Police seek 4 suspects alleged to have burned Pride flag at Hamilton elementary school

Hamilton police say they're looking for four people they suspect of setting fire to a Pride flag at an elementary school in Hamilton's east end.

On Monday around 10 p.m., video cameras captured two people "fleeing on foot" after setting fire to a Pride flag at St. Gabriel Catholic Elementary School, police said in a news release on Tuesday. They said two more suspects were recorded going the same way.

Police say this is believed to be a hate-motivated crime, and that their hate crime and arson units are investigating and asking for local surveillance video.

"We have received information from community members and are currently investigating those leads," a police spokesperson told CBC Hamilton in an email Wednesday.

The individuals in question are likely between 15 and 19 years old, police say.

The Catholic school is in Hamilton's Stoney Creek area, by Barton Street and Fifty Road.   

"We condemn what we for sure see as a reprehensible act and hope very much that whoever is responsible is apprehended," Pat Daly, chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, told CBC Hamilton. 

Daly said this is the only such incident he knows of happening at the board this year and last year. 

He said the board will offer any support needed to the St. Gabriel community and co-operate with police. 

The majority of Catholic trustees voted to raise the Pride flag in 2022, Daly said, and while he respects that "people of good faith can have different thoughts," he said vandalizing or burning a flag is "beyond reprehensible."

"We will continue to fly it."

Last year, Father Jarek Pachocki, the co-pastor of the Hamilton's St. Patrick Parish, told CBC Hamilton he thinks most Christians are open-minded and becoming more accepting of queer people.

"You will see the people judging, quoting the Bible, taking it out of context and condemning," he said.

"I think it comes from fear. You fear what you don't know."

On Tuesday, Pachoki shared an article about the recent flag burning on social media site X, saying: "The flag is just a symbol of acceptance and assurance of inclusive and safe schools. The expression of hate hurts the kids and shouldn't be tolerated."

In 2023, police reported 23 hate occurrences targeting pride flags, with a jump in June. Det. Const. Lindsay Scott previously told CBC Hamilton that was in part due to an online "challenge" in which people stole or vandalized the flags. 

On Wednesday, the police spokesperson told CBC the Stoney Creek incident is the first reported one in relation to a Pride flag this month. 

They did not answer a question about how many incidents targeting Pride flags police logged prior to June. 

In 2023, there were also four more incidents of police-reported 2SLGBTQ+ hate crimes or incidents. Members of marginalized communities often note that not all hate is reported to police.