WESTLOCK – The 20-year-old Westlock man facing mischief and stunting charges after police say he laid a patch of rubber across the freshly-painted Rainbow crosswalk on 106th Street at the end of June, has yet to enter a plea and is slated to be back in court in September.
In Westlock Court of Justice Aug. 9, lawyer Kent Haryett appeared on behalf of Levin Harrison Nadeau-Stiles with Justice Carrie-Ann Downey agreeing to set the case over to Sept. 13 so Haryett can review disclosure. Nadeau-Stiles, who did not physically appear in the courtroom, faces the Criminal Code charge of mischief-cultural property, as well as the Traffic Safety Act offence drive while stunting on a highway (Section 115(2) Sub. F).
Specifically, Section 430 (4.2) of the CC, notes that cultural property is “defined in Article 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, done at The Hague on May 14, 1954, as set out in the schedule to the Cultural Property Export and Import Act.”
In a previous interview, Westlock RCMP Detachment acting commander Cpl. Riley Sutherland said that at approximately 11:54 a.m., June 30, a dark pickup truck was seen doing a burnout on the crosswalk and following tips from the public, they were able to track it to the Peavy Mart parking lot where they arrested Nadeau-Stiles.
“We were given a vehicle description and able to locate it quickly and the driver matched the description of the person at the scene,” said Sutherland in a July 6 interview.
The Rainbow crosswalk has been in the spotlight since town councillors agreed to allow R.F. Staples School’s (RFS) gay-straight alliance (GSA), the Thunder Alliance, to paint it back in May — councillors unanimously reaffirmed their support at a contentious June 12 meeting.
While organizers took precautions leading up to the June 27 event, including blocking off both ends of 106th Street at 100th and 101st Avenues, the night resembled a block party and was peaceful with no reports of violence or protestors.
Similar case in Leduc
A Rainbow crosswalk in Leduc was vandalized June 24, which prompted Alberta RCMP to issue a release noting “the importance of Albertans reporting any actions, language or behaviour they suspect to be a hate crime or incident to police” and that "any action that threatens the safety and security” of people would be taken “extremely seriously” and that they “will follow up on all reports and if appropriate, charges will be laid.”
The June 22 release says that a hate incident or crime are actions committed against a person or property, motivated either partly or wholly by “bias, prejudice or hate towards an identifiable group or community, as defined by real or perceived age, colour, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, or any other similar factor.” Hate-motivated actions, the release states, can range from “physical assaults or threat of violence, property damage or destruction (including graffiti with homo/bi/transphobic slurs and hate symbols), to harassment and discriminatory comments.”
