A controversial landmark that reappeared on Mount Tzouhalem earlier this year has been vandalized again, but this time, it may be gone for good.
A large steel cross was installed decades ago in the 1980s atop the Cowichan Valley lookout. Since then it has frequently been the target of vandalism, even being cut down in July 2021.
Earlier this year, a new cross was mysteriously reinstalled, reigniting a debate about whether the monument should even be there.
In subsequent weeks, the new cross was reportedly painted in rainbow colours, referencing the flag representing LGBTQ+ people. Then, it was spray-painted orange with the number 215 painted on nearby rocks — an apparent reference to the number of potential burial sites found at a former Kamloops residential school.
The latest act of vandalism has seen the cross somehow bent 90 degrees in recent days.
“I suppose a couple of strong individuals may have gotten up there and bent it over. It’s hard to say. People are speculating how this could be done,” said Larry Pynn, a former journalist who has been blogging for nearly two years about the six mountains Lake Cowichan owns and logs.
Forms of a cross have been at the site off-and-on since the 1960s, and it has been generating debate ever since.
“It’s been highly divisive in the community. There are Indigenous and non-Indigenous people on both sides of this issue whether the cross should stay or whether it should go,” said Pynn.
“I just wish all this emotional energy that’s been put into the debate on the cross, I wish some of that would spill over and people would get as interested in the mountains and the six mountains of Tzouhalem that the cross is located on.”
Now, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which owns the Chase Woods Nature Preserve where the cross sits, says it will remove the cross permanently to avoid future incidents.
“This cross was reinstalled by unknown parties on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Chase Woods Nature Preserve without our involvement or permission,” the organization said in a statement to CHEK News.
“The Nature Conservancy of Canada is increasingly concerned about the ongoing vandalism at the cross site. We are a land conservation organization that is focused on protecting and restoring natural areas. We are not prepared to accept the liability posed by this contentious public landmark and will be removing it from the site.”
A source has told CHEK News the cross could be removed as soon as Friday.
With files from CHEK’s Kendall Hanson.
CHEK News
