Police in Surrey, B.C. are investigating after a cenotaph was vandalized at the city’s Heritage Campus.
The cenotaph, located just outside the Museum of Surrey, is missing its kneeling soldier statue.
The City of Surrey said the statue was pushed off the cenotaph on March 29.
Earle Fraser, of the Cloverdale Legion branch, said the local members are quite upset.
“Our kneeling soldier that sat on top of the cenotaph has been vandalized and he’s now in for repairs,” he said.
“The Cloverdale Legion was the branch that created it, built it, and raised the funds, and now he is not here. The Legion is very upset and we are getting many calls, ‘Where is our soldier?’”
Fraser said the entire incident was something he would never expect.
“I was flabbergasted. I was thinking, ‘Where did it go?’” Fraser told Global News.
“There are five to six thousand people who come here every year to pay their respects.”
The City of Surrey told Global News it has the statue and is currently repairing the damages that it sustained during the vandalism.
Yvon Lehoux, Cloverdale Legion’s sgt. at arms, said the vandalism is blatant disrespect to those that fought for the country’s freedoms.
“To see such damage caused to a sacred, sacred symbol of the freedom and the sacrifices that past service members been through so that today we can live in peace… it’s unheard of,” he said. “I am deeply saddened over this, symbols like this should be revered.”
The city said the statue will be reinstalled “in the coming weeks.”