Signs on the side of the denture clinic once owned by the gunman who killed at least 22 people in Nova Scotia have been ripped down by Halifax Regional Police.
There were plenty of concerns from the Dartmouth community and elsewhere.
“We have had reports from members of the community that they are troubled by the presence of some signage on one of the properties in Dartmouth belonging to the person responsible for the recent mass tragedy in Nova Scotia,” reads a press release from the HRP.
“Due to the extraordinary nature of this event and the impact it has had on the community, in an effort to mitigate any potential public safety issues, the Chief of Police used appropriate police authorities to have the signage removed from the property.”
Atlantic Denture Clinic is hard to miss, with a lot of eye-catching signs outside, including a large sign depicting a pair of smiling dentures.
A petition on change.org asking for the signs to be torn down got nearly 7,000 signatures in two days. The woman who started the petition, Lynn Maughan, wrote that to have the giant smiles out on the street is like a “slap in the face” after such a tragedy.
“Nova Scotia is grieving the loss of so many of our family and friends. And yet, we have a smile along Portland St in Downtown Dartmouth that is a painful reminder of the [cowardice] acts of a local denturist. We want him forgotten. Every second it stays up is a slap in the face to the victims and their families. It needs to come down now. Please remove it.”
A version of this story was published in Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
