Iqaluit daycare robbed 4 times in 9 days
Concerned board member shares video asking for help after First Steps Daycare targeted again late Tuesday
Staff and parents at Iqaluit’s First Steps Daycare Centre, shown here, say they are frustrated after the facility was broken into four times over a stretch of nine days this month. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Parents and staff at an Iqaluit daycare who have seen four break-ins in just over a week say they’re feeling frustrated and in despair.
“They’re stealing literal food from our children,” said Julia MacDonald, a parent of two children who attend First Steps Daycare, on Facebook. She later confirmed her concern while speaking with Nunatsiaq News.
“Our community is hurting badly but that should never directly impact our children and youth,” MacDonald posted online after daycare board member Alaana Coles put out a call on social media seeking help to identify thieves caught on camera.
The first break-in occurred Oct. 7, a week before Thanksgiving, said Madison Cormack, the daycare’s assistant director.
“We had just put in a big food order so we could [have] Thanksgiving dinner for lunch with the kids,” she said.
“So [the thieves] came in and they cleared out the entire fridge, the freezer and cupboards … all our food was gone.”
Cormack said she and executive director Kyla King were able to replace the food. They hoped the robbery was just a one-off.
And then they were robbed a second time on Oct. 8.
The thieves went after food again, though not all of it, and they also made off with several Samsung tablet computers, facial tissue, paper towels and toilet paper, Cormack said.
The daycare was then robbed a third time, over the Thanksgiving weekend.
This time, she said, they took more food as well as tablets that had been left behind during the previous break-in. They even stole the office coffee pot.
“Who would do that?” Cormack asked. “We work all day long and they took our coffee pot.”
She estimated the amount stolen at that point was $5,000, nearly half of which was the cost of food alone. Between two and four weeks’ worth was taken.
After the third robbery, administrators installed cameras.
Late Tuesday night, the daycare was robbed again and this time Coles was able to provide camera footage to police.
The daycare, which has served the community since 1992, currently cares for 26 children. It operates as a non-profit, based on fees parents pay as well as donations. The stolen tablets were donated by the Kakivak Association.
While there is insurance, Cormack said that will take time and administrators are unsure how much loss will be covered after the fourth break-in.
“With food insecurity in the North, the daycare wants to feed the kids as much as possible while they’re at the centre in case they aren’t getting their needs at home. With the robberies, it’s harder to make sure that we can make that happen,” Coles said.
RCMP spokesman Cpl. George Henrie confirmed in an email to Nunatsiaq News on Wednesday that the break-ins are being investigated, but declined to provide further details.
Not the coffee pot! The horror!
Sounds like very desperate people doing very desperate things to survive, its no excuse but it makes it a little sadder.
Also why does Henrie offer so little information in their releases? Did they take the coffee pot? More information on property crimes might be more helpful in tracking down the Thanksgiving Bandits.
Homeless shelters to sleep and soup kitchen with daily free meals. Where’s the desperate measures to survive?
Food insecurity is that bad in Nunavut now. Even resorting to stealing food from kids’ mouths.
For many food insecurity is by choice, or at least attributable to the individual because of poor choices. Nunavut has the highest rate of smokers/tobacco users in the country, and is the among the highest in alcohol and drug use. And the gambling is rampant. There are plenty of jobs available to people willing and able to work. Public housing is virtually free to many, and based on income for those who work. Also, don’t have kids if you can’t afford to properly care for them.
What you just described is not food insecurity. Though I agree with what you are saying, and that yes money is not spent on food, but that’s not what food insecurity necessarily means. There is a much more macro perspective that is not necessarily an individual’s choice.
It’s not that easy for everyone to just get a job. Mental health and disabilities play a huge role in if a person is able to work or not.
Only in Nunavut, people have more sympathy to the perpetrators than victims. These are grown men, we saw the posts. It’s not okay to steal, these poor babies/toddlers! It’s a low blow to target facilities for children. Grown men, they know what they’re doing. Taima, enough! Back in the 80/90s we’d have a talk with them, why aren’t the people today do that? We would shame them. No more! They did it 4 times.
Also like someone said, there are endless jobs and free education and training, just go do it. Folks today don’t want to work for themselves, making us look bad. Taima and get a job like the rest of us please!
100% you said all there needs to be said!
Imagine if it made the news every time a school or daycare or government office in Nunavut got broken into?
This foolish. It happens all over the territory. What disgusting people would steal. Food from children. We shrug our shoulders and say yeah that’s just Nunavut.
How much longer will this go on?
Animals treat their young better.
Don’t try to provide any excuses. No punishment is severe enough.
For these Neanderthals’
People who have to steal in order to feed their children. Vicious cycle babe.
These people are not doing it to feed their children. There is only a vicious cycle of them stealing from people!
It is no secret who is doing this. The same person were caught on camera stealing someone’s purse out of a car yesterday. It has been going on for years now, and it is only getting worse. The issue in this case is hard drugs and mental illness. You wouldn’t be jokes about the items of little value if they broke into your space. These same folks are not frequenting the food banks and soup kitchen. This isn’t a hunger issue. One of these guys asked me for $20 for pop last week. They do need help, but they clearly won’t get it on their own, and their victims and the rest of the community aren’t wrong or insensitive for being angry and freaked out.
