Plaques Stolen From Castle Mountain Internment Memorial

Lake Louise RCMP are investigating the theft of two bronze plaques and vandalism at the Castle Mountain Internment Camp Memorial after receiving a report about the damage on May 28.

Photographs released by RCMP show the large bronze interpretive plaque has been removed from a stone monument beside the statue. A second plaque mounted on the statue's pedestal is also missing.

"The Castle Mountain Internment Camp Memorial serves as a place of remembrance and learning, and its significance extends well beyond the physical site itself," said Sgt. Susan Richter, detachment commander for Lake Louise RCMP. "The theft of plaques and vandalism to the statue is disappointing and impacts those who have worked to preserve this history."

The memorial marks the site of the former Castle Mountain Internment Camp, where hundreds of internees were held between 1915 and 1917 and put to work building roads and other infrastructure in what is now Banff National Park.

The memorial's larger plaque, now missing, explained that thousands of immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the majority of them of Ukrainian origin, were imprisoned as "enemy aliens" during Canada's first national internment operations between 1914 and 1920. The plaque noted that some of those interned were Canadian citizens and specifically commemorated those held at the Castle Mountain camp between July 1915 and July 1917.

RCMP said the incident also involved vandalism to the statue. The stolen pedestal plaque identified the sculpture as Why?, a monument depicting a Ukrainian internee from around 1916. Unveiled Aug. 12, 1995, it was the first statue erected in Canada specifically to commemorate those imprisoned during Canada's internment operations of 1914-1920, according to Veterans Affairs Canada.

Police are asking anyone who witnessed suspicious activity at the memorial, encountered the missing plaques or recently visited the site while the plaques were still in place to contact Lake Louise RCMP at 403-522-3812.