Police increase surveillance in aftermath of hate crime (07/25/99)

Police increase surveillance in aftermath of hate crime

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - A stark white band of paint marks the spot where an as-yet-unknown vandal defaced the facade of the Ukrainian Cultural Center on Christie Street the night of June 20.

According to William Mihowich, the center's vice-president, members of the City of Toronto Graffiti Removal Unit arrived to cover up the offensive message on July 2.

"My understanding was that they were going to remove the slogan, not just paint over it, but after a long delay they just came one day and didn't even let us know they were there," Mr. Mihowich said.

The center official added, "Our white stucco facade is porous, and the message would have been tough to get off, so I guess they took the easy way out by applying a thick coat of white paint."

Mr. Mihowich said the center would likely have to resurface and repaint the facility's facade, but that no estimates as to exact monetary amount of the damage have yet been made.

Mr. Mihowich said that since the graffiti attack there was also an attempted forced entry off the fire escape on the north end of the building on the night of July 1 (Canada Day), when an upper floor window was smashed, prompting another call to police.

He said police have agreed to extend their surveillance up the street from the subway station, located close to the intersection of Bloor and Christie streets, and have said that their investigation of the original incident is ongoing.

Efforts to reach officers conducting and coordinating the investigation at the Toronto Police Services 14 Division were unsuccessful as of press time.

Canada's hate crimes law

Contacted by The Weekly, Detective Bernie Hoy of the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit explained the statutes under which hate crimes are investigated and charges are laid in Canada.

In Canada, criminal law is all federal, as opposed to the federal/state differentiation extant in the U.S., Detective Hoy explained.

Section 319, Subsection 1, on "Public Incitement of Hatred," of Canada's Federal Criminal Code, governs hate propaganda defined as "the willful promotion of hatred."

The statute provides for charges for indictable and summary offenses (parallel to felony and misdemeanor offenses in the U.S.)

Detective Hoy explained that Section 718 provides for charges for hate - motivated crime, that is, "criminal offense committed against a person or property that is based upon the victim's race, national or ethnic origin, language, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or any other similar factor."

The statute also provides for charges for indictable and summary offenses.

According to Det. Hoy, the statutes empower prosecutors (crown attorneys in Canada) to seek a stricter sentence in punishment of individuals convicted of related crimes, such as mischief, property damage, assault and worse.

"Our law is a little tougher here in Canada because, even though we have our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, there's greater latitude given to people under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment that guarantees freedom of expression," Detective Hoy said.

Outreach as antidote

The graffiti attack prompted the newly elected president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress's Ontario Provincial Council, Volodymyr Halchuk, to engage in outreach to sympathetic agencies.

Mr. Halchuk said he received information on how to deal with hate attacks from Cassandra Fernandez of the City of Toronto Access and Equity Center and has been seeking support from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews.

"Mainstream" media coverage

As it was up for a significant time, the graffiti made it onto the pages of two mainstream publications.

The Toronto Star, the city's largest-circulation daily, carried a photo of the slogan in its Greater Toronto section on July 2, with a caption that read: "Hateful words; Graffiti spray-painted across the front of the Ukrainian Cultural Center at 83 Christie St. assaults passers-by like Alexandra Cree. A center spokesperson said he has no idea why anyone would want to target the facility. Police have been asked to investigate."

In its July 1-7 issue, NOW Magazine (a weekly newspaper with similarities to New York's Village Voice), carried an item, titled "Waking up to hate graffiti," by reporter Enzo Di Matteo in its News Front section.

In the article's first paragraphs, Mr. Di Matteo wrote about the experience of the center's manager, Eugene Cybulski (in the article the surname is misspelled Dyulski), in arriving for work to be confronted with the slogan.

The rest of the piece moves into different territory. "The incident has touched a raw nerve [for some in the Ukrainian community]," the NOW reporter wrote, "rekindling memories of charges from Jewish groups, among others, that there are former Nazis living among them."

Mr. Di Matteo added that "two Ukrainians, one from St. Catharines and the other from Montreal, were investigated by the Justice Department but later cleared of war crimes."

The NOW reporter writes that "a Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association press release [issued in the wake of the incident] takes a shot at 'groups who are trying to perpetrate the lie that there are Nazis in our midst.'"

Mr. Di Matteo wrote that Sol Littman of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center "is reluctant to get dragged into a war of words," relating that in the view of the Toronto-based activist "the target of Jewish groups has always been Nazis, not any specific community."

However, while the NOW writer mentions a hope expressed by Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association that "Jewish groups will join Ukrainians in condemning the graffiti attack," Mr. Di Matteo fails to mention what if any comment he received on that score.

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