Pride flags outside northeast Edmonton home burned and stolen
Several Pride flags were stolen or burned throughout this week at a northeast Edmonton home.
Joni Johnson told CTV News Edmonton she proudly displayed a Pride flag at the start of this week in front of her house to celebrate her daughter who recently came out.
“I took a picture of it, I sent it to her right away,” Johnson recalled. “I was very excited.”
Johnson said the flag was stolen from her home a few hours later.
“It literally was only there for hours and it was stolen.”
For her, the only reasonable thing to do was buy and place even more flags in her front yard.
“I put one back in the garden container where the original one was and I taped two together and I put them in the tree,” she said.
Then when Johnson stepped outside her home Tuesday morning the flags were not where she left them.
“That’s when I found the three flags I had put out were torn down, they were burned,” Johnson said.
She added that the sticks the flags were left on her front steps in the shape of the letter ‘F.’
When Johnson realized what had happened she said she was in complete shock.
“Completely unbelievable,” she shared. “It was devastating. I was in disbelief.”
Johnson reported the incidents to police and considered making an even bigger Pride display but ultimately reconsidered.
“I don’t want to escalate the hate and that’s what I was afraid of,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “I don’t want my neighbours to be a victim of that too.”
Johnson’s neighbour Anita Lakusta said she loved seeing support for Pride in the neighbourhood and that the incidents of vandalism left her feeling disappointed.
“It kinda left a yucky feeling in your stomach, because I mean we’re just here to support people in our community and lift those people up who have been historically and still to this day persecuted for loving people and just being themselves,” Lakusta said.
“That was a deliberate attack and it felt really personal and close to home,” she added. “It was actually kinda scary.”
To Johnson, the Pride flag is an important symbol of love and acceptance.
“To me, the Pride flag is not just a celebration of the community,” she said. “It’s a symbol of unconditional love and acceptance for everybody.”
Johnson said despite the incidents of vandalism, she will always have a Pride flag in her yard to support her daughter.
“No matter where you go in the world, you’re going to come across intolerance and hate but I wanted to let her know that you’re never going to find that here.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'