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Canoe stolen from camp for foster children

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Tammy Roberts, executive director of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT, says this white fibreglass canoe was stolen May 18 from the organization's campsite on Cameron River, 57 kilometres out on the Ingraham Trail. photo courtesy of Foster Family Coalition of the NWT

The executive director of the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT is expressing frustration after seeing coalition property stolen, again.

Tammy Roberts said a white fibreglass canoe was stolen from the organization’s campsite on the Cameron River sometime on the evening of May 18.

Staff had been at the site, located 57 kilometres out on the Ingraham Trail, last Thursday and Friday to prepare for an upcoming youth gathering when they noticed the canoe was missing.

Each year, the coalition runs a program called Camp Connections for youth between the ages of seven and 18 who have been involved with social services.

The camp has been around since 2003. It gives young people an opportunity to take part in artistic, athletic and skill-building activities, according to the organization’s website.

The missing canoe would have been used for that program.

“It’s an ongoing issue and it’s really sad someone would do that,” Roberts said of the theft.

Last summer, the Foster Family Coalition found itself in similar circumstances when the majority of a cord-and-a-half of wood it purchased for its annual camps went missing.

At the time, camp director Nicole Garbutt told Yellowknifer the organization had purchased about $600 worth of wood.

Six doors were also kicked in at the camp and a wood stove stolen from the boy's sleeping cabin last summer, Yellowknifer was told.

The coalition allows other people besides camp-goers to use its canoes with permission, Roberts said.

She was unsure what brand the canoe was but said it was locked up at the time it went missing.

Roberts said the RCMP has been informed about the incident.

RCMP confirmed they are investigating.

While Roberts said the situation has been extremely frustrating, she said people have contacted the organization to provide support and an old canoe has since been donated to the organization.

Going forward, she added, the coalition plans to spray paint the rest of its canoes with the organization’s name so it is clear who the items belong to.

“We’re just waiting to see if it turns up,” she said of the missing canoe.