Support for harsher penalties for cenotaph vandals
Posted November 10, 2011 6:17 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Vancouver Poppy Fund is welcoming a federal private members bill to stiffen the penalties for people who vandalize war memorials. The changes are aimed at sending a stronger message than community service sentences.
If the bill passes it will mean a minimum $1,000 fine for defacing a cenotaph. “Hit them in the pocketbook because it seems to be one the main things people think about is the dollar,” says Jim Howard with the Poppy Fund.
If someone is convicted a second time, they would be handed two weeks behind bars.
Howard adds the memorials remind us of the heroes who didn’t come back from war and they need to be respected.
“They have to do something as far as desecration of cenotaphs and that type of thing. Somebody going out just for fun to destroy something or just mark it up, it’s not the way to fly.”
Earlier this month, a Nanaimo man was arrested for stealing donation boxes and six poppy pots from North Vancouver businesses.
The new bill was introduced this week by Ontario Conservative MP David Tilson.
