WAR MONUMENT VANDALIZED ON REMEMBRANCE DAY

A Montreal man said he and other residents were shocked and saddened after a war memorial was defaced with graffiti on Remembrance Day. Berj Merdjanian says he saw the lettering early Saturday morning when he went to work at his photo studio in the city’s Saint- Laurent borough. Someone had spray-painted profanity and antiwar messages in red lettering across the white cenotaph, hours before ceremonies were set to begin at 11 a.m. “It’s an insult to the army, and to soldiers that died for us, and even now I feel emotional be- cause every time I see it I get goosebumps,” he said. Merdjanian says city workers arrived quickly to remove the messages, but not before they were seen by several citizens who arrived early. He said several of them became emotional, including a family with three children who quickly left the park. Montreal police confirmed they are investigating. A statue of Sir John A. Macdonald was also vandalized. Images showed the statue covered in what appeared to be red paint with profanity painted at the base.