Ottawa family offering up replica in exchange for lost heirloom
An Ottawa family is trying to track down an intricate, handmade family heirloom that was lost at a bus stop early this month — and they're offering to swap the original in exchange for a replica, no questions asked.
"We do not care how anybody came to have it in their possession, it would just be great for our family to be able to hand over this replacement tray to them and have the original back," Ian MacKenzie told In Town and Out host Giacomo Panico.
"It would just be the feeling that the right person has the right tray."
The tray was made by Ian's brother, artist and woodworker David MacKenzie who lives on Pender Island, B.C. He made it for his mother, Babs MacKenzie, who lived in Ottawa and treasured the piece until she died in May 2013.
David MacKenzie then decided to give the tray to a cousin who cared for his mother until she died.
But before the tray made its way to the cousin, another relative lost it at an OC Transpo stop, believed to be the Laurier Transitway Station near the University of Ottawa, in early November.
The tray hasn't shown up in the OC Transpo lost and found, and the family is desperate to get it back — especially now that David MacKenzie, the family member who crafted it, is battling cancer.
"We were going to let it go, just say it's done. But I just couldn't help myself, I had to try just one thing," Ian MacKenzie said.
"If we were to find it, it would just be an incredible feeling for the family."
