Not-so-friendly Manitoba: Woman who recently moved to Winnipeg has prized possessions stolen
CBC
A woman who just moved to Winnipeg had all her belongings stolen from her friend's garage earlier this week, including sentimental items from the Philippines.
Stefanie Martin moved to the city last December from Toronto to take a job with Migrante Canada, an organization that helps migrant workers and newcomers.
She's been staying with a friend in the city's North End while she gets settled, and had all of belongings organized in six Home Depot boxes that were being stored in her friend's garage.
On Thursday, she discovered that someone had taken all six boxes when the garage was left unlocked. Two bikes were also taken.
"Those six boxes were my life. I don't have that many possessions and … just those six boxes were very important to me," she said.
"Just for me to see it all gone, I don't understand why would someone take all those boxes and not the other, more valuable things that could be sold in the garage."
What's most upsetting for Martin is the fact that those boxes contained irreplaceable items that she had brought with her from the Philippines, like family photos, letters and items she inherited from loved ones.
"Those photos, those childhood memories of mine, those linking my memories back to where I grew up with my life. It's all gone now," she said.
"I hope that whoever took it can have a change of heart and just really bring those back."
Martin's friends have put up a $1,000 reward for the return of her sentimental items.
"To those who took my items, I understand if you really needed those to sell, to use for your own benefit. But I would really like those personal items to be brought back to me."
In spite of this, Martin says she's not upset with whoever took her stuff. She thinks the incident just shows how much people in Winnipeg are suffering due to social issues like homelessness and poverty — something she says she's come to learn about in the short time she's lived in the city.
"Robberies such as this are just a manifestation of the issues of safety, poverty, addiction and homelessness here in Winnipeg," she said.
"We need solutions to the root causes of these issues and not more policing."
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