UPDATE (Friday, October 7)
West Coast Coalition Against Racism (WCCAR) members and supporters will gather beside the Vancouver Olympic Cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza in downtown Vancouver at 12 p.m. and then walk over to the Komagata Maru Memorial site to hold a protest rally at the site of Komagata Maru Memorial.
VANCOUVER Police have launched an investigation after the Komagata Maru Memorial was vandalized for the second time in 14 months.
“Detectives from a number of VPD specialized units are working together to collect evidence and identify the suspect(s) in this troubling incident,” said Constable Jason Doucette on Wednesday.
“This investigation will take time, but we’ll leave no stone unturned in our attempts to solve this senseless crime.”
The VPD initiated an investigation on October 4, after learning from a social media post that the glass on the front of the Komagata Maru Memorial had been shattered. The memorial, located on the waterfront in Coal Harbour, appears to have been intentionally damaged.
“We don’t just want to find the person who did this, but also understand why this cherished memorial was targeted,” said Doucette. “We’re looking into whether this vandalism is connected to a similar crime Saturday morning at the Olympic Cauldron in Jack Poole Plaza.”
This is the second time in as many years that someone has deliberately defaced the Komagata Maru memorial. A four-month Vancouver Police investigation led to the arrest of Yuniar Kurniawan, who is currently charged with mischief, after someone used paint to vandalize the memorial in August 2021.
Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call investigators at 604-717-0613, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
MEANWHILE, Vancouver Park Board Chair Stuart Mackinnon in a statement said: “I am saddened and angered to hear of the defacement of the Komagata Maru memorial.
“This is a despicable, cowardly act that must be called out. The perpetrators must be caught. There is no place for hate in our city.
“This is not the first time this monument has been vandalized, and while the perpetrators’ motivation isn’t yet clear, it shows enormous disrespect to those who travelled and suffered on the ship and to their families.
“It is shocking and heartbreaking that a community which has been historically marginalized has once again been subjected to a hateful act.
“Everyone at the Park Board condemns in the strongest terms this abhorrent act of racism. We stand in solidarity with the South Asian community.”
The Komagata Maru Memorial was also vandalized in August 2021.
