A vandalism spree at a historic Nova Scotian cemetery has undone thousands of volunteer hours from members of the Irish community.
Dozens of headstones at Holy Cross Cemetery in Halifax have been toppled, cracked or broken.
Holy Cross Trust Restoration Group trustee Michael Nee was among the first to spot the damage Tuesday morning. He says 50 to 70 headstones were damaged.
“The hardest part is going to be to deal with the damage associated with the crosses,” said Nee.
The cemetery established in 1843 is home to notable names, including former Prime Minister John Thompson.
Fingerprints were taken from the scene, but police say there are no suspects.
"It is a significant amount of damage and it’s disrespectful,” said Halifax Regional Police spokeswoman Diane Woodworth. “It's a cemetery. These are people's loved ones, and it's something to be taken very seriously."
For eight years, Brian O'Brien led a group dedicated to restoring the cemetery to its former glory.
He says most of the work was done with their bare hands.
“It was a mess when we started. We had it almost finished. It was looking much better, and now it's a mess again,” said O’Brien. “There's over two years of manual work to be done to restore it and some of the stones are damaged to a point where they're non-repairable."
Insurance adjusters were on scene Wednesday and say much of the damage should be covered.
The damage is still being added up. Nee says though the stones are broken, the spirit of the city’s Irish community isn’t.
“There's hope,” said Nee. “The hope is that we come together again in the spring and we restore all the damage that has been done."
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact police.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko.
