In Ottawa, police say they are investigating after the National Holocaust Monument was defaced with what appears to be red paint and the words “feed me” painted across the front.
The monument is located a short distance west of Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa.
“This is an expression of pure hate. Hate that’s directed against monuments to commemorate the loss of six million people in the Second World War,” said Israeli ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed.
“What we see…is a renewed, modern version of the same hate against Jews and against people who just live their own lives. This hate must be eradicated. This must stop.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “appalled” by the act of vandalism in a statement on the social media platform X.
“This is a monument that commemorates the six million Jewish lives murdered during the Holocaust, and the millions of other victims of Nazi Germany. It is a space for mourning and remembrance, and its defacing is reprehensible,” he wrote.
Global News reached out to Ottawa Police who said they “are aware of the incident and are investigating,” with no other information as of yet.
Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi posted on X that this was “A disgraceful, antisemitic act of vandalism.”
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“The National Holocaust Monument honours the memory of six million Jews and all victims of Nazi atrocities. Defacing it is not protest—it is hate, and I condemn it,” he added.
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, said on X that the monument “is a sacred space of remembrance and reflection to honour the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis.”
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“Vandalizing the monument does nothing to bring peace to the Middle East. It is an act of vile antisemitism and a hate crime. Full stop,” Lyons said.
“This is a disgusting display of Jew Hatred in our nation’s capital. I will be speaking immediately with the relevant federal authorities & law enforcement agencies about this. May the memories of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust be a blessing.”
Conservative Party deputy leader Melissa Lantsman also called the defacement a “disgusting and cowardly act.”
“Defacing sacred ground in honour of the millions of victims of the Holocaust in the middle of the night with spray paint isn’t protest, it’s vandalism,” Lantsman wrote on X. “Someone this pathetic deserves to be identified and held accountable.”
Located at the corner of Booth and Wellington in downtown Ottawa, the National Holocaust Monument has been a target of vandalism in the past, with a 2020 incident investigated as a hate crime.
—With files from Global’s Sean Boynton
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