Bruce Deachman: Kind reader replaces homeless woman’s stolen canoe

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In a very brief, but upbeat dockside ceremony at the Rideau Canoe Club on Friday afternoon, Frances de Silva raised a bottle of Heineken beer and, with the words, “I’m christening this boat Our Boat Again,” brought the bottle down on the bow of her new-to-her canoe and set sail — or, more accurately, paddle — into waters that hopefully prove calmer than those she’s recently had to navigate.

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Looking on from the dock was Brian O’Hara, the stranger whose kindness provided de Silva with the vessel, replacing the canoe of hers that was recently stolen. O’Hara had owned his boat for more than 50 years, he said, but hadn’t used it in some time. When he read about de Silva’s plight, he decided to give it to her.

Some of the 60-year-old homeless woman’s story has appeared in the Ottawa Citizen in recent weeks, notably that she was living in a canoe on the Rideau Canal, near Lansdowne Park, before relocating it, and herself, upstream on the Rideau River, south of Hog’s Back and Mooney’s Bay. It’s a long story, but, like many homeless people, de Silva prefers living in the rough to life in a shelter.

In an unsolved bit of vandalism, however, the canoe she’d purchased last spring with some assistance from her daughter and daughter’s father — thus the original name of Our Boat — was pilfered. De Silva had gone away to do some errands and returned to discover that someone had literally torn the canoe from the chain securing it to a nearby tree, leaving behind only the canoe’s crumpled dock plate.

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Adding to the intrigue was that, two days before her canoe was taken, someone left a tent, mat and air mattress at de Silva’s forested encampment.

Meanwhile, the story of the theft moved at least a few readers. O’Hara was among three or four who reached out to offer her a canoe.

“I read that story and felt terrible for her,” O’Hara said. “And later on I thought, ‘You know what? I have the canoe out beside the garage. I’m not using it. If she wants it, she can have it.’

“I wanted to help,” he added, “and, if this can help her, that’s great.”

For de Silva, O’Hara’s generosity supports her belief that being homeless in Ottawa, while not easy, is at least less challenging than in Toronto and Montreal, where she’s lived in the past.

“People in Ottawa have been very kind all along, so I’m not surprised that someone offered a canoe,” she said. “This is the second tent that’s been donated to me. People have given me winter boots, winter coats and food and money, and I’m not even asking people. The bus drivers, when I ask them for a free ride, they give it to me. Only one or two have said no.”

Ottawans’ kindness showed itself again at Friday’s canoe exchange and christening. When O’Hara realized he’d forgotten to pack the paddle, the canoe club’s manager lent one to de Silva.

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The canoe, she adds, provides her some freedom, at least until the river freezes. “I’m able to put my things in it and just go right along.”

It’s a somewhat limited independence, however: If she wants to pass through the locks, for example, she has to pay the daily charge of $24, or $15 simply to go through one lock and back.

But, for now, de Silva’s life is at least a little better.

“The canoe is wonderful,” she remarked on Saturday morning.

“I paddled it back to my camp in no time. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great day.”

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