'Never drive impaired': MADD launches national campaign in honour of Alberta victim
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is honouring a Red Deer, Alta., family as part of its 34th annual national red ribbon campaign.
Brenda Brown's daughter Chloe Kaniusis was killed by a drunk driver in 2014 when the two were returning home from a Christmas shopping trip in Red Deer.
Brown was pinned inside the vehicle for three hours following the crash.
Kaniusis, who was a mother of two, was killed instantly.
She was 30 years old.
"I wasn't able to go back to work for 27 months after she died," Brown told CTV News Edmonton at the red ribbon campaign launch on Monday. "But I knew I wanted to bring a message of change to high school students."
Brown, a high school librarian, said she joined the MADD organization in 2017 as a way to bring a message of change around the issue of impaired driving.
"We just have to keep educating people," she said. "(MADD has) so much to offer those who have been affected, whether they're victims, survivors; support through victims services, numerous and limitless resources."
Officials with MADD said the campaign is meant to be a reminder to drive sober this holiday season and all year round.
"We just try always to share victims' stories like the one that Brenda shared today, to keep impaired driving at top of mind to remind motorists that it is still a real risk," national president of MADD Canada Jaymie-Lyne Hancock told CTV News Edmonton.
According to a MADD Canada statistical report, 86,964 impaired driving-related incidents were reported in Canada in 2019, an average of 238 per day.
Late last year, the Alberta government passed legislation to create stronger and more immediate penalties for drivers under the influence.
- Stricter drunk driving laws will get impaired drivers off the streets immediately
- New impaired driving legislation tabled in Alberta
"The main message is really simple," Hancock said. "Never drive impaired, never get in the car with anyone who's impaired. Plan ahead for a sober ride home."
Over the next two months, MADD will be handing out thousands of red ribbons as a symbol of commitment to never drive impaired.
Brown said, while she considers herself an optimist, she doesn't believe the work MADD does will ever be finished.
"It is such a problem still," said Brown. "And Alberta is one of the worst provinces, so you know, we’ve got to do something more.”
The national campaign runs until Jan. 3.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING 9 suspects arrested in gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport: Peel police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police announced Wednesday.
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
Canada is expected to win 22 medals at the Paris Olympics
Canada is expected to win a total of 22 medals, including six gold, at the Paris Summer Olympics, which open on July 26.
500 Newfoundlanders wound up on the same cruise and it turned into a rocking kitchen party
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
Liberals must now sell a budget they say will help younger Canadians catch up
It's now up to the federal Liberal government to sell a spending plan it says will help younger Canadians catch up to their elders.
Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Australian clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says
The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said on Wednesday as police began arresting suspected rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge.
Ontario woman out $30K after investing in mortgage company accused of being unlicensed
An Ontario nurse is fighting to recover tens of thousands of dollars in savings she invested in a mortgage company that has since been accused of operating without a licence.
Young New Brunswick songwriter makes appearance on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'
Eight-year-old songwriter Zuri Hamilton from Miramichi, N.B., got to show off her talent on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show' on Monday.