of Indian residential schools.
After getting a visit from Regina police on Sunday, Johnson was charged with mischief under $5,000.
He was still in good spirits while speaking during a phone interview on Monday.
“I just wanted to be on the right side of history,” said Johnson, a 47-year-old music director at a Regina church.
He is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charge in Regina provincial court on Sept. 27. Johnson said he was not held in custody but was released on certain conditions, which included a promise not to paint the statue again.
Although the Victoria Park statue has fallen victim to vandals several times, Johnson claims to have spray painted it once before, but decided to go public this time in an effort to generate further discussion around First Nations rights.
Some have expressed displeasure with Johnson’s alleged actions on social media, something with which he is also at peace.
“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, eh? So I think that’s kind of what I would support first of all, that they’re welcome to feel whichever way, and I was just representing a marginalized part of our population,” he added.
Johnson said he confessed the vandalism to police, and plans to plead guilty to the charge when he appears in court. He called his interaction with police positive, and said the officers were professional and objective.
Johnson hopes his actions, and the ensuing court case, will be a beacon for others to speak up if they feel they see injustice. At the moment, he isn’t concerned about the consequences he’ll personally face.
“It’s certainly not a blot for me,” said Johnson. “It’s more just like a passage in my life.”
On Monday morning, Regina police confirmed a charge of mischief had been laid.
“Police were first made aware of the damage to the statue on Tuesday, August 21, 2018 but it wasn’t until later in the week that a suspect in the case emerged,” police said in a news release.
“This was largely due to a Leader-post newspaper story about the incident. After an investigation to determine the validity of the information, a 47 year-old male was arrested,” it stated.