Photo from Pixabay. Family members of a 65-year-old man with Alzheimer’s reportedly discovered a swastika drawn on the patient at a Toronto care facility.
On January 8, Shane Morrow told Toronto.com, a local Toronto newspaper, that he and his mother were visiting his Uncle Larry at the Glendale Care Centre earlier in the week when they found the swastika and a smiley face drawn on Larry’s head in black marker. Morrow said a swastika was also on Larry’s back.
Morrow shared a photo of the swastika on Larry’s head to Toronto.com.
Someone drew #swastikas on an elderly man’s head (he has Alzheimer’s and Parkinkson’s) at a nursing home in Toronto, Canada.
What sort of depraved monster would do something like this? https://t.co/URtDUGiVIQ
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 9, 2020
He added that a staff member at the facility told him a younger male was responsible for the drawings.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Morrow said. He also voiced concern that the younger man abused his uncle, citing bruising on his uncle’s forearms.
“Why was his shirt off?” Morrow questioned. “Did this guy pull his shirt over his head and was abusing him?”
Morrow said the staff member told him the younger man was arrested; however, Toronto Police Media Relations Officer Caroline de Kloet told Toronto.com that a police report was not filed under the facility’s address.
A staff member at the facility told Toronto.com they could not comment on the reported swastika drawing since it was a “private matter.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “This is absolutely sickening. An elderly man had a swastika drawn on his head in a care facility. The image of this incident is deeply disturbing. The facility must take immediate, transparent action and ensure this never happens again.”
This is absolutely sickening. An elderly man had a swastika drawn on his head in a care facility. The image of this incident is deeply disturbing. The facility must take immediate, transparent action and ensure this never happens again. https://t.co/kRPTQtJTK1
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 9, 2020
B’nai Brith Canada similarly tweeted, “We are disgusted by this story of #antisemitism and elder abuse at a Toronto care facility and are further investigating the situation.”
We are disgusted by this story of #antisemitism and elder abuse at a Toronto care facility and are further investigating the situation.
https://t.co/Bssg5lvoXD— B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) January 8, 2020
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wrote in a Facebook post, “That someone would commit such a vicious assault on a human being in our society is almost beyond belief. We have reached out to the family member of the victim to offer support, and have contacted police and government to voice our serious concerns that something like this could ever happen.”
https://www.facebook.com/cijainfo/photos/a.220751191346870/2762544660500831/?type=3&theater
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