When a shooting at the Apex Casino left the city RCMP mourning one of its own in January, St. Albertans responded with an outpouring of messages, flowers, cards and home-cooked meals.
White ribbons decorated the city in honour of RCMP Constable David Wynn and 8,000 residents attended his funeral.
Those acts of solidarity played a big part in the St. Albert detachment’s grieving process but also bared witness to the impact Wynn’s death had on the community as a whole.
Residents still check up on the detachment from time to time, said Cpl. Laurel Kading, spokesperson for the St. Albert RCMP detachment.
“It helped reassure that the community is supportive of us and that Dave was seen as part of this community,” said Kading. “It’s impacted everyone and pulling together made it something that we could work through.”
Const. Wynn’s death was the first police fatality experienced by St. Albert and it shook the fabric of the community. For this reason the city wishes to take a community-based approach in determining the best way to commemorate the officer, said Community and Protective Services general manager Chris Jardine.
In February, council set aside $100,000 as an initial contribution to a permanent public memorial, possible endowment or other possible legacy plans to honour Wynn’s memory.
Given the impact of the event on all residents, Jardine said that the city would be remiss in not asking the community to be involved in the decision making process.
“This was a shock to the community. It was a trauma; secondary to the obvious trauma to Const. Wynn’s family. How the community rose up and grieved with the family was quite moving,” he said.
“It would be really easy for me to sit with a bunch of staff people and say ‘What do you think about this?’ but it doesn’t allow for the community to close the loop on the grieving process.”
Jardine is proposing that an independent committee explore concepts for a memorial program.
The committee would be a mix of appointed and volunteer representatives, including a member of the Wynn family or a designate of their choice, a member of council, a member of administration and a member of St. Albert RCMP.
Three community members would be screened and selected by the appointed members after submitting applications. It would take up to 90 days to advertise and select community representatives, according to the report submitted to council on Tuesday.
The community would also coordinate and drive a fundraising campaign for the initiative.
The city is hoping to present the proposed memorial program to council next December and have the funds in place for a September 2019 unveiling or official launch.
Kading said that the detachment is honoured to be part of the committee.
“There will never be a way of giving us Dave back; there will never be a way of filling that gap, but there could be a way of allowing us to honour him and his memory and that would be wonderful,” she said.
The proposal for a community-based committee was heard at council on Tuesday Sept. 8. The result of the vote was not available at the time of publication.
