When a young life is taken early, the emotional impact ripples throughout the community. On Oct. 9, 16-year-old Brittany Corbiere, a Grade 12 student from Ecole Mallaig Community School, passed away in the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton from life-threatening injuries sustained in an Oct. 8 car accident.
Brittany was a student, a friend, a valued member of her community and a caring family member.
“She was very active with her siblings, she loved her baby sister and all her younger cousins,” recalled her aunt Julie Kriaski. “She could always be seen with a baby in her arms at any family function. She was always willing to rock someone to sleep.”
Brittany was always willing to lend a helping hand around the house or on the farm. She enjoyed spending time with her six siblings and her extended family on family outings and camping trips, where she was often seen sitting around the fire sharing time with others.
“She was a favorite babysitter around our house. My daughter would always tell me after Brittany went home that she snuck them ice cream and oats as a treat,” Kriaski said. “She had an infectious smile. She was loved and will be missed by her family and extended family.”
Brittany was a good-natured, fun-loving girl, enjoying her Grade 12 year but also looking forward to pursuing her education after graduation at Vermilion College, according to Kriaski. She was an active member of the St. Lina 4-H club and raised a steer every year. Like many young people her age, she loved technology such as cell phones, computers and music.
Brittany will not only be deeply missed by her family but also by the students and staff of Ecole Mallaig School.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and we are deeply saddened by her death,” said school principal Denis Jodoin. “We are definitely thinking of them at this time.”
Victim services personnel, the school counsellor and community faith leaders gathered at the school to assist her friends and classmates with the emotional impact of the incident, said Jodoin. “All our staff was on supervision all day to make sure that we were there for our students throughout the day.”
He said that there were two memorial tables set up where students could go to write thoughts, prayers and memorial messages to Brittany’s family.
“We have made a scrapbook with the messages to present to the family but it also helped the kids with their healing process,” explained Jodoin. “They also wrote messages on sticky notes and put them on her locker.”
According to an RCMP press release, Brittany was driving on Range Road 102 with a fellow 16-year-old student from the school when she lost control of the vehicle. The RCMP are still investigating to try and figure out why she lost control of the Pontiac Sunfire but did confirm that alcohol was not a factor in the accident. It appears that she was not wearing her seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle when it rolled into a pasture. The female passenger in the vehicle, who was wearing a seatbelt, suffered minor injuries and was treated and later released from the hospital.
