A Theft in the Community?-2

Part one HERE

In a telephone interview with Rebecca Ambrose, the owner of the first Vancouver Seed Bank, I was given her take on the events that she said led to a storefront-protest.

According to Rebecca, owner of the VSB since its opening in may 07’, after hours on the 19^th of October the ex-manager, Kaara Heywood, used her key to enter the 872 Hastings location of the VSB, proceeding to take approximately $15,000 worth of seeds from their stock.  Kara has admitted, says Rebecca, to the theft of the seeds in front of both her and an unnamed moderator but has not announced any intent to return the seeds or to pay for them.

When I asked about a possible motivation for the alleged robbery, Rebecca said, “Kaara was unsatisfied with some of my business decisions” and “was looking for a way to have the final say on things.“ Rebecca also told me that she had offered Kara advice on opening her own business;and that Kaara was uninterested.  The Vancouver seed bank hired Karra in October of 2007; her title on the 19th of October was Manager.

I questioned Rebecca as to whether the police had been contacted. Rebecca stated that while everything she has on site is legal, she is unwilling to contact the police and still has hopes for settling this incident as an individual outside of the courts. Asked about the possibility of a lawsuit, Rebecca told me that was not an option at this time.

The second Vancouver was built in the former location of 420 Convenience over the summer and opened to the public on July 15 this year. Rebecca states that the locks on the second VSB were changed

on the 20^th, the day after the seeds were removed, preventing her from entering the building. According to Rebecca over $22,000 was spent to renovate the retail site. It is important to note that while the lease to the second VSB is in Kaara’s name, Rebecca and her business paid for all renovations & rent up to The 15th of October. Rebecca also went on record saying that Kaara was never an official partner in the VSB, and has no claim to the VSB name.

The protest I witnessed was, according to Rebecca, her last ditch attempt to force a reasonable conclusion to this chain of events.

When I phoned the 316 Hastings address to confirm these facts or gather new ones, a voice answered the phone “Van City Seeds”, apparently the new name of that location. The voice on the phone, Ryan, identified himself as the manger, and told me that Kaara was in Amsterdam and would not return until the first of December.  In the brief conversation that followed Ryan told me in no uncertain terms that he was unable to comment on the matter until Kaara’s return. 

With an unresolved dispute in air it will be interesting to see the reaction of the community to this event and who will be declared the guilty party as time wears on. I will continue to cover this event and will hopefully hear bring you more details and a properly balanced report as new information becomes available to me.  The next portion of this article will be posted as soon as I can am able to make contact with a representative of Van City Seeds to record their side of this story; hopefully they will be able to diffuse some of potentially damaging claims made by Rebecca Ambrose in this article. 


Van CIty Seeds
316 Hastings Street West
Vancouver, BC V6B 1K6, Canada
(604) 628-4342

Vancouver Seed Bank
872 Hastings Street East
Vancouver, BC V6A 1R6, Canada
(778) 329-1930
http://www.vancouverseedbank.ca