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Theft shuts play area
Tent stolen, railing damaged at Children's First Centre over two weekends

Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, June 1, 2014

INUVIK
Youngsters at the Children's First Centre are the ones being most affected by two recent spates of vandalism.

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Patricia Davison, the executive director of the Children's First Centre, shows the damage caused by vandalism over the weekend. Behind her is the framework for the centre's Fort McPherson tent that was stolen over the Easter weekend. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

That's the opinion of Patricia Davison, the executive director of the centre.

“The saddest part is the impact it's having on the children,” she said.

Over the last two weekends, the Fort McPherson tent, which was being used by the children as the centre's sole outdoor playground equipment, was stolen, and a railing along the exit route to the playground was damaged as well.

While not extensive, the railing problems will now prevent the children from using the play area and back deck until it's fixed because it's a safety concern, said Davison.

That damage was done over the weekend of April 26, she said.

“It was done between 10 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday morning, said Davison.

“I was in early Saturday morning because we had a course happening in the building. I noticed first thing that it was damaged.”

The screws have been pulled out of the concrete, Davison said, meaning someone who works with concrete might be needed to fix the damage.

She expected most of the cost of repairing the damage will be labour rather than materials.

“We'll have to figure out a way to fasten it back down,” she said.

The tent had likely been stolen sometime on Easter Monday, April 21, Davison added. The thieves left the framework behind but took the tent.

“I was in Sunday morning, and I'm pretty sure it was still there, but it was definitely gone Tuesday morning,” she said. “I'm thinking somebody needed a tent more than we did and I hope they're putting it to good use, because it was a really nice Fort McPherson tent.

“The tent is really disappointing because it was the only playground structure we had at the moment,” she said. “The children were using it every day.”

She tentatively estimated the value of that tent at approximately $900, but said she hadn't priced one recently.

The RCMP was notified of both incidents, but so far Davison said she hasn't heard any theories offered by the investigating officers.

“I didn't hear them sharing anything yet and no guesses," she said. "I don't have any huge expectations. McPherson tents are very common, and there's really no identifying features on this one.”

Davison said she didn't suspect the damage and theft was specifically directed at the centre.

“In every community you always have a chance of things like this happening, and I think it's just a streak of activity that happens to be happening in our backyard,” said Davison.

“I don't think there's any malicious intent in particular toward us, it's just we happen to be here and someone happened to be here.”

Davison said the centre does have exterior security cameras in operation but “so far there's been no results from them yet.”

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