THUNDER BAY— Employees were at a loss of words at Nokiiwin Tribal Council, the third known victim of plant theft his month, with flowers and other supplies missing from the Fort William Road location,
Early Thursday morning is when Andrew Base, Nokiiwin’s natural resource advisor discovered that the fire pit, hose, watering can, annual and perennial flowers had been snatched in the middle of the night from the council’s back patio area.
“Were all just kind of shocked and appalled,” he said. “Someone now has a garden out there that's based on a bed of thievery.”
“We all got in around 8:30am roughly, and a couple of us noticed our garden in complete disarray. There's just soil strewn about, plants left on the ground down the road from here,” he said.
“Basically, this entire set here was a mess,“ he said. “We had checked the cameras shortly after and noticed that three individuals were involved.”
The thieves came in the middle of the night between 12 and 1am and swiped over $500 in supplies and decor, he said.
(They) ”were there for quite a long time, and they had just started digging up all these flowers we had here,” he said.
Base said the stolen items and plants were tossed into a shopping cart, baby stroller and a five-gallon bucket, noting that most of the plants most likely won’t survive due to the rough methods of transportation.
“It's unfortunate because most of those plants would have probably died, they were just kind of piled on to each other, so I'm not sure how successful the heist kind of worked out for them,” he said.
“We did contact the police and file a report, so hopefully something can come of that.”
The back patio of the tribal council serves as a gathering spot for their community members, Meghan Hindman, acting technical service manager for the council said events such as tea with an elder will be affected by the theft.
“Everything can be replaced, but the memories and the significance it holds, it can't,” she said.
Hindman said the council has already started problem solving for the future improved patio set-up, possible changes include smaller flower pots that can be brought inside and fencing, she said.
“It's just a very nice well rounded welcoming spot that we had back there… maybe we could get another fire pit, to be more proactive maybe we'll bring it inside in the evenings,” she said.
To hold space for their stolen possessions and to continue fostering a relationship built off of trust with the community, the tribal council put out multiple talking sticks in their garden beds, Hindman said.
“These are talking sticks that we have planted here,” she said. “It shows a sense of community, how we're all kind of intertwined… and that we're all here just trying to value the flowers.”
Community members looking for affordable or free plants are encouraged to contact the Thunder Bay horticulture society, and browse social media platforms.
“Hopefully, something positive can come out of it and people learn about all the free resources that are out there for them,” Base said.
“It's too bad, when you plant a garden, you put a lot of love and time and care in it,” he said. ““There's no need to be stealing here, it's totally unnecessary.”
Earlier this month, Our Kids Count reported the theft of freshly laid sod from their property and a city resident reported the theft of multiple garden plants.
Thunder Bay Police confirmed that the incident at Nokiiwin Tribal Council was reported to them. They do not believe its connected to the previous incident of stolen plants and said there's nothing to suggest that this is a widespread issue in the city.
