A woman who pleaded guilty to vandalizing a Vancouver Catholic church in the wake of reported discoveries of unmarked residential school graves last year has been given a conditional discharge along with a $1,250 fine.
Emily Luba, 27, was charged with mischief after witnesses recorded her splashing orange paint on the wall of St. Jude’s Parish in East Vancouver.
The incident occurred on Jul. 1, 2021, amidst a wave of vandalism and arson following the alleged discovery of unmarked graves at a former residential school site in Kamloops.
As reported by True North, the unrest behind the unverified reports led to prominent statues being knocked over and at least 68 churches across Canada being either vandalized or completely burnt down.
Luba was seen with her twin sister by two witnesses who recorded the vandalism and attempted to intervene.
The Vancouver Police Department executed a search warrant at the twins’ residence and found clothing with orange paint on it. Police also found evidence on the women’s cell phones, including selfies of the pair on a bus with orange paint on their clothing.
Luba was charged with mischief for damage to the church, along with mischief in relation to another protest in April 2021.
According to provincial court Judge Gregory Rideout, 12 B.C. churches had suffered similar attacks since May 2021, with many “splashed with red paint or orange paint… the colours of clothing associated to the young residents of the residential schools.”
Rideout noted at the time of the offence that Luba was following a protest group known as the Braided Warriors, which Rideout said has the goal of defending the land from colonial violence.
“Their mission includes their opposition to all resource extraction,” Rideout said. “One of their goals is to stop the insurers of the Trans Mountain expansion project and the related work they facilitate through the staging of protests at the premises of various insurance companies.”
“One of them was wearing a jacket that had the words, ‘The Church is Complicit’ written on the back,” the judge noted in his court ruling.
Police said they also found a sign at the church that read, “Every Child Matters; Support the Ninety-four Recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission”.
Rideout said he did find Luba remorseful for her actions.
“I think of the church congregation who felt scared to worship due to the fear of escalating actions after I covered their church in orange paint,” she told the court. “The congregation is composed of people, mostly elderly, none of whom are to blame for residential schools.”
Luba was given a conditional discharge, which means she won’t have a criminal record. She will need to write a 500-word letter of apology to the congregation, serve 40 hours of community service and submit a report to a probation officer.
Luba will also need to pay $1,250.
As reported by True North, many prominent commentators have excused the mob behaviour that led to the burnings of churches last summer. Some looked for ways to justify the attacks while others even cheered them on.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s friend and former principal secretary Gerald Butts has said that burning churches isn’t cool, but it “may be understandable.”
