Vandalized Canadian flag prompts museum to host reconciliation forum

Vandalism, in the form of black liquid spilled onto a huge Canadian flag, has prompted TheMuseum in Kitchener to hold a "special dialogue" on reconciliation Wednesday evening.

David Marskell, CEO of TheMuseumsaid the public event entitled, "A Cause for Celebration?: A Reconciliation Dialogue," was organized in direct response to the flag being stainedonthe Canada Day long weekend.

"It absolutely came out of the incident," Marskell told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition.

• Giant Canadian flag vandalized at TheMuseum

"We need to listen, we need to understand. We'll never get to truth and reconciliation unless we do. This is a perfect opportunity to bring voices together, bring people together and talk about it. Why would these guys do this?"

A black substance was spilled onto the four-storey giant flaghung outside the museum's front entrance. The substance appears to have been poured from the roof some timebefore dawn on Canada Day.

A banner that read "150-plus years of resistance, unsettling 150" was also draped across the top of the maple leaf.

Marskell said TheMuseum aspires to be a "place of ideas, dialogue and conversation" and the eventreflects thatdesire to talk about important buttough issues.

At the event, chairs will be placed in an Indigenous medicine circle to encourage respectful conversation. TheMuseum has invited a number of people, including representatives from the police and the local Indigenous communities, to attend.

"We hope to have a number of voices," he said. "It's a very, very important conversation."

The museum is encouraging people to register for the event,as the atrium where the discussion will be hosted can hold about 250 people. By mid afternoon Wednesday, nearly 100 people had registered.

Not hopeful of saving flag

Marskellsaid the museum took the flag down and is trying to have it cleaned, but heis not optimistic it can be saved. The flagis made out of a mesh material.

"It's permeated with this black ink or paint," he said.

Police are investigating the incident.

The banner, meanwhile, has beenadded to TheMuseum's current exhibition "A Cause for Celebration? First Things First." It features three indigenous artists and reflects on how First Nations have been treated in Canada over the past 150 years.

Discussion event

On Wednesday, the event begins at 5:30 p.m. It's free admission with a suggested donation of $10.

Proceeds will go towards the Woodland Cultural Centre's Save the Evidence Campaign, which is raising funds to maintain the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford. The school building is now used to educate the public about the legacy of residential schools in the area.