The Ukrainian National Federation (UNF) building in Edmonton was vandalized early Saturday morning.
“I came, saw the person, I took them into custody. Luckily, an EPS officer drove by just at that exact time, they came to assist me, and they determined that they would have them clean the damage and release them,” explained Nicholas Tetzlaff, the security supervisor with Assertive Protective Services.
Along the front of the building, amidst the partially washed-off graffiti, a large letter ‘z’ stood out — the symbol used in Russian propaganda to indicate support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But according to Tetzlaff, the suspect who spray-painted that symbol was not likely to be a Russian supporter.
“I’ve had dozens and dozens of dealings with this person, I don’t know him to have any ties to any hate groups or anything like that,” said Tetzlaff.
This is the second time that the UNF building has been vandalized since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In May 2022, swastikas were painted on the building.
“It happened a year and a half ago, it wasn’t investigated, [and] nobody [was] brought to justice. And it’s happened again. And guess what? It’s going to happen again, because unpunished evil grows,” said Ivan Lypovyk, the president of the UFN branch in Edmonton.
When security responded to the incident, they didn’t recognize the symbols being spray painted as hate speech, and the man was not charged. Lypovyk says this is not an isolated incident, which he says speaks to a larger issue in Canada.
“It specifically targeted the Ukrainian community. It specifically tries to paint Ukrainians as nazis, as whatever, to try and push the Russian narrative. And we really call for the municipal and provincial government to condemn these actions, because we are too naive here in Canada to think it’s not affecting Canada and Canadian decision-makers.”