Mike on Crime (30 page)

In one paragraph, the parole board warned Urichen “has been incarcerated for many years and the contributing factors to your offending are still outstanding, suggesting that you will easily engage in drug use and association with negative peers, leading to a deterioration of your mental health, significantly increasing the risk you pose.” The parole board did have the ability to suspend statutory release and keep Urichen behind bars until the expiry of his full sentence if they felt there was a grave risk to society.

Wiebe wondered why that wasn't being done in this case. “If this doesn't meet the criteria of keeping someone in, I shudder to think what it does take,” he said.

T
he very first T.J.s Gift Gala ended up surpassing expectations and raised a total of $54,000. The annual fundraiser has been going strong ever since, supplemented by other community efforts such as the “Rockin' for Choices” concert which sees thousands of local teens from dozens of schools pack into the MTS Centre to watch a Battle of the Bands combined with a positive, drug-free message. Life, of course, goes on. But the Wiebes have now dedicated their lives to helping other families avoid the kind of tragedy which consumed them. One only needs to check out their website—
www.tjsgift.com
—to fully grasp their efforts.

In May 2014—while emceeing the eighth annual gala fundraiser event—I was moved by a speech from a young man who was perhaps headed down a similar road as T.J. He bravely got up before a crowd of strangers and told his story of how a murder victim he never met may have saved his life. About how hearing T.J.s story when Floyd Wiebe spoke at his high school made him re-consider his own choices in life: his increasingly chronic drug use, his negative peers. And how he was able to make a clean break from all of that. That young man graduated high school in June of 2014 and faces a bright future if he can stay on track. The Wiebes have heard many similar stories over the years. It's what motivates them to keep going. It truly is T.J.'s gift.

About the Author

Mike McIntyre is the justice reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press, host of the nationally-syndicated “Crime & Punishment” weekly radio show on the Corus Network and author of five previous true crime books. He is one of the longest-serving crime beat writers in Canada, having started his career in 1995.