‘Don’t ever forget this story’
Posted By Hayley Brigg
Posted 1 day ago
It was a difficult story to tell, but Floyd Wiebe got through it, and his message was more than received.
The Winnipeg man visited the Comp on Tuesday as a guest speaker during the school's annual Addictions Awareness Week program to talk to students, and share with them his own personal tragedy of losing his son to the world of drugs.
"Most speakers want to be here, they want to come to schools and talk with you guys, but I don't want to be here," Wiebe told a packed theater of Grade 10 and 11 students. "I know that's kind of rude but I'd rather not be here, because something very sad happened for me to be here."
In 2003 at the age of 20, Wiebe's eldest son TJ was brutally murdered by two men, Anthony Pulsifer and Chad Handsor, at the request of another man who was a minor at the time of the murder, simply because he didn't like the fact that TJ was close with his girlfriend.
Students listened intently as Wiebe described the events leading up to his son's death and how Pulsifer and Handsor, two people TJ possibly considered friends or acquaintances, lured him to Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway under the pretense of purchasing a car stereo.
After severely beating TJ and strangling him with a shoelace, the pair slashed TJ's throat and stabbed him twice in the neck before leaving him to die along a deserted farm road between St. Adolphe and St. Agathe.
During the attack, the men also attempted to kill TJ by injecting him with syringes filled with drain cleaner and lighter fluid.
"It was an idea (the minor who issued the murder) got from a Val Kilmer movie," Wiebe told students.
During his presentation, Wiebe chronicled TJ's early life and how once he became a teenager, he began experimenting with drugs and eventually became addicted to and began dealing methamphetamine with the minor who ordered his murder, a decision that ultimately cost him his life.
"I don't want anyone to forget this story, and I don't want anyone to leave here thinking that something like this will never happen to them, because that's what TJ thought," said Wiebe. "People will do anything to anyone when they're involved with drugs."
Wiebe spoke twice on Tuesday, once in the morning and again in the afternoon for Grade 12 students, and ended his presentation with a short video that depicted TJ's sadly short life in photos.
"I hope you guys make good decisions in life, because that will mean everything to TJ, and it will mean everything to me," Wiebe concluded.
Stacey Herda was one of many Comp students who had the opportunity to hear Wiebe speak, and says she was impacted by his story.
"I really enjoyed his presentation, it was really down to earth and it was a real story, not just someone standing there and saying 'don't do drugs'," said the Grade 12 student.
Herda says she believes Wiebe's message that drugs are a problem that can happen to anyone, regardless of their social situation or home life, hit students the hardest.
"I've had the chance to talk to a lot of people about the presentation, and many of them had a good reaction," said Herda.
"I think it's a good story for the students to hear because we all know these things do go on, and I'm sure we all know some people who are in that same situation."
She adds that she thinks targeting highschool kids to deliver the message that drugs are dangerous is a smart choice, saying the pressures teens face can lead to poor decision making.
"Just thinking about the move from junior high to high school, it's a really drastic change," said Herda. "Everyone starts falling into different places and making different friends, and I think the stress of that along with schoolwork can act as a trigger (for substance abuse problems)."
Herda is also one of a group of students who have been helping to organize and put on the Addictions Awareness Week. She introduced Wiebe to students before his presentation, and encouraged them afterwards to take his message to heart and share it with others.
A member of student council, Herda says when she was approached to help out with the awareness week, she was initially hesitant, thinking the message wasn't going to be effective.
"I didn't really want to be involved at first, because I thought it was going to be the same 'just don't do drugs' message that we hear all the time," said Herda.
"But I got a chance to go and see what some other schools were doing and hear Floyd (Wiebe) speak, and it was really interesting, it really opened my eyes."
Though she is graduating this year, Herda says she plans to continue participating in addictions awareness events, and has even inquired about helping out with the foundation the Wiebe family has set up in TJ's memory – TJ's Gift.
Jan Harris, the Comp's resident Addictions Foundation of Manitoba Youth Counsellor, says although there is no magic formula to ensure kids don't go down the same road as TJ Wiebe, she encourages parents to be open with their kids, and maintain a channel of communication.
"The most important thing you can do to try and get your kids to stay away from substance abuse and addiction is to talk to them," said Harris.
"Let them know what you expect from them, and that you expect them not to get involved with drugs. Let them know you are there, and that you can be a resource for them if they need someone, or are in a difficult situation."
She also suggests parents go through hypothetical situations with their kids, to help them know how to make the right decisions if they're faced with a problem.
"Talk about different scenarios and ask them what they would do, and how would they handle that," Harris said.
"Then you can discuss those situations together and hopefully, if they ever come across that problem, they'll make the right choice."
For more information about addictions resources or TJ's story and his foundation, visit
www.afm.mb.ca or
www.tjsgift.com.
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