A sign from the Société d’histoire de la Haute-Yamaska at the George-Aimé-Landry belvedere and a sign from the Granby Zoo were removed from their location.
“This is what I noticed during my walks. There was some shearing going on along my route. To work with my colleagues in an NPO, it’s a lot of work for us to develop these facilities. These are deplorable actions,” underlines Bernard Valiquette, responsible for communications and education activities at the SÉTHY Foundation (Safeguarding the ecosystems of the Haute-Yamaska territory).
Since the structures and panels are made of metal, shear-style scissors could have been used to destroy the objects.
The posters were cut from the metal structures near the river. (Fondation SETHY)
It is difficult to assess the amount of damage since Mr. Valiquette did not work on the panels, but according to him “it is hundreds of dollars”.
“That’s calculated by dozens of hours of work. Anything metallic is overpriced. The aluminum is treated, the prints are high technology. Each panel is worth hundreds of dollars that we don’t necessarily have. We can’t replace that by snapping our fingers.”
Posters were cut from the posts, “a deplorable act of vandalism,” mentions Bernard Valiquette. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Mr. Valiquette wanted to sound the alarm and, as a citizen of Granby, he wants the police department to “get their hands on the vandal with the shears.”
According to Marc Farand, prevention and public and community relations officer for the Granby Police Department, for a police investigation to be triggered, there must be a complaint filed.
“The person calls the station and there is a police trip. We will always see the misdeeds. The police officer will note the facts and then the person must file a complaint. But to do so, she must be the owner. That is, being the person who owns the goods. For example, a user of a park, if she sees vandalism, she cannot file a complaint, it is the City which must do it,” he explains.
He adds “it happens that a person simply wanted to show the facts, so there is no investigation”.
In the case of posters vandalized at the Sentier de la rivière, it is the Granby Zoo or the Historical Society which will have to file a complaint, if applicable.
A bench also vandalized
This is not the first time that this type of vandalism has been observed in Granby. Earlier this summer, a mosaic bench from Atelier 19, which is installed in the Garden of St-Georges Church, had its metal structure cut.
“Mr. Valiquette was taking his daily walk and he realized that the back of the bench had been sawed off, but it was still there, hidden. He immediately contacted the church leader to put the bench inside. We were therefore able to recover the parts to repair and reassemble it,” explains Laurie Morin, general and artistic director of Atelier 19.
This bench, located in the Garden of St-Georges Church, in Granby, was vandalized last May. (Atelier 19)
Fortunately, the organization had additional metal legs, allowing the bench to be restored and reinstalled.
“It was the first episode regarding our works and it’s destabilizing. We were lucky because we had what we needed internally.”
The bench was restored and put back in place last week. (Atelier 19)
Ms. Morin explains that in the future, vandalism is a consideration that leads Atelier 19 to think about future installations to minimize financial risk.
“We want to integrate into the public space, but we must now consider the latest events. We are in discussion with the City of Granby: should we now provide a budget for conservation, maintenance or restoration in the event of vandalism? It’s currently under discussion.”
— Laurie Morin, general and artistic director of Atelier 19
On the other hand, Ms. Morin assures that the organization has not reached the stage of withdrawing or reducing its presence in public spaces.
“We see the positive impact on the participants, we have really not reached the fatalistic stage and we must respond to our actions by continuing to offer beauty to the city of Granby,” she concludes.
