Vancouver police are investigating after someone graffitied the monument to iconic local Joe Fortes with bright paint.
Joe Fortes is known for being Vancouver's first lifeguard and is credited with saving at least 29 lives from drowning, including adults and children, along with teaching three generations of children to swim.
The memorial drinking fountain was erected at Alexandra Park in Vancouver's West End facing the beach in 1927, according to the BC Black History Awareness Society.
Journalist Bob Mackin told Vancouver Is Awesome in an email that he spotted the vandalized monument on Sunday (March 20) just before noon when he was driving by Alexandra Park. He stopped to take a closer look and take some photos.
VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin told V.I.A. that police are currently investigating the incident.
When Joe Fortes died in 1922, thousands of Vancouverites went to his funeral, which was paid for by the City of Vancouver as a way of honouring his contributions to city life. It was an extraordinary legacy for a portly man who arrived here from the West Indies in 1885 and moved into a tent on English Bay.
Watch a short film about the legendary local that is voiced by Blu Mankuma.
With files from the Vancouver Courier.
