A Fort Resolution woman has been identified as the victim in a fatal car crash north of High Level, Alberta on Oct. 20.
High Level RCMP stated in an e-mail that 85-year-old Violet Beaulieu was killed when the car she was driving southbound crashed head-on into an oversized load on Hwy 35, near Steen River, about 140 kilometres north of High Level. Police said that she struck a wide trailer that was being transported on a flatbed trailer.
A 30-year-old passenger was taken to High level Hospital by ambulance and was treated for minor injuries. The passenger's name has not been released. The driver of the tractor trailer and the drivers of the accompanying pilot vehicles were unharmed, police stated.
Beaulieu's relative Tom Beaulieu, the MLA for Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh which includes Fort Res, said the entire community is in mourning.
“She was a lovely, spirited lady,” Beaulieu said. “She seemed more like a 60-year-old, not the age she actually was.”
RCMP stated that the NWT Dept. of Infrastructure Highway Patrol based in Enterprise was also dispatched to the scene.
Greg Hanna, spokesperson for the Dept. of Infrastructure, said protocol dictates highway patrol officers in Enterprise are always on scene at the NWT-Alberta boundary when an oversized load is coming north into the territory. He added that in this case, officers were asked to come south to the crash site to help in any way they could.