Langley woman’s home vandalized with swastika

Langley resident Kiersten Bisgaard says she came home on Thursday to find a swastika spray-painted on her gate and “Ukraine equals Nazi” on the sidewalk.

“Democracy, freedom, the invasion of a sovereign nation. We found that was very concerning and we wanted to show our support,” she said.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bisgaard says she’s had a Ukrainian flag hanging outside her home.

“It was very surprising. Yeah, we had had it up for about a year. We’d actually received a lot of positive comments from passers by, and we’re not the only ones in the neighborhood. There are a few other houses nearby with Ukrainian flags.”

She says she reported the incident to the Langley RCMP. In an email to CityNews, RCMP confirm “the incident remains under investigation.”

Florian Gassner is an associate professor of Central and Eastern European Studies at the University of British Columbia, he says the incident is disheartening but not surprising.

“It is remarkable how widespread the effects of Russian disinformation are because Russians have, since the 1950s, basically tried to paint all Ukrainians essentially as Nazis, as Nazi collaborators, and they’ve been very aggressive about it since 2014,” Gassner explained.

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That is when Russia began the annexation of Crimea.

“Across Canada there has consistently been acts of vandalism, often on statues dedicated to Ukrainian history, where it would just write Nazis or actual Nazis or Ukrainians or Nazis. And this is something that’s always been there. But the reports of this have increased since 2014,” Gassner said.

“This is concerning not just for the symbolism and like the vandalism, but it speaks to a larger trend going on right now with misinformation and people buying into really scary propaganda,” said Bisgaard.

She says before she had a chance to clean the graffiti, someone else spray-painted it on Friday to say “go Ukraine” with a blue heart. She says the incident has not deterred her and she has put up two more Ukrainian flags and her next-door neighbor has now put one up too.