Calgary police investigate arson at residential school memorial

CALGARY — Calgary police are investigating after someone tried to light a residential school memorial on fire outside Calgary’s municipal building Tuesday night.

Shortly before 11:30 p.m., a security guard saw a man on CCTV attempt to light the memorial on fire before fleeing the scene.

Security guards were able to extinguish the fire and called police.

Police and fire crews arrived and found several of the shoes and other objects were heavily damaged.

Police have released photos of the suspect in the arson in the hopes someone may recognize him.

He is believed to have short hair and was wearing a baseball hat, black backpack, blue jeans and a long-sleeve plaid shirt.

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The memorial, set up earlier this year, follows recent discoveries of unmarked graves at residential school sites that continue to traumatize Canada’s Indigenous Peoples.

In B.C., 215 sites were found at the spot that held the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, and 160 more were found at the Kuper Island site.

The Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan found 751 unmarked graves at a former residential school.

Anyone who may have any information on Tuesday’s incident is being asked to contact police.