Vandalizing of Wayne Gretzky statues in Brantford, Ont. stupid but not exactly treason

While it's not quite on the scale of defiling a memorial to our honoured war dead, this week's vandalizing of statues of hockey great Wayne Gretzky has upset the good burghers of Brantford, Ont., home of The Great One.

The Canadian Press reports someone used spray paint to deface the statues of Gretzky as a kid and as as an NHL superstar hoisting the Stanley Cup in victory.

The collection, located outside the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre, was just unveiled last Sunday. The vandal attacked the statutes sometime between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

Statues of Gretzky's mum and dad, Phyllis and Walter, holding hands with young Wayne apparently were left untouched.

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Brantford Mayor Chris Friel called the vandalism "disgraceful" and a "crime against the community," CP said.

“It’s troubling when an icon of our city is being defaced like that," police Insp. Scott Easto told CTV News.

Police are reviewing amateur video footage they've received, hoping to identify a suspect. Given the blue paint used in the attack, perhaps they should be looking for a Maple Leafs fan. The damage was quickly cleaned up and not everyone was taking the incident seriously.

I wouldn't go that far. While mindless vandalism is contemptible under any circumstances, this doesn't rise to the desecration of Canadian war memorials.

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Last month, a graffiti tagger defaced the Highway of Heroes mural in a downtown Toronto alley honouring Canadian soldiers who died overseas.

CTV News reported the mural, located by the coroner's office that is the last stop for the remains of fallen soldiers before they're returned to their families, was created by local graffiti artists three years ago as a tribute. That didn't give it immunity from taggers.

“It pretty much moved me to tears,” Toronto police Const. Scott Mills, who pushed to create the mural, told CTV News. “I just can’t believe that somebody did something like this to such an iconic piece.”

Last year around Remembrance Day, vandals defaced a Toronto Second World War memorial, writing "Canada will burn; Praise Allah" on it with a black marker.

Police were treating it as a hate crime, the Toronto Sun reported.

“This is an identifiable group,” Det. Anthony Williams told reporters. “The veterans should be respected. That’s a total disrespect for our sworn members and military members who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

“I can’t speculate as to what their motivation is, but if they did this on Nov. 10 or 11 … someone is looking for an opportunity to draw attention to themselves."

War memorials have also been targeted by callous metal thieves. Last month, someone pried pieces of bronze from a First World War cenotaph at a cemetery in Langley Township, just east of Vancouver, CTV News reported.

An identical memorial was stolen from nearby Fort Langley a few years ago and the recently vandalized one was used as a template for a replacement.