C7 TAKE A CHANCE ON ABBA MUSEUM
A7
TWO SYRIANS JAILED IN KURDI DEATHS
B1
B7
RESILIENT REBELS EDGE HITMEN
C1
AUSTERITY MEASURES IN BUDGET
A MUSICAL FEAST IS IN STORE FOR LOCAL FANS OF JUSTINE VANDERGRIFT
S a t u r d a y
M a r c h
5
$1.25
2 0 1 6
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A second chance at life
FAS GAS SHOOTING VICTIM WANTS TO STAY IN CANADA ON COMPASSIONATE GROUNDS Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Jaysen Arancon Reyes was shot during an attempted robbery Sept. 11, 2013, at the Fas Gas at 55A Ave. and 43 Street in Red Deer.
MARY-ANN BARR BARRSIDE Jaysen Arancon Reyes has already fought too many difficult battles in his young life. Now there’s one more. The 28-year-old soft-spoken Filipino was grievously injured by a shotgun blast during a violent attempted robbery at a Red Deer gas station in 2013. He had only been working as a temporary foreign worker in Canada a few months when in one terrible flash, he went from being breadwinner, sending money home to his mother and four brothers living in poverty in the Philippines, to being flown by STARS to intensive care at Calgary Foothills Hospital. Reyes’s story is a compelling one — about being thankful for the many who have reached out to comfort and befriend him, his hopes of becoming a permanent resident in Canada, and second chances. He has travailed through numerous surgeries with possibly more ahead, permanent injury including damage
to one eye, the loss of a thumb on one hand and finger on the other, facial scars and arm deformities, and depression from the emotional aftershock. As he continues to heal with the support of many caring individuals — not the least being his mother, Sercia — Reyes now lives with the uncertainly of whether the Canadian government will permit him to become a per-
away. He worked there as an air conditioning technician, making $5 a day. He and his family often lived on two meals a day. In Red Deer at the Fas Gas station in West Park, he was making about $11 an hour. Reyes came here under a two-year Temporary Foreign Worker permit but because he has been unable to work
‘I HAVE A MESSAGE TO THE GUY THAT SHOT ME. I JUST WANT TO SAY TO HIM THAT I FORGIVE HIM BECAUSE EVERYONE POSSESSES A SECOND CHANCE. I HOPE HE WILL CHANGE, THAT HE WILL BECOME A GOOD PERSON. HE DID IT ALL TO ME BUT AFTER A TIME, I FIGURED OUT, EVEN ME, I HAVE A SECOND CHANCE. … I GIVE HIM A SECOND CHANCE IF HE WANTS TO CHANGE. SO I WANT TO TELL HIM THAT I FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT HE DID.’ — JAYSEN ARANCON REYES manent resident in Canada, sooner rather than later. There’s a future here for him — back home, giving his disabilities now, not so much so. He lived with his mother and brothers on the Philippine island of Bohol, where there is no hospital. Surgeons and psychologists, for his continuing care, are almost 900 km
since the shooting, he is on a visitor visa that expires Aug. 30. Last June, with the legal help of Parkland Fuel Corp., he applied for permanent residency based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. While it was not his intention to stay in Canada, he came to realize after he was injured that staying here would be
RED DEER WEATHER
INDEX
Local Today
Tonight
Sunday
Monday
SPORTS B1-B5
Sun and cloud
Clear
Cloudy
Sun and cloud
COMICS B6
HOMES D1-D4, D8
FRIDAY LOTTO MAX: 4, 14, 24, 41, 42, 44, 48, Bonus 26 WESTERN MAX: 2, 12, 13, 18,
BUSINESS B7-B8
FOCUS C4-C5
Please see REYES on Page A8
LOTTERIES
NEWS A2-A8, D7
ENTERTAINMENT C1-C2
better for his future. Citizenship and Immigration Canada began processing his claim in December. He has not heard anything yet. Parkland Fuel Corp., which created the extensive Fas Gas gas station network, has extended legal and other assistance to Reyes to help him with his application for permanent residency. It can take several years to get it, if he does. When Reyes arrived in Red Deer in May 2013, his plan was to work and make money to send home. But four months later, on the night of Sept. 11, a man would enter the West Park Fas Gas station and change everything. Reyes was working alone that quiet Wednesday night. A woman was in the store paying for gas. “The guy, I cannot forget that,” said Reyes. The man first got a blue slush drink. As the man headed into the bathroom while the woman was paying, Reyes noticed he had gun. Reyes said his first instinct was to run out of the store but he stayed calm. “Maybe the gun is not real,” he thought. The woman realized something was not right so as soon as she exited the store she called 911.
19, 23, 25, Bonus 27
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EXTRA: 4708184 PICK 3: 667 Numbers are unofficial.
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