The hate crime and bias unit of the Ottawa Police Service is leading a vandalism investigation after the National Holocaust Memorial was painted red with “Feed Me” scrawled on the exterior overnight Sunday, June 8, into Monday, June 9.
The monument is managed by the National Capital Commission and a spokesperson confirmed via email that cleanup was underway. The memorial is located in the central LeBreton Flats area by the Ottawa River, which also contains the Canadian War Museum, and LeBreton Park.
Jewish organizations, and Canadian elected and government officials were among those quick to call out the clearly antisemitic act, displayed visibly in the centre of the national capital.
MP Yasir Naqvi, who represents Ottawa Centre where the monument is located, denounced the vandalism in online posts, calling it a “disgraceful, antisemitic act of vandalism” that dishonoured “the memory of six million Jews and all victims of Nazi atrocities
“I have been in contact with Tobi Nussbaum, Chief Executive Officer of the National Capital Commission. Crews have been on site since 7:30 am cleaning the graffiti, and they should be finished shortly,” Naqvi wrote June 9, adding that he had urged OPS police chief, Eric Stubbs, to “undertake a swift investigation, and to treat it as a hate crime,” shortly before the OPS release confirmed its hate crime unit is leading the investigation.
Lawrence Greenspon, an Ottawa lawyer and the co-chair of the National Holocaust Monument Committee, said that beyond the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the vandalism, the root cause of rising antisemitism in Canada requires action, not only the right words at the right time, from government officials.
“Our political leaders, including our prime minister, have to stop blaming Israel for the situation in Gaza,” Greenspon said in a brief interview with The CJN. He called Hamas the “real culprits” for the group’s activities “stopping the food and the medical aid and the water getting to the Gazans who need it.”
Framing the situation to blame Israel, as the joint statement last week from Prime Minister Mark Carney and leaders of France and the U.K. did, he says, “is fueling the fires of hatred which cause these types of crimes.”
“We are long past the ‘oh this is unacceptable’ comments of our political leaders.”
The monument has been the site for the past five years of remembrance ceremonies in January for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and in April, for Yom ha-Shoah.
“The prime minister and leader of the opposition, ambassadors, diplomats, members of our community, members of other communities, school children, high school students have all been in attendance for these events,” said Greenspon.
“Everyone knows where the Holocaust monument is, and to desecrate this monument in the nation’s capital is a sign of the level of antisemitism in this country.”
Fran Sonshine, immediate past chair of the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem, was central to the creation of the monument, which was unveiled in 2017.
She told The CJN that she was saddened and disgusted, though wasn’t entirely surprised, that the monument was vandalized. She had visited the memorial in April, she says, for an event to commemorate Yom ha-Shoah, and commented to her husband then that she was surprised that “no one’s defaced it yet.”
“All the politicians are saying the right words. What are they doing?” she said.
“Are we waiting for Boulder or Washington? If things don’t change, that’s what’s going to happen,” she said, referring to an attack on Jews in Boulder, Colo., on June 1 and the killing of two Israel embassy staffers as they left an event at a Jewish museum two weeks ago in Washington, D.C.
She says her parents, who survived the Holocaust, came to Canada with nothing, and were grateful to arrive, but that this Canada is a different one than the one where she grew up.
She noted that her children and grandchildren are surrounded by a different security reality.
“They’re hearing things … at school…. there are armed guards outside the synagogue, people standing at the door with guns to protect us. This is not normal. When is it enough?”
Sonshine, who lives in the area of Toronto where Israel rallies and pro-Palestinian counter-protests have faced off weekly for months, wants to see political leaders ban masks and face coverings at protests, and says there’s far too much allowance of hate speech at the demonstrations.
“See what happens when they [protesters] do whatever they want,” she said. “Is this the Canada we want?”
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s Special Envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism called the vandalism, “a disgusting display of Jew Hatred in our national’s capital.” In an online post, she wrote that “vandalizing the monument does nothing to bring peace to the Middle East.
“It is an act of vile antisemitism and a hate crime. I will be speaking immediately with the relevant federal authorities & law enforcement agencies about this.”
In a further statement emailed by Heritage Canada, Lyons said it was “a clear antisemitic hate crime targeting Jews in Canada who have no ties to or effect on Israeli government policy.
“Vandalizing a Holocaust memorial and other Jewish community spaces affects far more than property damage—as it is a deliberate assault on memory, respect, and our Canadian shared values. This must not be accepted in our society,” read the statement. “We must ensure that antisemitism is confronted and that all Canadians can live in safety and dignity.”
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, denounced the graffiti, calling it a “desecration,” in a statement from Jerusalem. This was “the latest in a series of appalling acts of vandalism against Jewish and Holocaust-related sites worldwide,” according to Yad Vashem’s statement.
“Holocaust memorials serve as solemn reminders of the unparalleled horrors perpetrated during one of the darkest chapters in human history and are a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked antisemitism,” the statement went on. It called for Canadian authorities to “find the perpetrators and bring them to justice” while it urged leaders and officials in Canada to “do more to counter the root of the problem: hatred and antisemitism.”
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe wrote in a post that it was “shocking and disturbing to see [the memorial] defaced today.”
Sutcliffe wrote: “Protests and demonstrations are an essential part of our democracy. Disfiguring a sacred monument in a way that will traumatize victims, survivors and their families is not.” He said he was reaching out to the Jewish community in Ottawa.
Canada’s political leaders also expressed outrage at the vandalism.
“Appalled by the National Holocaust Memorial being vandalized by graffiti overnight,” Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on 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.”
Conservative Party MP Melissa Lantsman, deputy co-leader of the party, and Leader Pierre Poilievre, currently without a seat in Parliament, condemned the vandalism on social media, with Lantsman calling the act “cowardly.”
“Parliament is just steps away — that’s where dissent belongs,” wrote Lantsman.
“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, who represents Thornhill, continued, adding that “someone this pathetic deserves to be identified and held accountable.”
“The antisemitic thugs who vandalized the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa should be caught and locked up for this crime,” Poilievre wrote. “We must empower authorities to stop antisemitic lawbreakers and make Canada safe for all.”
Ottawa Police in a media release urged anyone with information to contact police.
“The OPS treats incidents of this nature seriously and recognizes the profound impact they have on the community,” read the release. “Reporting hate-motivated incidents is an important step in stopping cycles of hatred.”
