Small Kelowna community park hit by hateful graffiti

Graffiti vandals have struck again in Kelowna’s Glenmore neighbourhood.

Someone tagged a table, sidewalks and playground equipment in and around Calmels Park, just off Calmels Crescent. Some of the tags were hateful, including a swastika and the N-word.

Hanna Vorlickova posted photos of the damage to the Glenmore (Kelowna) Community Facebook group, expressing her disappointment with the vandalism.

Similar racist and hate graffiti was spray painted on North Glenmore Elementary in March 2022 and at Dr. Knox Middle School in October 2022. There was also an incident of racist graffiti targetting a Korean restaurant in November 2021.

Cleaning up the mess in public spaces costs the City of Kelowna more than $400,000 a year, and School District #23 about $10,000 annually.

It also leaves an emotional impact on those who are targetted by the hate messages.

“It’s really disheartening to see those messages. We’ve come a long way in Kelowna” said City of Kelowna community safety advisor Broc Tracey. “We work really fast to get those messages erased and removed from our community so that we can continue to build those relationships.”

Often those responsible cannot be charged because they are too young, so education is key.

“When we do identify them, and we have in the past, we have to work within the Youth Criminal Justice Act,” explains Kelowna RCMP media relations officer, Const. Mike Della-Paolera. He says instead of charges, it’s often a case of restorative justice, counselling and working with parents to correct the behavior.

The superintendent of Central Okanagan public schools says the district’s everyday focus on inclusivity and celebrating diversity prevents most incidents, but it can’t all be prevented.

“You don’t necessarily know what’s happening in homes or where kids are getting information that may be from hateful sites on social media, or what the motivation is for graffiti. But when we get graffiti on our sites, we respond immediately.

“We don’t want it to have impact. So, we want it removed literally overnight, if we can,” said Kevin Kaardal.

Thanks to the efforts of the city police school district and those in the community who speak out against such vandalism Tracey says incidences of graffiti in Kelowna have dropped year-over-year in the first quarter of 2023.