(LifeSiteNews) – The Vimy Ridge Canadian World War I memorial in France erected to memorialize the costliest battle in Canada’s history has been desecrated by an activist with “environmental slogans.”
French authorities are looking for the person responsible for the vandalism, which includes graffiti on the memorial in French environmental slogans. According to a spokesperson with Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), the environmental activist was “a misguided individual with a cause.”
Canadians Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor released a statement last Wednesday condemning the act of vandalism.
“As all Canadians know, this is a sacred place commemorating the sacrifice of the 60,000 Canadians who gave their lives in order to protect the freedoms of the citizens of France and Belgium over 100 years ago during the First World War,” Petitpas Taylor said in her message.
“The memorial bears the names of those who died in France with no known grave and stands as a tribute to all Canadians who served during the First World War. It should inspire us to work toward lasting peace, for which those commemorated here gave their lives.”
The Battle of Vimy Ridge began on Easter morning in 1917 and has been dubbed “the bloodiest day in Canadian military history.” Some 3,598 Canadians died in the retake of the ridge from the German forces, with another 7,000 wounded.
The Vimy Foundation, which is tasked with managing the memorial in France on Canadian soil that it was ceded to the country by France in 1922 as a thank you, took to X (formerly Twitter) to condemn the vandalism.
“Such actions disrespect the memory of the 11,285 Canadians missing in France with no known grave, whose names are listed on the monument,” wrote the foundation, adding it was “deeply disheartened to learn about the recent act of vandalism.”
Veterans’ affairs critic for the Conservative Party Blake Richards and Quebec lieutenant Pierre Paul-Hus issued a joint statement condemning the vandalism.
“Those who committed this appalling act of vandalism should be ashamed of their actions and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Canada and France must stand together in showing that there will be zero tolerance for these actions,” the two wrote in a statement.
As for the Vimy Ridge monument, it took 11 years to build, from 1925 until 1936. Despite Nazi Germany occupying France only a short time later, the memorial was spared from destruction.
The battle for Vimy Ridge was seen as a pivotal moment in shifting World War I to the allies and is Canada’s greatest military achievement to date.
In recent months, environmental activists have ramped up attacks, notably in Europe, on art museums.
Of note is that the Liberal Canadian government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been pushing what could be considered extreme environmentally charged policies since coming to power in 2016.
Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault himself earlier in his life was an environmental activist and a member of Greenpeace. He was taken into custody many times by police for his protests.
Under Trudeau, Canada is in lockstep with the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” which includes phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.
The reduction and eventual elimination of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda of which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.