RCMP investigating graffiti across Mi’kmaq sign
AMHERST, N.S. – Ian Ripley was disappointed when he heard a sign near Amherst that welcomes people to the land of the Mi’kmaq was defaced.
“There’s no place for that,” said Ripley, general manager of the Athol Forestry Co-operative. “There was some discussion among our committee that what happened with Northern Pulp was going to set back relations between the industry and the First Nations community. This is very regrettable.”
The sign, located on Highway 104 about five kilometres outside Amherst, was defaced with the words “NS Needs Mills” scrawled across the bottom. Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal crews were on scene Monday and by the afternoon the sign had been cleaned.
Northern Pulp shut down its Abercrombie Point mill last month after failing to win environmental approval for a new effluent treatment facility to replace Boat Harbour, which lies adjacent to Pictou Landing First Nation.
The closure put hundreds of direct mill employees out of their jobs and left many more forestry workers who supplied the mill, without work.
“It is beyond disappointing to see such clearly unacceptable behaviour,” Premier Stephen Mcneil said in a written statement about the graffiti. “It in no way reflects Nova Scotia’s values or how far we have come as a province in embracing cultural diversity.
Cpl. Jennifer Clarke of Nova Scotia RCMP said police were called at approximately 10:20 a.m. Monday morning.
“Someone saw it on social media and suggested we go check it out,” Clarke said. “There was vandalism left on the sign.”
Clarke is urging anyone who saw something suspicious to contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers. She’s unsure when the vandalism took place.
She, too, is disappointed with the message.
“The perception is that it’s racist and anything like that is disappointing when it has that context,” Clarke said. “I’m not sure what the intent of the message was, but I don’t think the most effective way to address those concerns is by defacing the sign.”
Ripley is hoping the vandalism doesn’t hurt relations between Pictou Landing First Nation and the forest industry. In fact, he added, Cumberland County has been looking for ways to reach out to the First Nations community to open the lines of communication and support reconciliation.