PICKERING, Ont. - Police east of Toronto have expanded an investigation centred on a high school where a Black student's yearbook entry was altered to include a racial slur, saying more students have reported their profiles being tampered with.
Nine more students at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School have come forward since the original complaint was filed alleging their yearbook entries were changed, Durham Regional Police said.
Officers interviewed faculty and students at the school this week to determine who was responsible for the racist yearbook entry, police said, after a quote provided by Joshua Telemaque honouring his late grandmother was allegedly altered to contain a racist slur referring to a gorilla that was shot at the Cincinnati zoo.
Telemaque's aunt Mayma Raphael posted the racist entry one week ago and called for authorities to make the situation right.
Raphael said while her nephew had been insulted before with the gorilla reference, the saddest thing for him was that a quote he'd made specifically to highlight his grandma was replaced with the racist reference.
A flood of public and celebrity support has poured in for Telemaque since the alteration came to light a week ago.