Hate-motivated vandalism in Winnipeg park prompts major cleanup

A cleanup is complete in a Winnipeg park after it was tagged with racist and vulgar graffiti. CTV’s Daniel Halmarson reports.

A major cleanup of a small city park is complete after it was vandalized extensively earlier this week.

Families living in the Centennial neighbourhood arrived at Alderman John O’Hare Park on Thursday morning to find graffiti covering the play structure, picnic table, and even trees.

Some of the graffiti included racial slurs directed at Winnipeg’s Black community.

“This is not an isolated incident,” Nadia Thompson, Black History Manitoba’s program director, told CTV News. “This is happening all over the city and it’s unfortunate.”

Thompson says tagging a public space may seem like mischief, but it’s still hurtful and hateful.

“Whether you’re attacking the Black community, Jewish community, the Asian community, the Indigenous community – it all comes down to hate.”

A Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson told CTV News the incident was reported, and the service’s hate crimes investigators probe these types of incidents.

Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert–Seine River) is urging people to report all incidences of hate-motivated vandalism immediately.

“It’s important because it leaves an indelible mark on the community and those members that see it,” Chambers told CTV News. “If I had walked by there and saw it, it would have impacted me personally as a person of colour.”

Fellow Coun. Vivian Santos (Point Douglas), whose ward includes Alderman John O’Hare Park, said racism has no place in the city – especially on a public playground used by children.

“It’s disheartening to see that we are still faced with racism and hateful crimes and graffiti in our city,” Santos said. “You know, I never want my children to grow up to see that.”

Santos said people living in the area sent her photos of the vandalism on Thursday morning. By Friday afternoon, City of Winnipeg crew were finishing graffiti removal in the park.

Nadia Thompson says the fight against racism is far from over.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow. And as a community, we have to figure out how we can work together and to alleviate these incidents from happening at all.”