The Canadian Mental Health Association and the City of Thompson are working together to clean up the city with their Graffiti coverup program.  

Catherine Pohjolainen with the CMHA, explains how it works.

“What we do is, we team up with the City of Thompson and we hire participants of CMHA to go around and cover up the graffiti with paint.  Businesses, organizations and residents can call us and we will send people out to cover up their graffiti.”

Over 200 sites were covered up last year.  The amount of graffiti covered each year since the program began in 2007 seems to be on the rise, but Pohjolainent says that has a lot to do with the program participants.

“It’s pretty steady every year.  They (the program participants) get really creative in trying to find more and more graffiti that they can cover up.  I think that they have just found a lot more.   They’ve been very resourceful in locating different graffiti.”

She also explains the value of the program.

“It’s based on the broken window theory that pretty much says that once a community deteriorates aesthetically the community becomes more vulnerable to crime, violence and things like that.  We’re just trying to do our part to deter that from happening.”

Clients of the CMHA make up the work crew, gaining valuable work experience and skills while improving the city’s appearance.   

If you see graffiti, report it to Catherine at 677-6-0-5-1.  The coverup program will begin operations in early July and will run through September.