Following complaints, City of St. John’s threatens senior with $5K fine for Palestine mural

A St. John’s senior is awaiting a decision from the City over her application to keep a mural on her downtown property, following two complaints over the painting.

For years, Marilyn Porter, a professor emeritus at Memorial University and longtime peace activist, has dealt with graffiti painted on the retaining wall on her property, which sits adjacent Bannerman Park on the corner of Rennie’s Mill Road and Circular Road. She says the City of St. John’s has never asked her to remove any of those in the past.

But now that the 83-year-old has a mural which carries a political message she supports, the City is asking her to remove it or seek approval from the City’s heritage committee, otherwise she could face a $5,000 fine.

Porter says she returned home from traveling in late October and found a mural covering part of the approximately 150-foot concrete retaining wall on her property. It reads “ARMS EMBARGO NOW .ca” in reference to Canada’s supply of military equipment to Israel amid Israel’s decimation of Gaza and what many in the international community say amounts to genocide. To date, an estimated 45,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them women and children. Some say the death toll is much higher.

The mural features a black background with the message written in white block letters, with a red rectangle around the word “NOW” and that word painted in black. It then has, in smaller print, a “.ca” which indicates a URL or website address. ArmsEmbargoNow.ca features a statement saying that “Canada’s own laws, based on the Arms Trade Treaty, require that it stop permitting the export of military technology when there’s a substantial risk those exports could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law, or commit serious acts of violence against women and children.”

It also features various campaigns aimed at pressuring the Government of Canada to halt all military exports to Israel. Among the organizations which launched the coalition are World Beyond War, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, and Labour for Palestine.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that there is a “plausible” case that Israel is committing acts of genocide in Gaza, and that Palestinians there face a “real and imminent risk” of genocide. By reiterating that States have an obligation to prevent genocide, the ICJ ruling puts Canada on notice that, as a party to the Genocide Convention, it must do everything within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza.

Porter says she doesn’t know who exactly painted the mural but assumes it’s someone who knows how strongly she feels about the matter.

“I don’t object to it in any way, and I support the sentiment behind it,” she told The Independent. “And I don’t want it removed.”

In a Nov. 5 statement to The Independent, the City said “two complaints were filed directly referencing that the property was violating City by-laws pertaining to signage.” But, the City added, “no political motivation for their removal was referenced.”

Porter says she has traveled to Palestine several times since 1966, and has been involved in several efforts to help Palestinians overcome Israel’s occupation of their territories. 

Originally from Britain, she has Irish grandparents and attended university in Ireland. She says she was “brought up on that whole mess in the North, and the behavior of the British there,” which she says are “independence issues, and the use of the dominant military — all those issues are very similar to what’s happening in Gaza now.”

The City’s letter to Porter, dated Oct. 28, 2024, claims the mural on her property is in violation of Section 6 of the St. John’s Building By-Law, which may be an error as it doesn’t appear to apply to artwork or signs on residents’ properties. Section 6 states that “a building permit is required for all new construction and extensions, additions, structural changes affecting loadbearing members, floor layout changes and relocation of existing buildings.” 

The letter also says Porter is in violation of multiple sections of the St. John’s Sign By-Law, which prohibits signs on designated heritage buildings unless approved by the City’s Heritage Committee “and at the discretion of Council.”

After receiving the letter, Porter says she filed the appropriate application with the hope she can keep the mural on her retaining wall.

Councillor-at-Large Maggie Burton, who serves as the council liaison for the City’s Built Heritage Experts Panel, said the panel will consider the application and then refer it to council with their recommendation. After that, council “has the discretion to approve or reject the application,” she explained.

“I can say that my recommendation to council, if the application is brought forward, will be to approve it because residents are entitled to freedom of political speech,” Burton said. “Ms. Porter has the constitutional right to express her political views on her private property and I will encourage council to recognize that right.”

Porter says her retaining wall “is a standing temptation for graffiti artists,” and that she “mostly leave[s] it alone unless [the messages] are racist or sexist,” in which case, she explains, she would “get someone to clean it up in the spring.” 

But the “arms embargo now” message, she says, should stay.