April 1995 saw the announcement of the construction of one of the most iconic structures in St. Albert. The city announced it would build the Perron Street clock tower at the corner of Perron Street and Sir Winston Churchill Avenue. The 21-metre-tall structure, which would be visible from St. Albert Trail, was also part of a masonry research project to help provide input into the National Building Code. Yet it wasn’t the clock tower that brought scores of media to the city that month. Their focus was on a home in Erin Ridge where it was revealed that a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) spy named Grant Bristow, living under the name Nathan Black, had been relocated with his family. Bristow had gained notoriety nationwide after it was revealed he had spent several years feeding CSIS information on the white supremacist group The Heritage Front. He had advanced into the group’s upper hierarchy and, when the story first broke, Canadians were initially outraged that CSIS might have inadvertently funded this group by paying Bristow/Black for his work.
The following April, St. Albert’s top two hockey teams proved they were the best of the bunch. In the Capital Junior B Hockey League, the St. Albert Merchants won the league title, then followed up that victory with a provincial title. The St. Albert Saints were also the toast of the town, winning the AJHL title in seven games over Fort McMurray.
But in April 1997, sports had given way to politics. Provincially, having lost his seat as MLA to Tory candidate Mary O’Neill by only 16 votes, Liberal Len Bracko petitioned the Court of Queen’s Bench for a recount. In the end, the judge presented with the case threw out Bracko’s request. Locally, despite strong opposition from many of the 400 residents who crammed St. Albert Place, council voted 4-3 to proceed with construction of the west boundary road. The biggest problem with the road, in the minds of some residents, was the effect it might have on the Sturgeon River and Big Lake. But the road issue was quickly overshadowed when Mayor Anita Ratchinsky crossed the Safeway picket line during the 1997 strike to buy groceries. In her defence, Ratchinsky said she didn’t want to hurt the business community and was free to choose where she shopped.
That same April a series of events began that would leave St. Albert residents reeling. One day, Protestant school board chair Don Witwicky disappeared from his downtown office where he worked as director of planning and operations for Edmonton Public Schools. He was found wandering in a north Edmonton field, suffering from hypothermia. Within days, news trickled down that Witwicky, who had served on the board from 1983 to 1992, then was re-elected in 1995 and selected as chair, was being investigated for misappropriation of funds and irregularities in his expense account after administration brought its suspicions to trustees. The board promptly called in the RCMP and Witwicky stepped down.
The RCMP charged Witwicky with fraud over $5,000 for falsifying expenses and honoraria, which had totalled $9,546.62. When he appeared in court, the charge was downgraded to fraud under $5,000 and sent to alternative measures, where if Witwicky followed certain rules and met certain conditions, he would not have a criminal record. Two weeks later, Edmonton police released startling news. Harry Hole, a member of the Hole family of Hole’s Greenhouses & Gardens, had received a letter threatening to kill him and two family members unless he paid $2 million to the letter writer. A sting operation led to the arrest of the suspected extortionist — it was Witwicky, who had worked alongside Lois Hole on the Protestant board. Facing new charges, Witwicky was granted bail on $1,000 provided a psychiatric assessment found he was at no risk of harming himself or a member of the public. The Gazette also revealed Witwicky had been undergoing treatment for VLT addiction, had been forced to declare bankruptcy, sell his home and move to Edmonton shortly after stepping down as chair. Elsewhere, the Saints celebrated another AJHL title win, this time over the Fort Saskatchewan Traders. And Lois Hole, though she’d had a rough month, received good news when it was announced she would become next chancellor of the University of Alberta.
By the following April, there was more trouble brewing, but this time at Poundmaker’s. A group of staff had made several allegations of poor management practices and financial irregularities against the board of directors and the chair. A total of 23 employees launched a civil suit to have the society dissolved and the board disbanded. By April 1999, 20 of those 23 employees had been fired. By coincidence, that same month the abandoned residential school at Poundmaker’s was deliberately set on fire.
The first April of the new century found the Gazette again toying with its readers as reporter “I.M. Hip” reports on April 1 that Mark Messier had purchased the St. Albert Saints. The April Fool’s Day story went over so well that some broadcast media in the area picked it up. It turns out the team wasn’t being sold, but there were more changes in the making. One year after celebrating a provincial title, the Saints recorded their second-worst season in team history with an overall record of 17-43-2-2. Though general manager Marcel Viveiros had fired coach Alex Belcourt after the team’s 3-14 start, Viveiros himself was fired at the end of the season.
Peter Boer is an editor at the Gazette.
