POWERFUL MESSAGE COMING TO COMP

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.

"Sometimes these kids are getting involved and don't even really
realize it, and when we speak to them we want to help them realize
that it's a dangerous world to get involved in.

"That's what we really want to prevent."