BANFF – The locally-run Bow Valley Victim Services Association has been providing services for three decades, in large part created in the aftermath of the 1990 murder of Banff taxi driver Lucie Turmel that left the tourism town shocked and devastated.
However, Bow Valley Victim Services Association (BVVSA) will be one of 62 smaller victim services organizations to be dissolved on Sept. 30 and folded into one of four super boards created by the Alberta government, which become operational Oct. 1.
“I do wish the new model all the best when they take over Oct. 1. They are doing important work but I do have concerns,” said Peter Quinn, BVVSA’s executive director, during a Banff council meeting on Monday (Sept. 9).
“I don’t know all the details but what they’ve shared with me creates some concern.”
Since 1994, the trusted local organization has helped people in cases of murder, attempted murder, sudden death, suicide, serious and fatal motor vehicle crashes, mountain accidents, sexual assaults, domestic assaults, harassment, threats, kidnapping, missing persons and child abuse. Based out of the Banff RCMP detachment, BVVSA has assisted residents and visitors in Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise, Harvie Heights, Exshaw and Lac des Arcs working in local police detachments and community agencies.
The not-for-profit, volunteer-based registered society provides support and assistance for victims of crime and tragedy, information, referral, crisis intervention, public education and critical incident stress management.
Quinn said one of the services no longer to be offered in the Bow Valley under the new regional model – the Bow Valley is to be part of the Southern Alberta Regional Victim Serving Society – is transportation for victims of tragedy or trauma.
“Maybe a family visiting from another country skiing up at Norquay and one of their children has a terrible ski accident and STARS come and takes that child into Calgary, and of course, what does the family want? They want to be with their kid,” he said.
“We’ll take them to the hotel room, pack up their stuff and we’ll drive them in… I don’t know how they’ll fill that void, but it’s sad that it won’t be continuing. Providing practical service to people is sometimes one of the most important things we do.”
In addition, Quinn said the new regional model won’t be providing services to groups.
For example, he said BVVSA speaks with groups of people whose co-worker may have died suddenly or been seriously injured, adding that colleagues and friends are left to process the shock, grief and other emotions associated with the passing of their friend or co-worker.
At other times, Quinn said the association has spoken to a wide range of first responders who have been impacted by difficult calls they have responded to.
“Sometimes people have been exposed to or have witnessed other serious occurrences such as fires, serious motor vehicle collisions, animal attacks, violent physical assaults, etc.,” he said.
“We believe these facilitated discussion have been of great help and support to many individuals.”
Quinn said BVVSA has also provided education programs to approximately 28,000 people and that is no longer being provided.
He said people, including teenagers, would approach him and other members of BVVSA after various presentations.
“One day a young man came up and sort of said that he was having suicidal thoughts … and he had access to a gun, so we contacted his family, we contacted the police, the gun was removed, that young man’s having a lovely life now,” he said.
“There’s a lot of value to proactive services. There’s a lot of value to services like that because young people hear and see themselves in the presentation, realize someone’s putting words to what’s happening for them… and they need some help,” he said.
Quinn said it is not yet clear whether after-hours service will be via phone call or in person.
“I hope it’s not over the phone because during COVID-19 with social distancing, as one of the services we provided, we weren’t meeting with people and it doesn’t work,” he said.
“When people are in crisis they need face-to-face. If it’s over the phone service it won’t be adequate for the needs of people in the Bow Valley.”
Arthur Green, press secretary for the Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services’ minister, said the new regional victim services model will provide a victim services navigator or navigators for every RCMP detachment.
He said each regional society is an independent non-profit organization that manages its own resources.
Green said there is the ability for navigators in neighbouring detachments to provide coverage for one another whenever there are planned or unplanned vacancies such as vacation or sick time.
He said there is full operational funding to eliminate the need for local staff to fundraise, and there would be centralized support staff who will handle recruitment, grant applications, reporting and other paperwork.
“This will increase frontline operational capacity across every detachment in the province by freeing up local navigators to devote more of their time to directly supporting victims of crime and tragedy,” Green said.
“Alberta’s government is making sure victims have access to the help they need, where and when they need it, by keeping services local, and shifting to a regional governance model to ensure sustainable, consistent and predictable funding for victim services across the province.”
Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno said municipalities throughout the Bow Valley met after learning of the government’s plan to create the four regional boards province-wide and said Banff also had a meeting with the minister in charge of the portfolio.
“We spent a lot of time trying to understand what this change was going to mean for Banff and the Bow Valley and we talked through many different types of solutions that could be applied here,” said the mayor.
“At the end of the day, the group decision was let’s move forward and see how this model works and we certainly hear the concerns from Mr. Quinn and share those as well, but let’s see what this program does once it’s here and then we can re-group and see if any more advocacy is needed for the region.”
BVVSA was formed at a time awareness was growing nationally for the rights of victims in the criminal justice system and in the years following a high-profile murder in Banff. In 1990, Ryan Jason Love, then 18, stabbed and killed cab driver Lucie Turmel, 23, for her earnings one night, which amounted to $130.
“If you can think back to what 1993 was like, Lucie Turmel had been murdered a couple of years earlier, and there was an awareness that the town needed specialized services to deal with events such as that,” Quinn said.
That was also a time when staff at Mineral Springs Hospital were known to take victims of tragedy home with them to give them support in time of need or crisis.
“They would realize that someone’s lost their loved one, that this person needed to have someone with them overnight, so hospital staff were taking people home, which was amazingly kind but not sustainable,” Quinn said.
“The Town of Banff gathered all the other communities in the Bow Valley, they gathered the RCMP … and they sat down and said ‘what’s the problem’ and the problem was there needed to be a specialized service.”
Quinn, who won’t be taking on a role under the new super board, said he is proud of the work BVVSA has done over the last three decades, helping approximately 17,500 individuals.
“We’ve been involved in over 9,000 occurrences, and probably 2,000 of those occurrences I would class as a crisis, where people need help straight way. We’ve helped 2,500 through the court process, we’ve done education programs for 28,000 people,” he said.
DiManno thanked Quinn and BVVSA for their hard work and dedication over the years.
“For three decades, this volunteer-based organization has been a bright light for folks living through some of the darkest and most difficult days of their life by being a safe, non-judgmental space,” she said.
“Whether it’s emotional support, practical assistance, or immediate trauma intervention, BVVSA has been by our side 24/7, ready to answer the call for help.”
DiManno said the Bow Valley is unique in that it hosts millions of visitors from around the world every year.
“It must have been a relief to visitors when BVVSA showed up when being so far from home; they had no one else to call,” she said.
Quinn thanks his staff and volunteers who have given their “heart and soul” to the organization and “done an amazing job” for 31 years.
He also thanked the municipalities for financial support. Banff has been providing a grant annually from the get-go, with the average annual grant about $25,000 over the past five years.
“I honestly believe we couldn’t have done it without the help of the town. I hope you know the money you gave us every year was extremely well spent,” Quinn said.
