“Grad 2026” was painted onto the plaque at Bush Pilot’s Monument, according to a photo shared with Cabin Radio on Monday evening. By Tuesday afternoon, Yellowknife high school students had cleaned it up.
Students from École Sir John Franklin High School and École St Patrick High School worked together to wash away the tag and other graffiti on the pavement surrounding the monument.
“Their actions reflected the values we hope all graduates carry forward — leadership, accountability, and service to others,” said Sir John principal Dean MacInnis and St Pat’s principal Kathleen Finnigan in a joint statement.
Adaeze P Nwoba, a spokesperson for the City of Yellowknife, said the city was not made aware of the graffiti over the weekend.
“By the time city staff became aware of the graffiti at the Pilot’s Monument, cleanup efforts were already underway,” Nwoba stated.
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MacInnis and Finnigan said the high schools became aware of the graffiti “when it was discovered by the community.”
“While we are not in a position to comment on who may have been responsible, we were very proud to see several graduating students and staff members from both schools step forward to help clean and restore the site simply because they believed it was the right thing to do,” the two principals said.
They said the cleanup was organized “collaboratively between school staff and students” from both schools and Westclean Northern Sales donated cleaning supplies.
Nwoba said graffiti is treated as vandalism when it is reported.
“The city’s standard is to remove it within 24 hours to help reduce recurrence. This timeline can be affected by factors such as weekends and winter conditions when staffing levels are more limited,” said Nwoba.
A spokesperson for the Yellowknife RCMP said they did not receive any reports of graffiti at Bush Pilot’s Monument.
