Rainbow sidewalk outside Kelowna school district office vandalized

A still from surveillance video handed out by RCMP shows a suspect who is believed to have vandalized a rainbow sidewalk in Kelowna.

A sidewalk painted with rainbow colours in Kelowna has been vandalized, Mounties said Thursday.

Kelowna RCMP said the rainbow sidewalk at the entrance of the Central Okanagan School District office, located in the 1000 block of Hollywood Road South, was spray-painted at 6:55 p.m. last Saturday.

Police said they were alerted to the incident by a member of the public, who told them the sidewalk “was vandalized with hate speech.”

Surveillance video reportedly captured the vandal in action. In a still of that video provided by police, the acronym SOGI can be seen spray-painted in black across the sidewalk. The rest of what was written is not visible.

SOGI stands for sexual orientation and gender identity, and the tag is a reference to the SOGI 123 guidelines provided to educators to help make schools inclusive and safe for all students, according to its website. SOGI education has recently been the subject of several protests and counter-protests across Canada.

The still also shows the suspect wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, popularized by the group Anonymous.

Police described the suspect as a person appearing to be male, wearing dark clothing, a mask and gloves.

"Kelowna has a long history of diversity and inclusion of all our citizens; this behavior is disappointing and completely unacceptable,” Insp. Beth McAndie said in a news release.

“We will continue to investigate all reports of hate speech and crimes of this nature in an effort to identify those responsible,” she continued.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information can call Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300 or leave an anonymous tip to Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers.