‘We’re going to build something out of love’: Sarnia community rebuilds inclusivity pride structure after vandalism

On Thursday evening, members of Diversity Ed, a non-profit organization, were told that their inclusivity pride flag structure made out of perishable cans was damaged in the Lambton Mall.

“It was a mixed bag of emotions. Sadness, hurt, and anger,” said Adam Gariepy, the co-founder of Diversity Ed.

The idea to create the structure out of cans came from Canstruction, a nonprofit organization that is holding its annual event to collect food for local food banks.

The structure which took about six hours to assemble was made into a display of a colourful inclusivity pride flag.

“We really wanted to have some visibility for the 2SLGBTQAI+ community,” Gariepy said.

After finding out that their flag had been damaged and knocked down, the group decided to leave the cans on display in the mall.

“We need to keep a message there,” said Crystal Fach, the executive director and co-founder of Diversity Ed.

“We’re going to leave some of these cans and let people see what hate looks like because it happens to our community all of the time. We get knocked down constantly.”

Garipey said people in the community stepped up to help the very next day.

The Lambton mall, small businesses, and members of the public brought more cans for the non-profit to be able to rebuild.

“We’re so overwhelmed with the outpouring of support and all of the great folks that came out,” said Garipey.

“We decided to build a love wall, said Fach. This was devastating for us but it really brought our communities together.”

The cans will be on display in the mall until April 12.

After that date, the cans will be donated to a local food bank to help those struggling with food insecurity, according to Fach.