Ottawa Police are investigating after a red swastika was painted onto a shed attached to the side of a Catholic elementary school in Orleans.
Several signs at St. Theresa Catholic School were also vandalized, and the words "welcome to hell" were also sprayed on school property.
Young children wearing backpacks arrived at the school and entered the building next to the large swastika.
Staff Sgt. Dave Zackrias, who runs the Ottawa Police Diversity and Race Relations Unit took a look at the damage to the shed.
"This is terrible," he said. "School is supposed to be a safe space for kids and the parents should feel comfortable leaving their kids in school knowing that their kids are going to be safe, but first day of school, being exposed to a symbol of hate - and it's so prominent the way it's been graffitied - it's very disturbing."
"I just hope the kids did not pick up on it on the sign," he added. "But the school is making every effort to clean that up."
It's believed the graffiti was sprayed sometime over the weekend.
A crew used a pressure washer to remove the offensive symbol right after the kids began class.