When does climate activism cross a line?
Activist Gillian Graham, 25, admits she spray painted the Embassy of the United States of America in Ottawa with a pink, water-based spray paint on March 20, but said she believes the act was a necessary evil amid Canada’s climate crisis.
“I think the climate criminals who are destroying our society are the real criminals, and they are the ones who should be charged,” Graham said.
James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), says the “vandalism or activism” debate is raging on and remains active among climate activists and the broader academic community, to this day.
Spray painting a building is an obvious act of mischief for Turk, however, he argues it is only through civil disobedience that most modern political movements have influenced society and the law.
“Very little social change that’s occurred in Canada, or most democratic countries, would have occurred if a very strict reading of the law prevailed,” Turk said.
“It is civil disobedience at various times that have been central to most of the advances in human rights and social justice historically.”
In Ontario, punishment for mischief under $5,000 could result in up to two years in jail or a maximum fine of up to $5,000.
Graham is part of a recent wave of climate activists who are opting to break the law to gain media exposure.
“We have rights as citizens to voice our dismay and we need to exercise these rights,” Graham said.
“We need to be outraged in order for the government to do something.”
‘Civil disobedience’: a modern act of resistance
Beyond Ottawa, climate change protesters have, in recent years, thrown paint and soup at famous artworks in London, Melbourne, Rome and Potsdam.
The Just Stop Oil’s ‘soup can activism’ in October of 2022, for instance, was how Graham got the idea to spray paint the U.S. embassy. In the London protest, two activists, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, threw a can of soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting to protest the continued use of fossil fuels.
After her most recent arrest on March 20, Graham says her main concern is a potential rollback in environmental policies amid Canada’s ongoing trade negotiations with Donald Trump.
Graham says the hyperfocus on tariffs takes the conversation away from climate activism.
“We have been the United States’s punching bag,” Graham said, who added that, beyond tariffs, Canadians also “need to sound the alarm on the climate crisis.”
In a statement to the Charlatan, a representative for the U.S. Embassy media relations team said: “We take seriously the safety and security of our personnel and visitors to our facilities. We do not comment on U.S. Embassy security protocols.”
The Embassy also did not provide comment on the charges against Graham.
Activism vs. malicious vandalism
As Canada’s capital, Ottawa is no stranger to having monuments defaced for both activism and hate crimes.
In 2022, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was defaced by members of the “freedom convoy” who urinated on the monument, which contains remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier killed during the First World War.
More recently, on June 9, the National Holocaust Monument in Lebreton Flats was vandalized with red spray paint reading “FEED ME,” in an alleged antisemitic attack. The Ottawa Police charged a 46-year-old City of Ottawa lawyer with mischief.
Turk, said that despite the effectiveness of civil disobedience as a form of protest, there are limits to how far one can go.
“The only way you draw public attention is if you’re disruptive, but there are limits to this disruption,” Turk said. “You can’t engage in violence, you can’t threaten violence.”
As activists increasingly turn to civil disobedience as a tool for activism, Graham said organizing a climate change movement requires a great deal of behind-the-scenes planning and preparation.
“We always say that it’s not just the person getting out on the street, it’s the lawyers that are lined with us, it’s the photographers,” she said. “That’s what makes a movement.”
Public response to intentional vandalism
Graham’s arrest came a day after two other Last Generation Canada supporters made headlines painting the Tesla dealership in Montreal pink, joining a growing global movement against Tesla’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk.
“I think that my action, as well as the Tesla actions that took place around the same time, broke into regular media for the first time in a positive light,” Graham said.
“You should direct your anger at the crisis where millions of people are losing their homes and lives because of wildfires and floods,” Graham said.
Ethical questions and legal ramifications
Graham’s case is still before the courts.
Michael Johnston, a barrister at law who has previously handled mischief charges, said freedom of expression in Canada is a protected right that is “pretty far-reaching.”
While he did not comment on Graham’s case, Johnston said that all rights are subject to limitations.
“What is being protested is a bit less important to how it’s being protested and where,” he said.
In a statement to the Charlatan, Julie Kavanagh, a spokesperson for the Ottawa Police Service said that even if material, like paint, is washable and causes no permanent damage, “the act of applying it without permission can still be seen as interfering with the owner’s lawful use, appearance and enjoyment of their property.”
Graham said she has been banned from various places over non-violent climate activism, yet, violent offenders are not treated with the same degree of harshness.
“There is a huge outcry against washable paint on paintings or on buildings, which is very interesting, because we don’t see the same outcry when there’s climate disasters.”
Features Graphic by Alisha Velji/the Charlatan
