A Songhees family is pleading for the return of a distinctive First Nations walking stick that has gone missing.
Billy Joseph Sr. left the brightly painted carved stick in his car parked on Ned Williams Road, off Craigflower Road, on Monday. The stick was taken through an open window, said his daughter Katie Joseph.
The walking stick holds sentimental value for the 64-year-old Songhees First Nation elder, as it was a gift to Billy Joseph Sr. from his late cousin, Rudy Charlie, 33 years ago.
“It was a traditional stick that we used in our longhouse,” she said.
Billy Joseph Sr. has fibromyalgia and now uses the stick to help him walk.
“It’s something he can carry with him,” Katie Joseph said. “It helps.”
The family is offering a reward of $400 to anyone who returns the item.
Katie Joseph said a friend saw what she believed to be the walking stick on a buy-and-sell Facebook page, but the ad appears to have been taken down.
“We’re hoping the person who took it will bring it back,” she said.
Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call West Shore RCMP at 250-474-2264, quoting police file number 2015-12502.
