Campbellford mayor “disgusted” by toonie designer’s noose protest
Posted April 11, 2011 11:23 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CAMPBELLFORD, Ont. – The mayor of Campbellford, Ont., a small town east of Peterborough, wants to send a distinguished local resident packing in response to a controversial display in front of his home.
Brent Townsend hung a noose overtop of a giant five-metre-tall cross on his front lawn, in what he has called a protest against the township building a new bridge that would require the demolition of his home.
Townsend, a renowned wild-life artist who is best known for designing the polar bear image on the Canadian toonie, moved to Campbellford from Toronto in 1996.
Now, Mayor Hector MacMillan, who is the mayor of Trent Hills – a municipality containing Campbellford, has asked Townsend to return to his native Scarborough. MacMillan accused Townsend of bringing a bad name to the small-town and of bringing a mindset that would not be tolerated.
MacMillan had previously been honoured with a giant eight-metre-tall statue of the toonie constructed in a park in Campbellford, but MacMillan told the Toronto Star Townsend could take the toonie statue with him, and he would gladly put it in his trunk for him.
The Ontario Provincial Police said the cross display does not fall under hate crime legislation, and town officials have been unable to find a municipal bylaw that would force the removal of the cross.
Campbellford made headlines last fall after a Halloween party saw a man dressed in a Ku Klux Klan costume leading a man with black facepaint and a noose tied around his neck.
