A Vancouver Island brewery has been vandalized, two days after a photo of one of its owners wearing a "Show Me the Evidence" shirt on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation set off a backlash online.
On Friday, Oct. 2, someone spray-painted "evidence?" across the outside of Sooke Brewing Company in Sooke, B.C., about 40 kilometres west of Victoria.
The graffiti appears to reference the shirt worn by John Adair, the brewery's co-owner and head brewer, while he was working on Sept. 30.
The day after the photo spread, the brewery apologized, closed temporarily, and announced that Adair had been "terminated, effective immediately."
Sooke RCMP have opened a criminal investigation into the vandalism and are reviewing surveillance video. No suspect has been identified.
The photo
The photo showed Adair inside the brewery in a black shirt with "SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE" printed across the front, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
It spread quickly online. Critics read the message as questioning the history of Canada's residential school system, on the one day set aside to honour survivors.
Adair hasn't publicly said what he meant by it.
What the brewery said
Sooke Brewing posted its first statement on Facebook on Sept. 30, signed by the "SBC Ownership Group." It didn't name Adair, but confirmed the man in the photo was one of its owners, wearing "an offensive T-shirt while working at the brewery."
"We want to be unequivocal: the message displayed on that shirt does not reflect the values of Sooke Brewing Company," the post said.
"What occurred at our brewery was inappropriate and unacceptable. We also recognize that an apology needs to be more than an expression of regret."
At first, the brewery said it was addressing the matter internally.
The next day, a second post began: "John Adair has been terminated, effective immediately."
"We are devastated by his actions and sincerely apologize for the hurt they have caused," the brewery wrote. "We stand with our community in condemning this behaviour and have made the decision to close the brewery for now."
"Sooke is our home. We grew up here. We live here. And we work here."
The brewery said it had reached out to First Nations leadership "to listen, understand their concerns, and determine the appropriate next steps to ensure something like this does not happen again." CityNews reported it also cancelled its upcoming events.
Owner Carl Scott told the Sooke News Mirror the brewery was "deeply disappointed in the actions of one of our co-workers."
Adair is also one of the owners
Adair wasn't only the head brewer. He was one of five owners of Sooke Brewing Company, according to CityNews.
Employment and ownership are separate issues. The brewery hasn't said what Adair's termination means for his stake in the business.
'evidence?' on the building
On Friday, Sooke RCMP got a report that the word "evidence?" had been spray-painted in large letters on the brewery's exterior.
Staff Sgt. Greg Willcocks, commander of the Sooke RCMP detachment, told CTV News officers are reviewing surveillance footage. He said he wasn't aware of any damage beyond the paint, and that it's the first vandalism report police have received connected to the controversy.
"We're going to increase patrols in our area, and make our presence generally be known," Willcocks said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Sooke RCMP.
The wrong brewery is losing business
Sooke Oceanside Brewery, known locally as S.O.B., has no connection to Adair or Sooke Brewing Company. But the names are close enough that people have been mixing them up.
Owner Ryan Orr told CTV News his brewery has been hit with negative online reviews, boycott calls and lost wholesale orders because of it.
Sooke Oceanside opened in 2016, a year before Sooke Brewing Company, and has raised concerns about the similar names before. This week, the mix-up cost it money.
Days after a gathering in Kamloops
The Sooke controversy comes less than a week after another residential school incident in B.C.
On Sept. 27, masked men associated with Second Sons Canada gathered on Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc land near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Tk'emlúps leadership described the group as linked to white supremacist and white nationalist ideology. Later that day, masked men held a banner on a Kamloops overpass reading "Got bones?"
Our coverage of the Kamloops incident is here.
Why Sept. 30 matters
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation became a federal statutory holiday in 2021. It honours residential school survivors, their families and communities, and the children who never came home.
It's also known as Orange Shirt Day, after survivor Phyllis Webstad, whose new orange shirt was taken from her on her first day at a residential school in B.C. in 1973.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada documented the deaths of thousands of children who attended residential schools.
Sooke sits on the traditional territory of the T'Sou-ke Nation.
Support is available
Former residential school students and anyone affected can call the national Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419, 24 hours a day.
Sources
Sooke Brewing Company, Facebook posts, September 30 and October 1, 2026
BC RCMP Media Relations Officers, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
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