There was a visible police presence outside Vancouver’s Ross Street Gurdwara on Monday, following an overnight act of vandalism on Saturday.
The Khalsa Diwan Society that operates the Sikh temple says it’s the first time in the facility’s history that slogans like this have defaced their walls.
The graffiti included a word that means “death to.”
“This did not happen at a gurdwara in small towns, the graffiti and kind of slogans that was written even back in the racist days,” said Jagdeep Singh Sanghera, vice-president of the Khalsa Diwan Society.
“For that to happen in today’s world, today’s Canadian soil is clearly devastating and shocking.”
Vancouver police have yet to make any arrests, but say they have collected security video that could be released in the future that shows the suspects arriving in a vehicle around 4:15 a.m. on Saturday and spray painting on the walls.
“It’s a deplorable act of vandalism that we are treating as a potential hate crime,” said Vancouver police spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison. “We have an investigation that’s being led by our Major Crimes Section.”
The Surrey Police Service is investigating similar vandalism at a Hindu temple earlier on the same Saturday morning.
The suspects in that case were also caught on video.
“We were shocked and we were angry,” said Vinay Sharma with the Vedic Hindu Cultural Society.
“Two individuals actually came to the temple and they sprayed the main Mandir sign, which has the Mandir name on it, with Khalistan words on it.”
In the last 18 months, community leaders say Lower Mainland Sikhs have experienced unrest, including intimidating behaviour at the 2024 Vancouver Vaisakhi event and online threats to Khalsa Diwan Society priests.
A small group of religious extremists is suspected in the most recent vandalism, with leaders of the Sikh gurdwara blaming pro-Khalistan separatists and Hindu leaders calling the vandalism “hate attacks.”
“Not blaming any factions, but (the) individual who did this has to be extremist because whatever background they might have, whatever political views they might have, it’s extremist to do this at a place of worship,” said Sanghera.
“Their motivation is obviously to divide the community and start tensions in the community, and we will not let that succeed.”
The incidents have also spurred solidarity between the two temples.
“If we do not condemn it, these things will keep on happening again and again,” added Sharma.
Vancouver police say they have stationed officers at the gurdwara and that police continue to canvass the area looking for more security video.