4 Cowichan Valley schools targeted with racist graffiti, district says
A school district on Vancouver Island says several of its schools have been targeted with racist graffiti in recent weeks.
The Cowichan Valley School District says the incidents started on May 12, and have been increasing in frequency since then.
Each one has been reported to local RCMP, who are investigating, the school district said in a news release Thursday.
The schools targeted with the racist graffiti are:
- May 12: Discovery Elementary School in Shawnigan Lake
- June 6: Frances Kelsey Secondary School in Mill Bay (first incident)
- June 13: Frances Kelsey Secondary School (second incident)
- June 22: École Mount Prevost in Duncan
- June 23: Cowichan Secondary School in Duncan
The school district asks anyone who witnessed the incidents or has information about them to contact the RCMP. Tips about Discovery Elementary and Frances Kelsey should be provided to Lake Cowichan RCMP at 250-743-5514, while tips about the other schools should be provided to North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP at 250-748-5522.
“We are working closely with our RCMP partners to find out who is responsible for these reprehensible acts," said Candace Spilsbury, chair of the board of education for the Cowichan Valley School District, in the news release.
"We know that, unfortunately, racism is alive and well in our communities," Spilsbury added. "We are relying on members of our communities to come forward with any information that may help us find those that continue to target our students, staff, and community through these racist messages."
The school district did not elaborate on the contents of the messages in the graffiti or say what groups the racist messages were targeting.
"The board of education would like to thank the RCMP for their diligence in these investigations, as well as thanking district operations staff who have been quick to respond to these incidents and paint over the graffiti," the district said in its release.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.