‘No value to anyone but us’: Alberta wheelchair basketball group hoping stolen chairs turn up

A wheelchair organization is pleading for thieves who stole a trailer with specialized basketball wheelchairs in it to just leave it somewhere safe.

A local wheelchair basketball group is speaking out after 15 of their chairs used for school programs were stolen over the weekend.

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“There’s no value to anyone but us, but our program,” said Northern Lights Wheelchair Basketball Society’s manager Ross Norton, adding that the chairs cost about $7,000 a piece.

Norton has been with the society for 35 years after he endured a spinal cord injury when he was a teen. He is a two-time Paralympic gold medalist and a world champion in wheelchair basketball.

The society offers a school program to students of all abilities across northern and central Alberta where they can try wheelchair basketball and learn about Paralympic sports.

The chairs used in the Hi Lights School Wheelchair Rental Program are retired from being used by competitive athletes.

“They’re in good condition, but they’re no longer high-performance chairs,” said Norton. “They still have lots of life left in them, just not for the high competition because of wear-and-tear.”

He said their program gives students long-lasting memories and teaches them empathy.

“Almost everyone I speak to has played wheelchair basketball because we’ve had these chairs in almost every school in the Edmonton area,” said Norton. “Everyone who knows about our sport is developing empathy for what it’s like to push a wheelchair. Sometimes, maybe they acquire an injury and they become an athlete because they know we exist as a sport.”

The school program is so popular that Norton is fully booked until July. But now with 15 fewer chairs, they’ll have to do with less.

“I’m hoping that maybe someone keeps their eye open for a trailer that has our logo on it,” said Norton. “Maybe the chairs got dumped.”

Norton reported the missing chairs on Monday after he got a call from a Stony Plain high school saying they weren’t there.

Video footage shows the trailer with the wheelchairs in it being stolen Sunday around 6 a.m.

The trailer is a white, 2018 Wells Cargo utility trailer with a Northern Lights Wheelchair Basketball Society decal on the side.

Police have identified two suspect vehicles believed to be linked to the theft: a grey truck, possibly a Ford Super Duty or Silverado, and a red truck, possibly another Ford Super Duty.

Anyone with information regarding the theft is asked to contact Parkland RCMP at 825-220-2000. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa