SGI ad uses photos of Sask. victims to target drunk drivers

The sound of sobbing echoed through the legislature as SGI played its 2017 impaired driving campaign ad for the first time on Thursday.

Members of the government’s administration team wiped away tears, cabinet ministers and the premier stood ashen-faced at the back of the room watching as the ad played.

The campaign doesn’t feature actors or fake images, but real people from across Saskatchewan who were killed in a drunk driving related collision. Twelve lives were cut short by someone else’s decision to drive intoxicated.

The message is a simple one: impaired driving changes lives. SGI hopes that will have an impact on whether a drunk person gets behind the wheel or not.

Everyone is now watching the ad and all you can hear are sobs. #skpoli

— Sarah Mills (@smillsSK) May 11, 2017

Ben Darchuk, Sarah Wensley, JP Haughey, Tanner Kaufmann, Adrienne Gardiner, Danille Kerpan, Quinn Stevenson, Brandy Lepine, Jordan, Chanda, Kamryn and Miguire Van de Vorst are all featured in the ad.

“I choke up, I catch my breath, I get a little hurt in my heart,” Lou Van der Vorst described what it felt like to see the ad play.

He lost his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren when they were struck and killed outside of Saskatoon by drunk driver Catherine McKay in Jan. 2016.

Many of the family members expressed what an easy decision it was to be a part of the campaign, knowing that it could finally make a difference in changing drunk-driving behaviour.

“I feel like this is my path and I was supposed to help bring about change in Saskatchewan,” said Alysia Kaufmann, whose husband Tanner was killed outside Regina by what police believe to be a drunk driver.

Saskatchewan has the highest rates of drunk driving in the country.

“We must keep this in the forefront,” Van der Vorst said. “Keep people thinking about responsible driving and keep thinking about sober driving.”

It may be only 12 people that are featured in the ad campaign, but they represent a fraction of those impacted by impaired driving. Over the last decade, 600 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured.

“It has to stop,” said SGI Minister Joe Hargrave. “Too many lives have been lost and too many families have been torn apart due to impaired driving.”

Minister Joe Hargrave choking up as he reads the people who feature in the campaign and their ages. There is a lot of tears here. #skpoli pic.twitter.com/WNwsN8KbfZ

— Sarah Mills (@smillsSK) May 11, 2017