Friends, family honour 'major hockey mom' Tanya Wiebe at London tournament
CBC
Hockey parents from across southwestern Ontario came to a special Family Day hockey tournament Monday to honour a "major hockey mom" who died tragically three weeks ago.
Tanya Wiebe, 38, was found dead in a home near Sparta on Jan. 31.
The body of a man with whom she was known to have been in a relationship, 34, was also found in the home.
Police haven't released details about how Wiebe or the man died, saying it's an ongoing investigation.
Wiebe's 15-year-old son Chase plays for the AAA Chatham-Kent Cyclones, and his mother was a constant presence supporting her son and his teammates at tournaments all over the region and beyond.
At the special three-on-three tournament at London Sports Park on Monday some of the players wore special jerseys that featured the initials "T.W." in purple, a colour often used to show support for victims of domestic violence.
Chase Wiebe took the ceremonial face-off. Chase's grandfather (and Tanya's father) Pete Wiebe dropped the puck.
"It definitely was emotional, everything is still really fresh obviously," said Natasha Boyd, who's son Brant was the other player who took part in the face-off. Boyd said the pair played together for years until Chase joined the Cyclones prior to the start of last season.
"The tournament has given the opportunity for the boys to come together today and really have a fun day of hanging out, playing some hockey, and supporting the family and bringing more awareness about domestic violence."
Jason Brown is a friend of the family and has known Tanya Wiebe and Chase for years. He said Wiebe will be badly missed among the hockey parents in the St. Thomas area.
"She was a major hockey mom, she supported her son and went up and down North America [for tournaments]," he said. "They played in Texas, they played in the New York area.
"Everyone is still in shock and it's very unfortunate that it happened, but it's something we're hoping can be used as an avenue to stop it and prevent it for others," Brown said. "We're all trying to work together and eliminate [domestic violence]."
Waiting on police to confirm what loved ones know to be true can be place a burden on a victim's friends and family, said Jessie Rodger, executive director of London-based women's shelter ANOVA.
"It can feel so silencing watching someone they love be in a violent relationship and trying to help them but not having systems believe them and having to scream at the top of their lungs," she said.
There's mixed reaction in Waterloo to an injuction allowing police to detain, arrest and charge anyone who is participating in unsanctioned street parties in that city this weekend.
Diabetes Canada is excited about Prince Edward Island's new pharmacare deal with the federal government, but hopes the province will reevaluate copays on diabetes supplies, says a senior manager with the organization.
After 26 years of accommodating guests from across the world, Faith Embleton says she and her husband Ken are ready to sell their bed and breakfast.
A group of big-name companies including Google, Meta and Dow have signed a pledge to support tripling the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050, a signal of the technology's growing resurgence in popularity.
Five years on, Toronto-area doctors and public health officials are looking back at what they've learned since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and most agree the early experience will prove useful if the city faces another infectious disease crisis.
City staff would like Londoners to take a good look around their home and ask themselves a direct and possibly difficult question: Could everyone in your family survive at home, without leaving and with no other help, for a full 72 hours?
Liberal Leader Mark Carney will officially become Canada's next prime minister within a few hours, taking the reins as the country barrels toward a general election and continues to fend off verbal and economic attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Recent cyberattacks in Newfoundland and Labrador should have been a wake up call for the federal government about the reality of an increasingly hostile world, says one cybersecurity expert.
A recent CBC News analysis found that Nova Scotia is rapidly losing some of its most affordable apartments, but housing experts say there are ways to prevent that.
Premier Susan Holt is defending her decision to not use electricity exports to Maine as leverage against U.S. tariffs, arguing the move might cause long-term pain for New Brunswickers.
Montreal's St. Patrick's Day parade first started on Saint-Paul Street in 1824, and a couple centuries later, this annual tradition is still going strong.
A congregation in Carman, Man., is coming to grips with the loss of their Anglican Lutheran church, a fixture in the community that was ravaged by a fire on Thursday.
Kayla DeMong fought tears as she described the dire conditions on the front lines, pleading for more help from the province as staff at the harm reduction site she leads try to keep up with the recent spike in overdoses.