The City of Steinbach is asking the public for help after six bronze plaques that honoured the community’s history were stolen from public spaces. City employees started noticing the plaques were missing during routine maintenance work as early as late April and early May 2026, and the city issued a public notice on July 27, 2026, urging anyone with information to come forward.
The plaques were taken from five locations: E.A. Friesen Park, K.R. Barkman Park, the Helena Loewen Garden, Rieger Pocket Park, and beside the flagpole at City Hall. One plaque that disappeared from the Helena Loewen Garden in the city centre showed a map of the 18 homesteads from 1874 that eventually became Steinbach.
Russ Dyck, the city’s parks and recreation manager, explained the plaques were not easy to remove. They had been drilled and mortared into rocks or secured with tamper-proof screws, but someone still managed to rip them out. The city estimates replacing the six bronze slabs will cost about $25,000.
Mayor Earl Funk called the thefts a sign of disrespect for the community’s shared past. He said the plaques honoured people and stories that were key to the city’s founding, and that the acts showed “incredibly bad taste.”
The RCMP, Steinbach Community Safety Officers, and private security hired by the city have all been told about the thefts and are keeping an eye on the situation. The city is also looking at replacing the bronze plaques with materials like aluminum composite or plastic that are less appealing to scrap metal thieves, a step that could cost between $18,000 and $24,000.
Anyone with information about the missing plaques is asked to contact the City of Steinbach or the local RCMP.
