Kate Roxburgh got punched in the face trying to stop a woman from robbing her downtown store.
The owner of Topaz Bead Gallery had tried to stop a woman who pocketed an item from leaving the store.
Roxburgh said she's just had enough.
"We're either going to sell it, move it or close it," Roxburgh said.
Roxburgh, along with her partner Chris Gravenor, has had the store for 11 years and it's always been located downtown with intent to add to the culture of the city streets.
About eight years ago, Roxburgh, a retired social worker who worked with troubled youth for 35 years, helped organize a program called the Community Warmth Tree where her store became the depot for knitters to bring their donations for the homeless. Roxburgh would facilitate that as a way to give back to the community most in need.
Now things have changed.
"My level of empathy and awareness of what it was like to be in that position has gone to that level to nothing - zero," she said. "And I never in my life ever thought that I would be the person who would stereotype somebody walking into my store. I would call people out who used to do that. 'How dare you make that statement about someone like that.' But not now."
And that makes her really sad.
"I was a kid in care - that was me - I aged out in the system - I dealt with all kinds of shit like these guys deal with - that was my life and that's why my empathy was so high," Roxburgh said.
When street people walk in the door now, Roxburgh said her heart starts to pound.
"What's going to happen? Will I have something stolen?" she said. "Will I have to do a showdown? Will I have to tell them to leave? Will I get punched in the face?"
Last Tuesday afternoon, a woman came into the store.
"It breaks my heart to say it but I did stereotype her," Roxburgh said. "So I watched her because I have to watch people like that, so I watched her like a hawk and sure enough she picked something up and did the walk around, which is what they do and then they walk around a little more hoping you will ignore them and I saw her put the item in her pocket so I stood by the door and when she started to make her way out I told her I wanted what was in her pocket."
The woman immediately became defensive.
"She said how 'dare you say I'm a thief' and I just said it's in your pocket just give it back and I will gladly move from the door and you can leave," Roxburgh said. "As this is transpiring I have a customer who's on the phone with the RCMP saying 'theft in progress.'"
Roxburgh said she remained in front of the door with her arms crossed.
"The situation escalates and she pushed passed me and then pushed the door out," Roxburgh said. "So I grabbed her lapel and I waited because the customer is still on the phone with the RCMP."
Then they ended up outside.
"So she pivots and turns and punches me in the face," Roxburgh said. "She hit the bridge of my glasses and I've got blood everywhere. My glasses are on the sidewalk and she runs."
During the altercation, Roxburgh said she heard the customer repeating what she's being told over the phone by the 911 operator: "tell her to let her go."
"The RCMP then ask the woman on the phone to ask me 'do you want us to come?' and I said 'don't bother.' What's the point? It's done. She's gone. You could've been here for us - you didn't come. Nothing will happen. Nothing will change. This is what we deal with every day. So really? Don't bother."
From the sidewalk in front of Topaz Bead Gallery, the police station is visible less than three blocks away.
"Three times over they could have been here," Roxburgh said.
