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Family of pedestrian killed on Hwy. 17 want tougher penalties

Saoirse Sankey was struck by truck and killed in 2012

Four years ago, on Aug. 31, 2012, 20-year-old Saoirse Sankey of Vancouver, B.C., was walking west along the north shoulder of Highway 17 near Coniston, when she was struck by a pickup truck.

She was thrown into the ditch, where she later died of her injuries. 

Saoirse, a recent graduate of the British Columbia Institute of Technology's welding program, was on a trip across the country. The young woman called it a “spirit walk” — a trek to reconnect with life's purpose.

She'd reached Newfoundland, and was on her way back home again when she was killed. Just four minutes before she died, she'd called her family from a nearby service centre.

The 18-year-old Lively man driving the truck that struck Saoirse was charged with careless driving, and ultimately received a $1,000 fine in traffic court.

Every year, close to the anniversary of Saoirse's death, her family returns to the scene of the crash.

Teresa Sankey and her daughter, Freyja Sankey, stood on the side of Highway 17 Aug. 31, holding a sign saying “Careless driving kills – change the law.”

They were there to support a private member's bill tabled by Liberal Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon on June 7.

If passed, the bill would amend the Highway Traffic Act for increased sanctions around careless driving, including tougher penalties for careless driving causing death or bodily harm.

“The way it is now under the Highway Traffic Act, you may receive the same set of fines for knocking over a post box as you would for killing or maiming a person,” said Teresa.

Driving is a privilege, not a right, and pedestrians and cyclists have a right to safety, she said.

A web page for a memorial fund set up in Saoirse's name said she had a “fierce and uncompromising commitment” to truth, community and social justice, and was fearless in exposing issues of sexism, race, homophobia and class.

When asked about Saoirse, Teresa said it's difficult to describe her child in just a few words, but said she had great spirit. 

“To have your child taken from you, it is something from which a parent never recovers,” she said.

“You live with that grief day to day. I think Saoirse would not only be very angry about the circumstances by which she died. Saoirse would want us to be here.

She would want us to be advocating for justice, advocating for change. 

“She would want us to be urging the folks of Ontario to get on the phone to call their MPP, to text them, to write them to support Eleanor McMahon's private member's bill.”

Freyja said she was 16 years old — nearly 17 — when she lost her sister. She's almost 21 now, close to the age her sister was she she died.

“We were best friends,” she said. “When she died, it was kind of like a chunk of me disappeared. You never really get that chunk back.”


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Heidi Ulrichsen

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