Historian Rochelle Bush from the BME Church in St. Catharines says she was shocked at vandalism this weekend.
But she tells CKTB's Tim Denis that her first thought was pretty grim, "The truth Tim, Thank god I am Canadian and they couldn't go to Walmart and buy an AR-15."
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Many parts of the downtown St. Catharines school including the sign and statue of Tubman were vandalized, they have since been covered over.
Bush says the act cannot be brushed off by the public, "There are going to be those people out there who are going to say 'it was just a joke', or 'they really didn't understand what they were doing' or 'it really means nothing'. No, this was a hate crime against two communities it's as simple as that, anyone that sees it differently there is something wrong with them."
Niagara Regional Police spokesperson Stephanie Sabourin says that detectives are looking into the incident, "We do have detectives with our criminal investigative branch looking into it as well as our equity diversity and inclusion unit are aware and looking into it with the hate crime coordinator out of intel." She adds, "It is important that they get as much information they can and need to investigate to determine the motive and then we will act accordingly."
NRP are also asking for people in the neighbourhood to check any cameras they have to see if they have anything to pass along to detectives.