A climate protester took responsibility for defacing a Tom Thomson painting of what appears to be the Algonquin Park region at the National Gallery of Canada on Tuesday.
A group called On2Ottawa posted a video on Instagram of one of their members splattering and smearing pink paint on the 1915 Northern River painting.
On2Ottawa bills itself as “humans engaging in peaceful civil disobedience to demand action on the climate and ecological crisis.” The group is demanding the federal government establish a national firefighting agency to tackle forest fires in Canada, amid a wildfire season that has resulted in the burning of about 15 million hectares of land this year.
The man said he used washable paint while the gallery reported that the painting was unharmed as a glazed panel protected it. The man was arrested and is potentially facing criminal charges.
Northern River was inspired by a sketch completed in the winter of 1914-15, likely from the Algonquin Park region.
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Simply put , protest of that nature is counter productive and not likely to attract supporters !
Protesting the use of fossil fuels is so dumb, as there is simply no replacement for them presently. Why doesn’t this group protest the rain? Water vapor in the atmosphere stores 1,000% more heat than does atmospheric carbon dioxide. There is actually a fair bit of evidence that atmospheric CO2 was much higher in eons past. Recently, a group of about 1,000 scientists (and many of them are climate scientists) has come out saying that there is no imminent threat of runaway global warming anyway. Whose word are we to take on this–that of real scientists, or a high school dropout like Greta Thunberg?
In any case, EVs are NOT capable of replacing gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles any time soon. It seems that most consumers are taking a pass on them (with the exception of the passionate eco-tyrants). When all environmental costs are considered, it has been determined that EVs cause more atmospheric pollution than the fossil fuel vehicles they replace.
Then, to add insult to injury, we are informed that there is the real possibility that the lithium-ion batteries that they contain can spontaneously explode in the garage and end up burning down one’s house. Fire-fighters have said that lithium-ion battery fires are very difficult to extinguish. Recently, officials in Paris have terminated their use of battery-powered buses, after two of them spontaneously exploded. (There is at least one video clip on the web, of a bus battery exploding and burning up the bus on a Paris street.) The dodos who designed the bus, put the battery pack on the roof of the bus where the cascade of fire would have effectively trapped any riders. Fortunately, the bus was uninhabited at the time when the battery pack exploded. I would NEVER have my child ride on a battery-powered school bus until they solve the exploding battery problem.
I am not paid by any fossil-fuel entity to say these things–nor do I own stock in any petroleum producer. Despite that accusation from the eco-tyrants, some of us are actually capable of reasoned discourse on the issue without any personal vested interests. .
And just what tenuous connection does Tom Thomson have to the environmental issues we face today?
None.
I wonder it this protester got to the gallery in a fossil powered vehicle?
There was a day, of course when a letter to your MP would maybe have some effect on government policy. No disrespect to our current MP, but in far too many cases the response is from some minor reply writer and stats off “as you may be aware” and you can be sure that you were not aware nor is anything constructive going to be done. Often the answer does not even address the writers original question.
Sadly, this state of affairs promotes actions like this guy’s. It is their desperate effort to gain attention to their cause when the normal channels that are supposed to do this very thing do not work.
That is disgusting, especially when you think of how the Group of Seven have given Canadian parks so much recognition. The less publicity this group gets, the better.
On2ottawa are just terrible group of stupid people. If they want to help get off your ass and go fight a wildfire. Dont deface our history. You just lost any support you may ever have.
On2Ottawa should change its name to On2Jail. Please don’t consider funding these morons. Civil disobedience doesn’t include civil destruction. They are just a bunch of brainless idiots.
Lock ‘‘em up!
What a Moron. How can we take that organization seriously when they think damaging or attempting to damage art in this way is ok.