UPDATE: Police investigate hate-motivated incident in city’s east end biker’s church

Ottawa police are investigating a hate-motivated incident that happened near Vanier North.

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) say they are looking into a case involving mischief at a religious institution located at Capital City Biker's Church on Carillon Street, between Kipp and Desrosiers streets.

Bikers, “Rolling Thunder” rally supporters and other worshippers arrived at the Capital City Bikers' Church to find its brick exterior had been vandalized with spray-painted messages including “fascists” and “no haven for fascism.”

OPS says they were made aware of the incident just before 7 a.m. on Sunday, May 1.

No further details were released as the investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police at 613-236-1222.

The church service itself, however, remained a low-key event with a strong police presence. 

Hundreds of people packed an Ottawa church on Sunday morning to mark the final scheduled event of the weekend-long “Rolling Thunder” protest.

But the incident did little to suppress the spirits of the enthusiastic, peaceful crowd.

A four-piece band belted out soulful Christian rock songs while hundreds of worshipers waved their arms in the air.

Families, children and even pets packed the darkened building, as purple flood lights and a stained-glass image of Jesus illuminated by the outside sun lit up the stage inside. A bar in the back of the Pentecostal church sold soft drinks, snacks and coffee. 

“You begin to talk about hell and — 'Oh, you're one of those religious fanatics, aren't you?'” Pastor Rob McKee asked the crowd during his sermon. His long, grey beard spilled onto his button-up plaid shirt, which he wore with a pair of loose-fitting jeans. “We all love the part that God is love, so if I was the enemy I would work really hard to try to get people to believe, no, that's a scam, that's fake news.”

McKee appeared to shrug off the graffiti and described the day as “church as usual,” but others who attended the service were more upset.

“It’s extremely insulting,” said Kimberly McGrath. “I had to let it brush off my shoulders but for a lot of people it is traumatizing and it’s hurtful.”

Attendees socialized in the parking lot once the service wrapped up. Most expressed their intentions to leave Ottawa, though some indicated they planned to move on to a potential protest in Montreal or return to Parliament Hill. 

The Sunday morning service was said to be the last event in the weekend-long “Rolling Thunder” rally, organized in part by a group called Freedom Fighters Canada.

– With files from Gavin Lumsden and The Canadian Press