CBC News

Bronze plaques, medallions and other pieces worth $25,000 have been stolen from seven Ottawa-area monuments in the past two months, mostly in the city's core.

"It's very unusual," Janet McGowan, co-ordinator of commemorations and public art program at the National Capital Commission, the federal agency in charge of the monuments, said Wednesday.

The commission issued an appeal to the public via the Ottawa Police Service on Wednesday afternoon, asking anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity around the monuments to call police.

McGowan estimated that typically, about one plaque is stolen every few years.

The stolen items, as reported by the NCC, and the months they went missing are:

Medallion from the Mackenzie-Papineau Monument, Sussex Drive (January).
Folia panel of Wilderness Highway, Alexandra Bridge (April).
Confederation Boulevard medallion at the bottom of the Building for a New Canada panel, Alexandra Bridge (April).
Plaque commemorating the Canadian Military Engineers’ Centennial entitled Sappers’ Bridge (May).
Plaque for Samuel de Champlain Statue, Nepean Point (unknown).
Plaque for Boundary Marker, Nepean Point (unknown).
Plaque for Ansishinabe Scout, Major's Hill Park (unknown).
Plaque for Canal Stones, Major's Hill Park (unknown).
Some of the items that have been taken recently include the plaque for the statue of Samuel de Champlain at Nepean Point and the bronze Confederation Boulevard medallion on a panel on the Alexandra Bridge.

Commission spokeswoman Kathryn Keyes said the agency isn't sure how long some of the plaques have been missing, as it only did a full inventory, including monuments in remote areas, once it realized that there was a theft problem.

McGowan estimated that the stolen items will cost $25,000 to replace, but the commission is not yet sure how they will do that.

"We're evaluating different materials and other options on how we can still represent the information but in a way that might not be as attractive to thieves."

The commission is also looking into ways the plaques could be better secured.

McGowan said the commission doesn't know whether one or many groups or individuals are responsible or what their motivation might be, but said it is possible they are selling the bronze as scrap metal.

"There is an increase in value for all kinds of metals," she said.