Powerful message coming to Comp
Powerful message coming to Comp
Posted By John Towns
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TJ Wiebe was, by all accounts, a bright and caring 20-year-old man who unfortunately was also involved in using and dealing drugs – a pursuit which ultimately cost him his life.
On Jan. 5, 2003, TJ was told that he was driving with two men, Anthony Pulsifer and Chad Handsor, to look at a car stereo that one of their uncles had for sale. After driving south past Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway, Pulsifer began stabbing TJ with syringes filled with drain cleaner and lighter fluid. When this did not kill TJ immediately, Pulsifer removed a shoelace from one of his shoes and began strangling TJ with it, dragging him from the front to the back seat of the car. TJ lay in the back seat, occasionally gasping for breath as Handsor and Pulsifer drove to a secluded area between St. Adolphe and St. Agathe, where they dragged the still alive TJ from the car and proceeded to stab him twice in the neck before jumping on his chest and leaving him to die by the side of the road.
According to testimony given by Pulsifer and Handsor after their arrest later in 2003, they murdered TJ at the behest of another man, a minor at the time of the murder, who did not like the fact that TJ was close friends with his girlfriend.
"A lot of people, before they hear TJ's story, would just assume that he was just a drug dealer who did something bad to another drug dealer," said TJ's father, Floyd Wiebe. "But really, he was murdered because of essentially a love triangle, and it had more to do with the people he associated with as a result of being involved in drugs."
This Tuesday, Wiebe will be speaking to students at the Comp about his son TJ and the dangers of being involved in drugs as part of Manitoba Addictions Awareness Week, which runs from Nov. 15 - 21.
Wiebe and his wife Karen regularly speak to schools across the province on behalf of a foundation they set up in memory of TJ called TJ's Gift. The foundation, which was formed by the Wiebe family in the aftermath of TJ's death, financially supports peer-led drug and gang counselling across the province, and also runs workshops designed to teach young people about the dangers of getting involved in drugs and drug culture.
"I guess you could say the foundation was almost formed right at the funeral," said Wiebe. "We just collected donations in lieu of flowers, and by the end of that first little while, we were sitting with $4,000 that we weren't sure what to do with."
The family decided to put the money toward warning young people about the dangers of getting involved in drugs in an attempt to spare other families from having to endure the devastation of losing a loved one to violent crime. To continue to raise funds, they hold annual gala fundraisers, the latest of which raised over $50,000 last May.
Wiebe says he hopes when he makes his presentation on the 17th that students are able to take some valuable insight away and maybe make decisions that they would not have otherwise made.
"What I hope for, every time, is that TJ's story is able to connect with the kids. Because it's a true story, and it shows the consequences of not just doing drugs, but even just getting involved with the wrong types of people. It's a lot more effective than just saying 'don't do drugs,'" he said.
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