Man who urinated on Komagata Maru memorial apologizes
Posted January 16, 2014 2:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver police say a charge wasn’t laid against a man who urinated on the Komagata Maru memorial because he has a serious mental illness and drug addiction.
Police Chief Jim Chu told a media conference that the man has signed a note, apologizing for what he did and saying he hadn’t meant to hurt anyone. “Yesterday afternoon we located the suspect and he agreed to apologize for his actions.”
Chief Jim Chu says he is so ill and addicted that he didn’t even know the significance of the memorial that he defiled.
“The suspects needs the health system and not the justice system. We believe that it is not in anyone’s interest to serve the suspect with a bylaw ticket. We explained this last evening to several South Asian community leaders.”
Several South Asian leaders say they are satisfied with the apology.
The police department announced on Tuesday that it wouldn’t recommend a charge against a suspect who was photographed urinating on the monument in December, saying that while his actions were disrespectful, a bylaw ticket wasn’t appropriate.
The memorial commemorates a dark chapter in Canadian history, when immigration officials refused to let hundreds of Sikhs off a charter ship that arrived in Vancouver in May 1914.
When the ship returned to India, a riot broke out and 19 people were killed by police.
