CALGARY -- Police are still without leads in the vandalism spree which caused $50,000 worth of damage at a sacred cemetery.
Insp. Paul Stacey said vandals caused the damage at the Father Lacombe cemetery between 11 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday.
The aftermath of the vandalism spree included nine broken headstones and damages to a statue of Jesus and a wooden cross, said Stacey.
The cemetery is home to the heart of Father Albert Lacombe, a pioneer missionary priest with the Oblates of the Mary Immaculate (OMI) who came to Alberta in 1916.
He died in 1916 and his body was buried in St. Albert, though his heart was kept in Calgary.
The cemetery is also home to more than 100 nuns' graves -- some dating as far back as the 1800s, others as fresh as a few weeks ago -- said Charles Russell, chairman of the board of the Father Lacombe Care Centre, which is overseen along with the cemetery by the Sisters of Providence in Western Canada, part of an international community of religious women.
"I was shocked to say the least that people do such senseless, useless acts of vandalism," said Russell. "I don't know what joy they get out of it.
"(The cemetery) is historic, it's a Catholic cemetery which we respect with the most reverence you can have."
Russell said the cemetery is surrounded by a small hedge and is also inside a fence which surrounds part of the property run by the Sisters of Providence.
He believes the suspects may have entered the graveyard from an escarpment overlooking Fish Creek Park.
With beer bottles smashed against a statue of the Virgin Mary, he said it could have been an incidence of individuals drinking and bored.
"But it had to be a planned thing because we're not on a beaten track," he said, adding he board will discuss options for resurrecting the damaged monuments at a meeting later this month, but said there aren't any extra funds to do so.
Stacey said so far there's no evidence to indicate that the spree was a religiously targeted hate crime, but it hasn't been ruled out.
He said since police are done combing the crime scene, they are now relying on the public to come forward with information.
Russell said he would like to see whoever is responsible for the damage take responsibility.
"I don't wish harm on anybody, but I do hope they are caught and face the consequences they deserve," he said.
