Garlic heist at Quebec high school prompts anger — and generosity

The most famous thefts in history might be of money, jewels and rare artwork, but in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., a garlic heist has the community up in arms. 

Katryne Delisle is the vegetable garden adviser at Cité des Jeunes high school in the suburb about 40 kilometres west of Montreal.

When she arrived at the site to tend the garden on July 19, she was stunned to see the raised beds that had once contained garlic had been stripped clean — all 90 bulbs were gone. 

Delisle planted a sign in the garden and posted a picture of it Facebook.

"Thanks for helping out and harvesting OUR garlic," she said. "Now you can prove how generous you are by returning it!"  

As the co-ordinator of the urban farm l'Atelier paysan, Delisle works with summer students to maintain the high school's garden while classes are out at Cité des Jeunes. 

One of those summer students, Zachary Ménard, 15, was shocked by the theft. 

"I was like, 'Geez, I came here to clean the garlic and there's nothing here. What am I supposed to do?'" he said. 

None of the summer students attend Cité des Jeunes, but they still find the situation unfair.

"Students there took their time to put it in the ground and then plant it and everything," said Jasmine Blanchard, 16. "People just took it like it was their own."

The garlic had been ripening since last fall, when the students planted it. Just as it was ready to be harvested, it was gone.

But this wasn't just about the garlic.

Delisle worried that seeing the fruits of their labour poached could discourage the school's young gardeners. 

"I must admit it's a big challenge to keep teenagers interested and an event like this could have an effect of demotivating them and losing their commitment," she said.

Surprise donation raises spirits

When the people at Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm, based in nearby Les Cèdres, heard what had happened, they offered to donate 90 garlic bulbs to make up for the students' loss. 

The situation is "very, very sad," said Frédéric Thériault, a member of the co-op. "We wanted to make sure the students are able to replant for next year." 

Thériault said local organic garlic is expensive "so some people maybe steal it for their own consumption and some people maybe steal it for resale." 

In fact, garlic theft has become almost a perennial story. In 2020, someone stole 120 bulbs from a garden at a high school in Montreal's West Island. The owner of a micro-farm in Shefford, Que. also reported garlic theft in 2019 — with 2,000 bulbs gone. 

Ménard is still surprised that someone would go to the trouble of digging up a school garden.

"We know about robbing banks or a grocery store or whatever, but knowing that garlic was stolen was … it was just weird," he said. 

Given Tourne-Sol's garlic donation, Delisle is choosing to see the bright side of the situation. 

"What I hope is that this unfortunate event can strengthen the bonds between the people of our community to generate better resilience," Delisle said.