Clearly the existing deterrents aren’t working. Is it time to bring back some form of corporal punishment? Most of the time, I would be against it, but it seems whoever is doing this doesn’t care about having a criminal record, having a court appearance etc. They won’t pay a fine. Time in jail is probably no big deal. They seem to have nothing to lose. I bet they would react differently to the prospect of a week of daily clubbings to the calves, though.
“a week of daily clubbings to the calves” that has to be a joke.
The guy needs to be given a choice: Jail or treatment.
And because YOU know who this is, I assume you did your civic duty and reported it to the RCMP??
Or you just decided to cricticize the angry posters
The “angry posters” were mocking the victims of this crime for being upset about items of little monetary value being stolen. And yes, John, I actually have spoken to the police about this and they are already well aware of the situation with these individuals. There is only so much the police can do. All they can do is lay charges. Faces are obscured inthe videos, it isn’t so cut and dry when court time comes.
im very mad as well at the people not respecting other people property and stealling,but after the second food robery the day care should have just sent some one to the store to get food only when need it to be eaten and cook,why keep million and zillion of it when you know you gonna get stolen again and then complain ? be smart and only have on the site what you consume,no more and take the new coffee pot home each day after work,and then… next breaking wont have anything worth for them to come back to the site and it will stop.
I don’t think they had tons of food on hand. Having to feed that many kids every day, you need a good amount of food on hand. I doubt they have time to go shopping every day. Snacks are expensive and sometimes buying by the case is cheaper. Daycares are not rich being non profit so they probably only had a week’s supply of food on hand. The coffee pot.. would you designate a staff member to bring it home every night? What about the toaster or microwave? That is absurd. Sounds like they did take appropriate measures after the second theft. I think you are totally missing the point!!!
Nope, have you worked in a facility with small children? You need everything on stand by, then with 26 little ones, you need to make sure they’re fed, parents are putting trust to feed the little ones. Instead of saying that, maybe focus on shamming those who did it and not normalize break ins into childcare facilities. Nunavut deserves better, we need to put focus on the criminals, the grown men who did this. Shame on them.
Is there a way to pressure police, politicians etc to do better?? Any groups out there who can stop them?? Something needs to be done! No more.
Didn’t the “safety committee” have a meeting a couple weeks back and one of the members basically and stated that the city is safe. No concerns.
Maybe get off your high horse and take a look around. The city has gone to s**t, seems as though that everyone knows it but the safety committee, city council and the RCMP.
Excuse me, but I think we all know that stacks of wood are a severe threat to our community.
One councilor raised around a dozen concerns, fire safety was one of them (there are several houses with bonfire looking piles literally under the homes). The remains councilors and commitment members had nothing to contribute. I encourage you to serve on that committee and bring forward the “real” concerns.
In the public safety committee, I literally brought up the rise of property crime in Iqaluit, specifically against our not-for-profits. Just because Nunatsiaq news didn’t quote it, didn’t mean it didn’t happen. The meeting was only 17 minutes long, why don’t you actually take some time and listen to it? https://www.iqaluit.ca/content/public-safety-committee-meeting-02-0
17 minutes, wow it must have been productive. I’ve summarized it for everyone. Here’s how the meeting went down:
– Good job RCMP on drunk driving checks.
– Lots of people have stacked wood.
– Yes, lots of people have wood. And shacks. Maybe we need to amend a bylaw.
– Lots of people are committing property crime. Not sure what to do about that.
– Pat ourselves on the back for paying a bunch of money to get rid of peoples’ cars instead of following our existing unsightly land bylaw.
– Good job RCMP on cracking down on open cans. It’s bad again though.
– It’s darker now. We’ve got consultants to study streetlights.
– We should prioritize our safety list. But not today. This is a very important meeting right now though. But we’ll email each other about it after.
– I’m open to a side conversation about streetlights.
– Walking trails would be nice.
I must have missed the only 2 things that were actually on the agenda:
1. Prioritizing Safety Concerns (round table discussion)
2. Further development of the Safety Initiatives & Challenges facing the Community (round table discussion)
Preparation for this meeting involved a piece of paper, a pen, and 5 minutes scratching heads.
Silver lining right.
Between the Nunavut Trust and the Baffinland royalties fund, there’s at least 2 billion dollars of dead money that could and should be providing rehab that works, along with the delivering remedial education, skills training and job placement. Last I saw Baffinland has only 15 percent Inuit employment. Not only that, but the so-called investments for the future are rapidly losing money versus the cost of housing–another thing people need. In case, anyone needs to be told.
Bring back the sos (shot on site) enough of these bum crumbs doing bad things
If its the same guy who broke into a car yesterday, he tried selling me Ground Beef from his jacket while I was out garage saling about a month ago! So he is stealing food to sell it for his drug habit. Inuit need help, there is so much ugliness now, and our leaders are doing nothing about it!!!!!!
Time for our so called leaders to step up and lead us, do something, get rid of the Crack dealers!! It’s been forever since the Police made a big bust in Nunavut!! My god robbing from a Daycare, not once but 4 times!! Police should be driving around at night deterring this awful behaviour. Come on people enough is enough indeed.
We should plan a protest to demand safer streets for our kids. If our leaders or the police can’t do anything how about the community members finally protest and do something to show enough is enough. Our children should be able to play outside without seeing ugly drunks high on crack who can’t even walk, and piss their pants!!!
It is time we take back our city and finally say enough is enough!! Taima is right!!! Who is in????
Hire a security guard.
Yes services within Nunavut would be nice. Not services where the GN sends people out of the territory and funds an entire new life where the people sent out don’t have to support their children and never come back.