2 teens charged in Timmins, Ont., after statues that tell the city's history were defaced

Police in Timmins, Ont., have charged two teenagers after two statues that tell part of the city's mining history were defaced.

Bronze statues of Fredrick Schumacher and Sandy McIntryre — who discovered what became the McIntyre Mine — were spray painted silver.

"It's very much part of the history and the telling of the story of that community, " said Karen Bachman, director of the Timmins Museum.

The museum had the statues built in the mid-1990s to commemorate part of Timmins's mining history.

Bachman said she was "a little bit depressed" when she learned the statues were vandalized.

"We've had some vandalism done on the site here at the museum with our Hollinger House in the last couple of weeks, so it just felt like just another thing."

Bachman said people broke some windows and broke into the historical house, located outside the museum.

She said the municipality will need to make a decision on restoring the two statues. Because they are made with a sheet metal, Bachman added it could be challenging to remove the silver paint without damaging the pieces.