VIDEO: Amazing community response to vandalized mural helps fund artist's return to Chilliwack to repaint his work

While being angry about crappy behaviour is easy, it takes community leadership like this to move forward with solutions

Always look on the bright side. Tomorrow is another day. The cup is half full.

There are a lot of clichés that focus on having a positive attitude, expressions that may evoke cringes among the cynical, but of course we all should know that this is really the only way to improve the world. 

The difference between strong community leaders and many of the rest of us, is how quickly they move towards solutions after something shitty happens, addressing what can be learned, how to keep moving forward. 

Don’t focus on the negative.

To wit, an idiot vandalized Montreal mural artist Kevin Ledo’s 2020 painting of well-known Sto:lo icon Inez Point on the building wall facing Victoria Avenue across from Chilliwack Central Community Park earlier this month.

This was what I called an ignorant act of racism on the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 

I stand by that, it’s pretty plain. 

But maybe I tend to focus too much on the negative. I posted a little short selfie-video reel on May 5 saying how it would be good to find out who committed this stupid and confusing act and get some justice. 

Was this a stupid person trying to honour the day in a way that made no sense? Was it simply misogyny, as in, the “P” stands for “people,” so is akin to those stupid people with “All Lives Matter” signs in a Black Lives Matter gathering? 

That same day I ranted about the vandalism on May 5, the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, my friend Amber Price who everyone knows as the owner of The Bookman and who founded the mural festival took a different public approach to the shitty behaviour of one of our citizens who both committed an act of racism and vandalism with one bucket of paint. 

“While we can only speculate on the full story behind the damage, I believe strong emotions motivated this action, and that holding space for that matters, even as we grieve what was lost,” she wrote, illustrating a level of grace and tolerance that I just don’t have.

But she didn’t take credit for being so calm and measured, she referenced Chief Darcy Paul of Skowkale who she says teaches us that when incidents like this happen, people come together.  

“We put our strengths together, we support those who are affected and vulnerable, and we come out together, and stronger,” Amber wrote.

And with that she urged the community to change those negative emotions into action with a campaign to bring Kevin Ledo back to Chilliwack from Montreal to restore the painting.

“Beautiful things happen when we work together for a common goal - this was our very first crowdsourced mural for Chilliwack Mural Festival, and I'm confident we can do it again!”

Amber created a GoFundMe with a goal of $13,800 to bring Kevin back. As of May 19, more than $15,000 was raised. (You can still donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kevinledomural)

And with that, Ledo was invited back and arrived mid-week last week to start fixing his work of art.

That’s about one week between vandalism to Kevin being back in town to repaint.

As Kevin’s guidance helped Amber found the Chilliwack Mural Festival, his return is apt as he gets to see all the incredible pieces of art around the downtown area along with the new great District 1881 neighbourhood.

I went down and had a chat with Kevin Tuesday (May 19, 2026) on his scissor lift as he applied brush strokes near Inez's ear. He said he was shocked when Lise Oakley from the mural festival shared the image of the vandalism. Amber had first told him about it but was too distraught to share a photo at first.

Like me, he figured the "MMIP" nonsense was some sort of misogynistic twist on a racist screed. He arrived on May 13 and started repainting the damaged mural on May 14.

"It's super destructive and it definitely hurt the community," Kevin told me, adding that he's talked to Indigenous women since he's been painting to literally feel a new sense of fear since the vandalism occurred.

"An Indigenous woman came to me and said it just feels like she has to look over her shoulder now because, you know, it's really like an attack on a woman's face."

But like Amber, Kevin mostly focused on the positive and the amazing community response to get this fixed.

"It's amazing what the community did," he said. "The community really came together, rallied up a lot of money to get this repaired."

To celebrate the repaired mural, a community gathering is organized for Wednesday, May 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. on Victoria Avenue in front of the mural by Central Community Park.

In her post on Facebook, Amber thanked Chief Paul as well as Lise Oakley and Carielynn Victor for their leadership to help with this renewal project.

“Never, ever doubt our collective ability to create positive change,” Amber shared on Sunday. “When we work together, beautiful things unfold. All problems are questions, and the solutions are the answers that we choose to find.”

All are welcome to the celebration on Wednesday. There will be a coastal jam, the Pil’alt Warriors, food and more, and Kevin Ledo will be present, maybe still even touching up the large mural.

Here’s a link to the community event poster on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/984637707375679

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Paul J. Henderson
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