Theft reopens grief

It's been more than a week since 56 plaques were stolen from the Westbank Cemetery, with no conclusion yet as to the whereabouts of the plaques or any suspects.

The Sept. 14 incident has affected a number of families in the area, including Janene Quinn's, who lost the nameplates of three family members as a result of the vandalism. 

"Three of those plaques belonged to us - both of my grandmothers' and my grandfather's.

"When I found out it was total disbelief because you don’t want to believe that anybody would come up and touch anybody’s headstone, let alone take them, so it opens up that wound of grief again because now you’re looking at trying to replace them. How do you re-honour what you’ve honoured once before? We don’t have the family now that we did then when we laid them to rest, so that’s also disheartening."

Quinn and her sister are hoping to organize a re-setting ceremony to honour all of the loved ones whose graves have been vandalized. 

They have started a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for families who are now faced with the extra costs. 

City of West Kelowna strategic communications manager Kirsten Jones says they are now looking into additional surveillance options as a result of the theft, and will increase the strength of the gate padlock which was cut by the offender/s. 

"We're pretty disgusted by the incident. We do have security who routinely visit the site but they aren't there all the time. It's a push-pull situation for us, because you also don't really want security guards standing over you while you're trying to have a private moment with your loved one. 

"We're now asking families to consider different materials for their loved one's headstone. Offenders will take the whole stone if they have to, just to get their hands on the metal. It's sad because we do have people who want a specific design, but we're having to tell them this because of the thefts."

Jones said the City of West Kelowna made attempts to contact family members directly after the incident and has a list of the information which was on the stolen plaques.

Families who would like to know more information can contact Cemetery staff on 778-797-8875.

Local business BC General Contracting is offering a $5,000 reward for the safe return of the plaques, but urges anyone with information to contact the appropriate authorities, and not to call the business with tips.