Security camera catches man vandalizing rainbow flags in Charlottetown

A viral video of a man tearing down a store’s Pride flags in P.E.I. has advocates warning of a growing problem across Canada. Maria Sarrouh explains.

Just four days before Pride Festival events begin in Prince Edward Island, security video captured a man tearing down rainbow flags outside a Charlottetown shop, an incident advocates say reflects a wider wave of anti‑LGBTQ2S+ acts across Canada.

You Little Witch store owner Tiffany MacPhee says the flags outside her boutique have been targeted before, and the latest vandalism shows hate can still hit close to home.

“Hate still very much exists. And I think a lot of us Islanders live with rose‑coloured glasses on thinking that it doesn’t. But those who know, know, and this is proof,” MacPhee said.

MacPhee’s security camera recorded the entire incident at about 9 p.m. local time Saturday. At first, she found it funny, a “temper tantrum” on tape. But the more she watched, the more disturbed she felt, immediately filing a police report and donating to PEERS Alliance, a P.E.I. organization that supports LGBTQ2S+ communities.

“It is another act of meeting hate with love, and that is what we do here. We need to keep doing the work,” she said.

PEERS Alliance executive director Josie Baker said queer Islanders recognize a rise in hate-motivated crimes.

“For a while people have been feeling more and more fear. Something like this is just evidence that we are not immune to the trend we are seeing,” she said.

Statistics Canada figures show police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation rose 69 per cent in 2023.

Similar incidents have been reported across the country this year. A rainbow crosswalk in Newfoundland was defaced. In Nova Scotia, RCMP arrested a woman accused of vandalizing Pride and Every Child Matters flags outside a home. A flag‑raising ceremony in British Columbia was postponed after the ropes were cut.

National experts say the vandalism is part of a pattern that resurfaces every Pride season.

“Folks who are inclined to discriminate against LGBTI people are a lot more organized than they have ever been,” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada.

P.E.I.’s Pride Festival starts Friday. Local advocates say they aren’t anticipating or ruling out hate.

They urge anyone who sees conflict to call security and create space between protesters and those at risk rather than engage in confrontation.