Chilliwack (with files from Chilliwack Mural Festival) – Inez Point is a celebrated musician from Chilliwack and her music is known country wide.
On Tuesday May 5, it was discovered by members of the Chilliwack Mural Festival, that the portrait of Inez was vandalized.
It’s not just the physical damage. The timing was not lost on fans and festival organizers alike. May 5 is Red Dress Day to honour and remember Indigenous Women who fell at the hands of violence.
From the Mural Festival Facebook: One of our most beloved murals was damaged, bucket(s) of paint thrown over the portrait of Inez, a Stó:lō woman who has given so much to this community. She is a mother, a sister, a daughter, a cousin, an auntie. She is loved.
This mural is more than a portrait or mural to look at. It is a representation of Stó:lō and Indigenous women in our community. The act of vandalizing it was not just damage to paint on a wall, it is a hurtful statement directed at Indigenous women. We do not take that lightly, and we don’t want it to pass without being named.
Kevin Ledo is now in Chilliwack May 13–21 to process the repair, and on May 20th, Mural Festival organizers be hosting a community gathering to reflect and remember the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and our collective responsibility to remember and act.
FVN’s Don Lehn can see the mural from the balcony of the FVN home studio. On Sunday May 17, during the Victoria Day Long Weekend, he took a picture and video update of the restoration.
RCMP continue their investigation into the damage and concerned that this was a hate crime.
