The top five stories of 2018 were diverse. Not only did they have an impact when they happened, but some will have lasting reverberations for years to come.
1: Local impact of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash: It was a story that shocked and saddened the nation. Sixteen people were killed and 13 more were injured April 6 when the bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team was struck by a semi-trailer unit north of Tisdale.
The Broncos were on their way to Nipawin to face the Nipawin Hawks in Game 5 of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s semifinal series.
The magnitude of the tragedy, and the reaction from the public, was so strong that the Canadian Press named it the story of the year and the newsmaker of the year.
The tragedy had numerous local connections, and it brought out the best in so many people in the community.
Among the 16 dead were two coaches, Darcy Haugan and Mark Cross. Both played junior hockey in Estevan. Haugan was a forward for the Estevan Bruins in the 1995-96 season, an assistant coach from December 2000 to January 2003, and an interim co-head coach and general manager, alongside Doug Trapp, in the final months of the 2002-03 season.
Cross, meanwhile, spent his entire junior hockey career with the Bruins from 2008-11, and won the club’s Bill Shinske Ethics Award in each of his final two seasons.
In addition to Haugan and Cross, 10 players, the team’s play-by-play announcer, their statistician, their athletic therapist and the bus driver were killed in the crash.
The local outpouring was remarkable. Many local residents donated to a GoFundMe campaign which wound up raising more than $15 million to support the survivors and their families, as well as the families of the deceased.
The Power Dodge Estevan Bruins raised more than $100,000 for the Broncos coaches’ fund to support the families of Haugan and Cross. The Estevan DQ Grill and Chill donated all proceeds from their sales on April 11 to the coaches’ fund.
Many other fundraisers were held in the community.
Hundreds of people showed up at the Estevan Leisure Centre’s multi-purpose room on April 8 to attend a vigil. The memorial service from the Elgar Petersen Arena in Humboldt was shown via a simulcast.
Local artist Deanna Brown’s drawing of a Humboldt Broncos player with angel’s wings went viral.
Local hockey fans joined those across the country in putting hockey sticks on the porch in memory of those who died in the bus crash.
The Power Dodge Estevan Bruins, meanwhile, had already advanced to the SJHL final, and were awaiting the winner of the Broncos-Hawks series. After several days of speculation, the league voted to proceed with a final between Estevan and Nipawin.
The Bruins stopped at the crash site for a memorial service on their way to Game 1 in Nipawin. They ultimately lost the series in seven games.
The driver of the semi, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, 29, was charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and another 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. The case remains before the court.
2. The future of Boundary Dam: It’s a story that became the talk of the city in July, and will remain a focal point in 2019: the future of Units 4 and 5 at the Boundary Dam Power Station.
SaskPower announced on July 9 that it would not retrofit Units 4 and 5 with carbon capture technology, and that the two units would be retired. If SaskPower reaches an equivalency agreement with the federal government, then Unit 4 would come offline in 2021, and Unit 5 would meet its demise three years later.
Without an equivalency agreement, the two units will be retired at the end of 2019.
SaskPower says it is opting for natural gas as a baseload power option versus carbon capture and storage (CCS), citing lower costs for natural gas.
“With the current low price of natural gas, we had to make this decision in the best interest of our customers,” SaskPower president and CEO Mike Marsh said in a news release. “For now, we have a clear plan to achieve our emission reduction targets by 2030, and CCS technology will be a part of that.”
When the federal government published the new standards for coal-fired power units last month, Units 4 and 5 were not mentioned.
Unit 3 has been retrofitted with CCS technology, and has been operating since 2014.
SaskPower has stated there won’t be any job losses stemming from when Units 4 and 5 come offline, but it hasn’t ruled out people in Estevan being transferred to other plants.
There could be job losses at the local mines.
A decision has not been made on the future of Unit 6 at Boundary Dam, or the Shand Power Station. There has been a study completed on retrofitting Shand with CCS technology, which showed it would cost much less per megawatt than Unit 3. But in a visit to Estevan in December, Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskPower, hinted that Unit 6 could share a similar fate to Units 4 and 5.
3. Murder-suicide in Midale: A murder-suicide at the Midway Family Restaurant in Midale shocked the community and people throughout the province.
Members of the Estevan and Weyburn RCMP were called to the restaurant on April 20, after two people were found dead at the scene.
At the time of the incident, the RCMP said it was not looking for any suspects, and there was no risk to the public.
The investigation consisted of an examination of the scene by the RCMP Forensic Identification Unit, several interviews of potential witnesses by RCMP Regina Major Crimes, and forensic autopsies of both persons.
The victim, Mary Lou Clauson, aged 61 of Midale, was killed by Patrick Ng, aged 74, also of Midale. Clauson had been an employee at the business owned by Ng.
4. So long, Civic: Entering 2018, there was some hope in the community that Estevan’s venerable 60-year-old arena, the Civic Auditorium, could be saved from demolition.
Estevan city council had approved closing the arena indefinitely in November 2017, after the findings of a structural, architectural, mechanical and electrical report. But after a second report was released, city council approved reopening the building six weeks later, as long as the necessary insurance for the building could be found.
Mayor Roy Ludwig announced on Jan. 17 that the city did not get the insurance coverage, and so the Civic would remain closed and be demolished. Ludwig added that the city approached several potential insurance companies, but none were willing to take a chance on the arena.
Silverado Demolition was awarded the contract on May 7, and the process of tearing down the arena starting on May 15. Ironically, just before demolition began, representatives of the City of Estevan were unveilling contents of a time capsule that had been located in the arena.
Large crowds gathered around the Civic to see the building come down.
It took a little more than 48 hours for the demolition to be complete. A few days later, the debris from the arena had also been cleaned up.
The site of the old arena is now a parking lot.
A decision has not been made on whether to construct a third ice surface in Estevan to replace the Civic.
5. RCMP officer killed near Lampman: Const. Peter Donaldson, a serving member of the Estevan RCMP, was killed and another Estevan RCMP officer was injured when the vehicle they were travelling in left the road and rolled over on Highway 361 about 1 1/2 kilometres east of Lampman on May 15.
The two officers were not on duty at the time, and they were not travelling in an RCMP vehicle.
Donaldson had been in Estevan for several years and served with both the local detachment and the Combined Traffic Services of Saskatchewan unit.
He was fondly remembered for his personality and his commitment to the job.
Estevan Police Service (EPS) Deputy Chief Murray Cowan said he knew both officers very well, as did most of the officers with the EPS.
“Quite a few of our members are taking it quite hard,” said Cowan at the time. “We work very closely with our RCMP partners here in Estevan and in this corner of the province, so even though we work for different agencies, you get to know each other very well.”
Sgt. Jeff Clarke with the Estevan RCMP said the support from emergency services agencies, including fire departments, EMS and other police forces, as well as the general public, the municipal councils and complete strangers, has been “heart-warming and well-received.”
