Ottawa police are investigating after racist and anti-Semitic messages were spray painted under a bridge just west of downtown Ottawa.
The offensive remarks were discovered beneath the Champlain Bridge beside the Ottawa River.
Two offensive messages were spray-painted on part of the bridge near a pathway used by cyclists, joggers, and walkers.
One of the spray-painted scrawls was a racist remark targetting Ottawa's Black community, the other, a message promoting anti-Semitism.
Ottawa police are investigating the graffiti as potential hate crimes.
"It's surprising in today's society you would still see those logos going up, that type of graffiti," said jogger Kim McKinley.
"It's just beyond comprehension what people actually think when they're doing this," said Ottawa resident Michael Adams. "It’s not something you expect to see in Ottawa, it’s very surprising to see it anywhere, but all the more in Ottawa."
This bridge is NCC property, but when the City found out what had been posted here, they decided to dispatch their own crews so the messages could be erased as soon as possible.
City crews spent part of the day working to remove the graffiti.
Earlier this month, similar racist messaging was scrawled on the wall of a west end business, and it wasn't the first time.
Those messages have since been painted over.
Police are investigating several cases of offensive graffiti in the area.
People who came across the remarks on Saturday say they have no place in our society.
