Moose Jaw remembers victims of plane crash

By Corey Atkinson

Sadness came to Moose Jaw as the identities of the victims of a weekend plane crash near Irvine, Alta., became known to more people Monday.

Justin Filteau was a football player and judo athlete in Moose Jaw growing up. Jim Wilk of J Wilk Landscaping and Kerry DePape of R.L. Cushing Millwork also died when the plane Wilk was flying crashed Saturday.

Wilk was well-known with the Moose Jaw Flying Club, according to club president Gerry Julian.

“He was just a unique guy,” Julian said. “He was a person that you usually ended up with a grin on your face when you were talking about him or after you’d been talking with him because he said the funniest things and the craziest things. He was just an off-the-wall, big character.”

Filteau also enjoyed life greatly. His old judo coach, Jim Wiens from the Koseikan Judo Club, recalled the kind of character Filteau was.

“There’s a great picture with the Judo Sask website of him just recently winning provincials … and standing at the top of the podium and being the typical ham that he is, taking a selfie of himself while the media’s trying to take pictures and we’re trying to get things together for the records,” Wiens said with a smile.

DePape and Wilk, respectively, were the fathers of the bride and groom at a wedding that is to take place in Moose Jaw in August. They were attending a pre-wedding celebration prior to the crash.

Wilk was known to be proud of the plane that he flew. Julian said that small plane pilots have a special mindset.

“There’s only one reason to fly a small plane, and that’s because you really enjoy it,” Julian said. “That is the main reason for having an aircraft like that, and for being a pilot, it’s because it’s something that you get something out of. And what you get out of it is that feeling. There’s something different. You know that when you’re flying, you know you’re doing something not everybody does, and not everybody can do.”

Julian said Wilk was a big-hearted man.

“He was a very generous man,” said Julian. “There was no pretense about Jimmy. It was a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of situation.”

Filteau’s mother, Nancy, competed in judo in the Atlanta Olympics and he wanted to follow in her footsteps. The judo club had an evening Monday where people could remember him.

“With him as a younger athlete, he fit in so well … but of course, he had the inside track of having a mother that had an incredible judo career as well,” Wiens said.

Filteau became the director of participation and development for Judo Saskatchewan as he progressed from being an athlete. But Filteau had also starred in football, which wasn’t a surprise to Wiens.

“He was always one of those ones with his shorter stature and commitment to training and weights … that you knew he would do well and excel in another sport when he decided to cross over,” Wiens said.