Officials decry ‘desecration’ of monuments during Ottawa protest

Some protesters jumped on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and others mounted an inverted Canadian flag to a statue of Terry Fox as they decried vaccine mandates within the nation’s capital on Saturday.

Their actions prompted a refrain of condemnation from public officers and on-line observers, who denounced the “desecration” of the monuments to Canadian heroes by a few of the hundreds who descended on Ottawa for a protest in opposition to COVID-19 measures and the Liberal authorities.

“I'm sickened to see protesters dance on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and desecrate the Nationwide Battle Memorial. Generations of Canadians have fought and died for our rights, together with free speech, however not this. These concerned ought to grasp their heads in disgrace,” stated Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of the defence employees.

A video posted on Twitter by Steven Thornton, director normal on the Division of Nationwide Defence, reveals folks pumping their arms and chanting “Freedom” on the Nationwide Battle Memorial, together with one individual apparently standing atop the tomb.

“After explaining to those lower than nice Canadians of the hallowed grounds upon which they (trod), this was their response within the identify of Freedom,” he wrote.

Ottawa Police stated they'd towed a number of automobiles parked on the memorial earlier within the day.

“The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Nationwide Battle Memorial are sacred websites for our nation. I urge all Canadians to deal with them with solemnity, out of respect for many who have fought and died for Canada,” Defence Minister Anita Anand tweeted. “The behaviour we’re seeing at this time is past reprehensible.”

Conservative Chief Erin O’Toole, who served within the Canadian Armed Forces, additionally spoke out.

“I assist the best to peacefully protest however that shouldn't be confused with blatant disrespect for the women and men who've served, impressed, and guarded our nation,” he tweeted.

“The people desecrating these memorials needs to be ashamed and their behaviour undermines the courageous Canadians who've sacrificed for our nation.”

Some have been additionally outraged by the alterations to the Terry Fox Memorial Sculpture, a bronze statue close to Parliament Hill that honours the younger most cancers affected person who ran throughout Canada in 1980 to lift cash for analysis earlier than his demise at age 22.

Brad West, mayor of Fox’s hometown of Port Coquitlam, B.C., stated touching a statue of Fox is “a kind of issues that you just simply don't do.”

“He’s a unifying determine on this nation. It doesn’t matter the place you reside, it doesn’t matter what your politics are, it doesn’t matter the place you come from,” West stated in a telephone interview. “And for somebody to attempt to acceptable his legacy and picture and the sentiments that Canadians have about him and use it for their very own political assertion, I feel it’s disgusting.”

An indication studying “Mandate Freedom” was additionally affixed to the statue, and — along with the inverted flag — a second Canadian flag was tied like a cape across the statue’s neck.

West stated Port Coquitlam is proud to be the most cancers analysis activist’s hometown, and residents are furious that somebody touched his statue.

“If Port Coquitlam was nearer to Ottawa, I'd have jumped in my truck and drove over there and torn that crap off the statue myself. And I feel that’s the sensation that lots of Canadians have,” stated West, who tweeted that the poster and flags needs to be eliminated instantly.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson responded to that tweet, saying he’d requested metropolis employees to place the statue to rights.

The Terry Fox Basis was amongst these to reply on-line.

“Terry believed in science and gave his life to assist others,” it wrote, saying the inspiration continues Fox’s mission of funding most cancers analysis.

James Moore, nationwide co-chair of the Canadian Most cancers Society and former minister of business beneath Stephen Harper, additionally spoke out.

“Terry Fox died of most cancers that he exacerbated on his Marathon of Hope operating throughout Canada attempting to lift cash to battle a pandemic — fairly the alternative of what’s taking place right here. Have a protest, do your factor, don’t disrespect this monument of a Canadian hero,” Moore tweeted.

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 29, 2022.

—with recordsdata by Brett Bundale in Halifax.