Terry Fox monument defaced amid Ottawa vaccine mandate protest

With thousands of protestors swarming Ottawa, photos of the Terry Fox monument holding an upside down Canadian flag are flooding social media.

The memorial statue has been defaced with a sign saying, “mandate freedom,” wrapped around it, a flag wrapped around its neck, and an upside down flag propped in its hand.

Terry Fox was a Canadian hero from Port Coquitlam, B.C.

In 1980, after having a leg amputated due to cancer, Fox embarked on a cross-country run to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

Brad West, the mayor of Port Coquitlam, Fox’s hometown, says he is mortified by what has been done to the monument.

“Whoever thought that was a good idea, not only is there something wrong with them and they’re thinking, but what they’ve actually done is probably the opposite of what they intended. If they had any other message that they were trying to get out their messages lost.”

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“Now they got probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people in this country who are going to see what they did to the Terry Fox statue and be absolutely disgusted.”

West says he believes people in Port Coquitlam are going to be deeply offended by the defacement, and says he wished he was closer to Ottawa to remove the items.

“I wish we lived a little closer to Ottawa because I would be jumping in my truck, driving there and taking that crap off the statue myself.”

The Terry Fox foundation shared a tweet on Saturday, it said in part, “Terry believed in science and gave his life to help others.”

The Terry Fox Foundation is proud to continue Terry’s mission of funding cancer research. Terry believed in science and gave his life to help others. Thank you to all of our supporters who help us work toward realizing Terry’s dream of a world without cancer. ???????? pic.twitter.com/5MSky1YfVM

— TerryFoxFoundation (@TerryFoxCanada) January 29, 2022

Crowds of trucks have jammed Ottawa streets and crowds packed Parliament Hill on Saturday to protest the federal Liberal government, vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions, with thousands more expected to arrive by end-of-day.

Amidst the protest, the Trudeau family has reportedly been moved to an undisclosed location.

Police have also warned their intelligence is flagging the potential for violence. Local law enforcement is working with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, RCMP and other agencies to identify any potential threats to public safety.

– With files from Michael Williams