In 2001, my wonderful father, Jack Pitt, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. He was just 70 years old, a solo-endurance sailor and a lover of Lakeside Park.

It was the place where he took my mother on their first date and where his growing family gathered for picnics and quiet time. He would often walk by the lake with our family dog.

When my dad learned that he would not win his battle with cancer, he asked that we arrange with the Town of Oakville to have a memorial bench installed in Lakeside Park in downtown Oakville.

My father died on Feb. 7 and the bench is a place where we gather, remember him and look out over the lake that he loved.

Related Content Numerous memorial plaques stolen from Oakville benches

On Feb. 7, 2017, my mother received a call from a wonderful and very kind representative from the Town of Oakville to let her know that the commemorative plaque celebrating my father’s memory (along with all of the other commemorative plaques in the park) had been taken. It seems that the individuals responsible may have been after the brass plaques to sell to a scrap metal recycler.

With the price of metals such as copper, aluminum and bronze soaring, thieves such as these heinous individuals are stealing everything from commemorative plaques and graveyard urns, to street signs and manhole covers.

Regulations governing scrap metal yards in Ontario must be strengthened in order to discourage this kind of thievery. Currently, these yards have little regulation and very poor recordkeeping.

Sellers should be documented and photographed, and the metals they are seeking to sell should be inventoried and recorded. There needs to be better oversight and regulation. Better yet, why has there been no phone call to the police from the scrap metal yard receiving these plaques?

For the toads who thought stealing these commemorative plaques to be a good idea, my message to you is to think of the hurt and pain you have caused.

A peaceful and serene gesture of love and remembrance to a lost relative or friend can and will be rebuilt, but the harm and hurt will take some time to go away.