Racist graffiti spray-painted near Antigonish County school

Nova Scotia RCMP are seeking tips after racist graffiti was found on a bus and sign near East Antigonish Education Centre/Academy Monday night in Monastery, N.S.

In a news release, police described the graffiti as being "racially and culturally insensitive" and including "profanity and derogatory comments about Indigenous people and the African-Nova Scotian community.

Sierra Julian, a Grade 10 student at the school, saw the graffiti Tuesday morning and took photos. In one of the photos, the phrase "F--k Natives" was spray-painted on the back of a school bus.

"I felt discouraged more than anything, but I've never felt more proud to be First Nations. I never felt more discriminated, never more out of place. I think that really sums it up," said Julian.

Julian said this is the first time she's seen racist graffiti around the school, and that other students were shocked to see it too.

"It wasn't just the First Nations people that go to the school. … Once you go to a small school, it really starts to feel like such a big family so everybody was hurt, was affected by this," said Julian.

Tips on the incident can be reported anonymously to RCMP through Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers.