MONTREAL – Illegal graffiti is a constant presence in Montreal, some benign and some questionable.
Now, at least one good Samaritan is hoping to get rid of any anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted around the city.
Corey Fleischer owns his own power washing company and for the past 5 years, he’s made it his mission to get rid of as many hate crime messages as he can.
“I have the equipment and the know-how to get rid of everything,” Fleischer told Global News.
“One day I popped out and I saw a three-foot swastika sitting on a cement block and that’s how it all started.”
He doesn’t only get rid of anti-Semitic symbols, he tries to get rid of all hate messages in general and he said he’s pretty much seen it all.
“I get a lot of swastikas, I get lot of ‘KKKs’, I get a lot of graffiti on churches, mosques, synagogues, sometimes cemeteries.”
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He finds them in mostly ethnic areas like Outremont, NDG and Côte Saint-Luc.
“It’s something that brings tension and I’m just trying to cut the tension.”
The procedure takes him less than five minutes but it’s something the community is very grateful for it.
Harvey Levine at B’nai Brith Canada believes it’s vital to remove hate graffiti as soon as possible.
Sometimes the city doesn’t react fast enough so they often rely on Fleischer to take care of it.
“It affects the Holocaust survivors and families of survivors who dread bringing up those horrible memories and it also affects young children in school areas where they are exposed to it,” he explained.
The real issue he says, is targeting those who are doing it in the first place.
“They have to take it much more seriously and not just treat it as vandalism.”
For now, good Samaritan Corey Fleischer is doing what he can to clean up the city, one hateful message at a time.
To get hate crime graffiti removed in your neighborhood call: 514-983-8787
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