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June 27, 2008
Vandalism in Kelowna
Community centre tagged with racial slurs.
RON FRIEDMAN
Swastikas and hateful messages were spray-painted on the walls of the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre in Kelowna over the weekend.
The vandalism took place some time between 5:30 p.m. on June 20 and 7 a.m. on June 21, according to an RCMP release. There were no witnesses and RCMP found no evidence at the scene to link any suspects to the crime. A day care adjacent to the OJCC was also targeted with anti-Semitic graffiti.
"The community at large has been extremely supportive. We have been inundated with phone calls and considerations from right across the city and the region," said Marcia Turner, president of the OJCC. "Although the community itself feels very targeted, we weren't the only ones targeted." Turner pointed to graffiti markings found on the school across the street from them – Glenmore Elementary School – and on cars in the neighborhood.
While the building has been the object of anti-Semitic graffiti before, "it was never in the front of the building and it was never defaced in the way it is now," said Turner. "They used the entire canvas of the facility, the front of the facility, a small panel on the side was extremely graffitied, as well as the concrete steps."
Mel Kotler, former president of the OJCC, said he received a call on Saturday morning from the day-care operator, who first saw the markings. "It was horrible, it was horrific," said Kotler when describing the hateful messages. "We had 'Re-open the ovens,' 'Death to niggers,' 'Burn a Jew,' swastikas, 'God hates you,' all absolutely horrible," he said.
Kotler said that graffiti was a regular occurrence in some Kelowna neighborhoods. "We've had a rash of Friday night graffiti taggings going on in the city for months and months, and this neighborhood was tagged," he said. "My personal sense is that this is just part of the work of Friday night vandals who go around and then decided to make this a special event. I don't think that this is a part of a real movement in the Okanagan."
When asked if the community had experience with this type of occurrence before, Kotler replied, "We had one minor one that was dealt with by the RCMP very quickly, it never made the media ... nothing close to this level."
Const. Julie Rattee of the Kelowna RCMP said that the RCMP was conducting an investigation: "We are currently working with the provincial hate crimes team, who has an officer helping the local unit to work on the case."
The city of Kelowna is currently operating a graffiti eradication and prevention program and runs a graffiti hotline that allows Kelowna residents to report graffiti vandalism on private and public properties.
The graffiti was painted over by a local resident prior to the opening of the day care on Monday morning. "It was individual motivation, he did it because his children had previously been part of the day care, so he was familiar with the facility. He lives in the neighborhood and it was on his own initiative, to try to help the children," said Turner.
RCMP are interested in speaking with anyone who may have information relating to this incident and Crimestoppers is offering a reward for any information leading to an arrest. Crimestoppers can be reached at 1-800-222-TIPS.
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