Hate crime investigators from Victoria and Saanich police are looking into anti-Semitic and racist graffiti discovered in seven locations around the Quadra Street and Tolmie Avenue area on Monday morning.
Someone used red spray paint to write the phrase “no Jews,” swastika symbols and the n-word on signs, the side of buildings and playground equipment, sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning.
Two swastikas and the n-word were spray-painted on the front of the Italian Bakery at the corner of Quadra Street and Tolmie Avenue. Anti-Semitic messages and symbols were also found on two land development signs on Tolmie Avenue near Jackson Street, on the side of the Parkdale Evangelical Free Church, a sign in front of the Maplewood Gospel Hall, a cement barricade at the end of Tolmie Avenue and on playground equipment in Rutledge Park in Saanich.
Both Victoria and Saanich police have their hate crime specialists investigating and are sharing information with B.C.’s Hate Crime unit in Vancouver, said Saanich police spokesman Sgt. Steve Eassie.
“When you look at the evidence in totality, it would appear as if it's a hate-motivated type of crime,” Eassie said.
The two departments are working on the case because the vandalism spanned both municipalities.
Rabbi Meir Kaplan, who leads Chabad of Vancouver Island, said he was alerted Monday morning about the graffiti.
“This kind of graffiti is insulting not only to the Jewish community, but it’s insulting to anyone who believes in peace and multiculturalism and respect for all cultures,” Kaplan said. “The reality is that anti-Semitism is something that does exist and not just in other parts of the world but also in Canada. Victoria is a very peaceful place and we don’t encounter this regularly. So we can just hope this is an isolated incident.”
In December 2011, someone desecrated headstones in the Emanu-El Jewish Cemetery with swastikas and hateful language, which led to a rally to denounce the crime. Anti-Jewish graffiti also turned up on playground equipment in Clawthorpe Park on North Dairy Road in May 2010.
Eassie said on Monday residents in the area were “visibly disturbed” by the racist graffiti. “They were upset that someone would have written these type of comments in their neighbourhood.”
Most of the graffiti was removed as quickly as possible, Eassie said, but vandalism to private property, such as the Italian Bakery, has to be removed by the owner. The Italian Bakery is under renovations following a fire in January.
If someone is arrested, the person would likely face a charge of mischief but the hateful messaging would be considered as an aggravating factor in sentencing, Eassie said.
Anyone who saw any suspicious people or vehicles in that area Sunday night or Monday morning is asked to call Victoria police at 250-995-7654 or Saanich police at 250-475-4321.
