City urging Brookside Cemetery visitors to leave damaged headstones alone

WINNIPEG — The city of Winnipeg is asking any visitors and monument owners at Brookside Cemetery to not attempt to repair damaged headstones themselves.

Officials said the city is processing the damage to the dozens of headstones at the cemetery and contacting owners who have been affected.

West End resident John LaPorte originally noticed the damage while taking a weekly walk through the cemetery last week.

“I was shocked, that somebody would do it. Then I was sad, because there are a lot of children’s graves, a lot of baby’s headstones that they knocked over,” he said.

READ MORE: Dozens of headstones destroyed at Brookside Cemetery

After posting the damage on Facebook, he said there have been a lot of people asking to help repair the damage.

“There were people contacting me that wanted to come clean up, that wanted to put some headstones back.”

LaPorte said he had originally planned a clean up Tuesday morning, but after talking with city officials he decided to cancel to respect the families involved.

The city said it will take the remainder of the week to photograph monuments and assess the damage. Officials said attempting to repair memorials without professional help could result in an injury, and risk of causing further damage to the headstones.