A monument commemorating Canadian soldiers who fell during the first and second world wars, and the Korean war was covered with graffiti for the second time since the summer of 2010. Last year, the monument had been vandalized by a teenager, who was later caught (by a soldier, no less).
Understandably, the incident has angered city officials, local residents and members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
The cenotaph – Monument aux braves de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce – is in Notre-Dame-de-Grace Park, where, ironically, a new festival aimed at promoting legal graffiti art among youth – the Hip Hop You Can’t Stop festival – had been held only 24 hours prior. How unfortunate that an act as irresponsible as defacing a war memorial might reflect negatively on an event which has otherwise been received positively.
This is a tremendous lack of respect for Canadian soldiers and their families, in addition to being a criminal act.
It also highlights the importance of the work being done by the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace borough, and Prevention NDG (the non-profit organization managing several community improvement initiatives, including the lauded graffiti removal program), to combat the graffiti problem which has become a concern for several of the citizens in the community.
*Special thanks to Robert for providing the correct information about the monument.