Cranbrook RCMP is investigating an act of vandalism committed against the Kootenay city’s cenotaph on Remembrance Day.
Mounties say they were called to the site around 7 a.m., when a passerby noticed graffiti scrawled across a memorial at the site.
The words, written in green paint, say, “the real heroes are the vaccinated.”
City workers, firefighters and police scrambled to clean the graffiti and were able to get the message removed before the city’s Remembrance Day parade and ceremony took place at 10:15 a.m.
In a statement, the City of Cranbrook said it was “beyond disappointed by the disrespectful actions” of the vandal or vandals.
“This act does not speak to the character and values of our citizens and our community,” it said.
Police said they are actively investigating and will be collecting security video from nearby buildings in the hopes they recorded the vandal.
Cranbrook wasn’t the only B.C. municipality to see vaccine-related disruptions to Remembrance Day memorials.
In Kelowna, demonstrators set up at an unofficial ceremony for Canada’s veterans to speak against vaccine mandates, drawing an angry response from those gathered.