Police are investigating after the cenotaph at Old City Hall was vandalized just one day after Remembrance Day.

Writing that was spray-painted on the cenotaph sometime this morning reads, ‘Ye Broke Faith With Us.'

The words appear to reference the line, "If ye break faith with us who die," from John McCrae's poem 'In Flanders Fields.'

It is not clear exactly when the cenotaph was defaced but it was first reported to police at around 7 a.m.

cenotaph

Old City Hall

The incident comes less than 24 hours after thousands gathered at the cenotaph for a Remembrance Day ceremony to honour our country’s veterans.

Mayor John Tory called the vandal's behaviour "completely unacceptable."

"You have to ask yourself what kind of person would do this sort of thing any day of the year but especially on the day after Remembrance Day when you had thousands of people put their poppies here in a somber and solemn remembrance of those who served us," he said while stopping by the monument on Tuesday. 

"There is never any excuse for this kind of vandalism." 

He said the good news is that the paint was not very difficult to remove.

"Whatever idiot did this used a bad kind of paint," he said.  "It is coming off with no damage it would seem."

He added that he hopes video surveillance footage will aid police in identifying the perpetrator.

"They should be very severely dealt with," the mayor said. 

Both Premier Doug Ford and Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called the incident "disgusting."

Police have not released any information on possible suspects but are asking anyone with information about the incident to come forward.