N.B. monument defaced with swastikas

HALIFAX — Members of Jewish community in Moncton, N.B., are showing little concern over a recent defacement of a local monument built to remember victims of violence.


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The monument in Riverview, N.B., a town not far from Moncton, was covered in swastikas and racist slogans. The vandalism comes at a symbolic time, as the monument also commemorates the 14 women who died in the Dec. 6, 1989, massacre at Montreal’s École Polytechnique.

“Once in a while, people show anti-Semitism in our community,” said Francis Weil, president of Congregation Tiferes Israel and a retired professor at the Université de Moncton who now teaches part time.

“But I was talking to friend at local cathedral, and he sees more vandalism that we do. There are some groups with weird ideas who are probably not as much anti-Jewish as they are anti-religion.”

Jack Haller, a past vice-president of the synagogue and a Moncton lawyer, said he thought the event was a one-time incident directed at the women’s monument.

“This happened in suburban Riverview,” he noted. “The Moncton Jewish population lives almost entirely in the city of Moncton. We’re more concerned about someone who urinated on the shul two weeks ago, an action that was captured on our security cameras. The police have the man’s face and are pursuing the case.”

The vandalized monument, a round granite slab, was covered in yellow spray paint and a swastika was painted over the peace dove. Parts of the inscription were completely obscured by paint, and someone spray-painted racist slogans on the concrete base. There was so much graffiti in industrial-strength paint that the monument’s lettering had to be repainted.

The monument was cleaned up quickly after the discovery of the defacement and will be restored in time for a Dec. 6 ceremony at the site.

A representative of the Moncton-area committee that organizes events to mark the Dec. 6 massacre said she doesn’t believe women were meant to be the target of the vandals but attributed it to a growing prevalence of graffiti in the area.