N.W.T. election candidate's signs defaced with racist graffiti
An election candidate in Fort Smith, N.W.T., says he's disturbed and disappointed by racist graffiti found on two of his campaign signs in the community.
"I want to think it wasn't malicious or, you know, tied to any campaign-related stuff, and it was just, you know, kids making poor decisions," said Thebacha candidate Jay Macdonald, about his damaged signs.
"That's my hope."
Macdonald said he got a call on Saturday morning telling him that someone had drawn a swastika on his face pictured on one of his signs on McDougal Road, one of the town's main streets.
Macdonald said he was disappointed, but decided to write it off as a random case of "kids being kids."
A photo of one of the defaced signs. (Diane Yuhas)
That evening, though, another of his signs further up the road was defaced in a similar way — with another swastika drawn on his face, along with a racial slur.
"I think we have a nice community here and you know, to see that level of hate ... it is just really, really disturbing," he said.
He said he contacted the RCMP and Elections N.W.T. about the incidents.
Elections N.W.T. spokesperson Matthew Mallon said in an email to CBC News that he could not comment on the specifics of the case. He said any such vandalism is an offence under the Elections and Plebiscites Act, and should be reported to police.
CBC has contacted RCMP about the incidents in Thebacha but has not yet had a response.
Macdonald says one of his damaged signs has already had the graffiti removed, and the other is still being repaired and should be back up soon. He says there have been no other incidents reported since Saturday, involving his signs or those of the other Thebacha candidates, Connie Benwell or Frieda Martselos.
Macdonald wants to find out who did the damage and ensure that it doesn't happen again.
"We're in a democracy here and we're trying to, you know, all do the best for our communities by putting ourselves out there. And I was just, yeah, really disappointed more than anything," Macdonald said.
