“It was my baby,” the 56-year-old said with a quivering voice during a phone interview Wednesday. “That bike represents me … a part of me is gone now.”
Lessard, who lives year-round at his cottage in Upper Stewiacke, was visiting Ottawa when he got a call from one of his neighbours Monday morning, asking if he had purposely left his garage door open.
Inside the garage was what Lessard called his pride — his motorcycle, with a custom painted tank and fenders, depicting scenes of uniformed soldiers in a battlefield, in honour of Canada’s fallen.
After serving in the navy for the past 33 years, Lessard, who has been riding since he was 16, decided that he would dedicate his bike as a tribute to Canada’s soldiers and had it custom painted at a shop in Dartmouth several years ago.
He has since rode the bike around the East Coast as a part of a veterans motorcycle group for different bike rallies and charity events, in the hopes that anyone who sees it will be reminded their freedom came at a price.
“I felt like someone just hit me in the head,” Lessard said, who hopped on the next plane home from Ottawa once he heard it was gone.
Besides his bike, his wife’s own motorcycle was also stolen, along with a television, lawnmower, rifle and hunting equipment. But none of that matters, Lessard said. Everything else can be replaced —except his bike.
“I feel so anxious because I know it’s somewhere out there,” he said, describing that if anything happens to it he’ll be “heartbroken.”
For the past few days, Lessard has been working with RCMP to collect fingerprints and piece together evidence to find a suspect. He has also taken to social media with his story, and said the overwhelming support he’s received from the community has been incredible.
Lessard believes it’s not too late for whoever stole his bike to do the right thing, and plans continue his search until he has his baby back.
“If I can get my bike back it would be unbelievable,” he said
