Calgary police charge man in 2 church vandalisms
CBC
A Calgary man has been charged in connection with two church vandalisms from mid-summer — which occurred after the uncovering of mass graves at former residential schools.
Calgary police asked for the public's help after 11 churches were vandalized around Canada Day.
In some cases, the churches were marked with orange and red hand prints and the number 215. Police say this suggests the vandalism was in response to the finding of residential school graves.
In May, the remains of 215 children were uncovered at the former site of Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, many more unmarked graves have been found across the country.
A 23-year-old man has now been charged in connection with two of those vandalisms, police said in a release Thursday.
Sebastian Rodriguez-Huerta is charged with two counts of mischief to a property primarily used for religious worship.
Police said the church vandalisms meet the threshold of being hate-motivated crimes. Hate motivation is only considered once an offender is found guilty, where it can be considered an aggravating factor to add to the convicted person's sentence.