Campaign signs destroyed, stolen from yards in Dartmouth 

Jesse Sharratt left his house on Tuesday morning to take his son to daycare, only to find a campaign sign for Dartmouth South NDP candidate Claudia Chender, which had been in his front garden, gone. 

When he looked around, he saw that all the signs for Chender in his community were no longer where they had been the night before. 

Sharratt lives in on Fairbanks Street in Dartmouth, under the Macdonald Bridge. When he returned from his son’s daycare, he noticed something bright orange sticking out of his garbage can: the campaign sign, broken into strips. 

“I pulled it out and taped it back together and put it on my front lawn,” Sharratt said. 

People from Chender’s campaign came by his house again that evening and dropped off another sign. Sharratt put it up next to his newly taped one. 

Two days later, Sharratt again woke up to find both signs missing, along with other signs in the neighbourhood. He also noticed that the sign he had drilled to the front of his house advocating for the Coastal Protection Act was gone, though he wasn’t sure which night it disappeared. 

Security camera footage shows a black-clad, hooded figure walking by his house and grabbing the signs between 3 and 3:30 a.m. on both nights of the incidents. 

“It’s disappointing, you know. I’ve always had signs on my yard for municipal, provincial, federal elections,” said Sharratt. “And they’ve never been touched before.” 

Angela Baker, who lives near Sharratt, said the NDP campaign sign on the corner near her house was also taken.

Both Baker and Sharratt had heard the downtown streets of Dartmouth had also been hit. According to Sharratt, signs for Sue LeBlanc, NDP candidate running for re-election in Dartmouth North, had been stolen along Slayter Street in broad daylight. 

“It makes you feel a little less safe to participate in your democracy, and I think it’s a vital time for all of us to have our voices heard,” said Sharratt. 

Sharratt contacted the NDP campaign office about his experiences and was told that these incidents were happening with increasing frequency, and that they were disappointed to hear it. 

While it has largely been NDP campaign signs that Sharratt has noticed disappearing in his neighbourhood, he said he’s also heard of signs for other parties being taken. 

The NDP did not respond to an inquiry about vandalized signs in Dartmouth.

The Halifax Regional Police have said that they cannot provide any information about reports of campaign sign theft. 

After his latest two signs were taken, Sharratt knew he would need to take more drastic measures. 

“Now I have four signs and will be putting up four signs drilled into the front of my house,” said Sharratt.