CWGC statement on the Halifax Memorial in Canada

The CWGC is deeply saddened by the vandalism to the Halifax Memorial in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and our sympathies go out to the descendants and comrades of the war dead who will be so deeply affected by this news.

The Halifax Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial which commemorates men and women of the forces of the Commonwealth who died in both world wars and have no known grave. It commemorates particularly those Canadian sailors, merchant seamen, soldiers and nursing sisters who lost their lives at sea, and also bears the names of men of the Canadian Army stationed in Canada who have no known grave. The memorial commemorates 272 casualties of the First World War (on panels one to three) and 2,845 from the Second World War (panels four to twenty-three). The present memorial is a replacement built in 1967. It was unveiled in November of that year, with naval ceremony, by H.P. MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, in the presence of R, Teillet, Minister of Veterans Affairs.

CWGC Canadian Agency staff are working with the local authorities to establish the exact circumstances of the incident. We would like to reassure the public that all necessary measures have been taken with the Halifax Regional Municipality in order to remove the graffiti. The Commission’s Canadian Agency is also grateful to the public who devoted their personal time last weekend to helping remove the graffiti.

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