A campaign sign for an incumbent city councillor in Calgary, Alberta was vandalized with a swastika and racial slurs.

The councillor said in an interview over the weekend with Canada’s Global News that he remains unafraid but called the vandalism disturbing.

“These things should never happen, regardless of where we live, but it happened, and when I came over here, I felt very, very disturbed, especially in this community where I grew up,” Raj Dhaliwal told Global News.

The politician urged everyone to “work together” and to defeat the “fringe elements” of society who he blamed for the vandalism.

“These kinds of actions will not deter us from moving forward together in the future and building a better community. We, as a community together, will definitely come up with a plan so we can eradicate such a mentality forever,” he said.

Dhaliwal described to CTV News his reaction when he found out about the defacement of his sign: “It brought me to tears because the language there is just so crude and so offensive.”

He said that he grew up in the community and described it as an inclusive place.

“I was especially disgusted because it’s so close to a school,” he said. “School is out, but imagine if those kids were exposed to this kind of language.”

He called the vandalism “really concerning,” saying that “vandalism is one thing, it’s always concerning… vandalism happens in every election, but when you look at this kind of vandalism, which is racially motivated,” he feared the impact it could have on the community.