Family and friends hold walk in teen's memory
On July 30, 2008, Jennifer Ranger woke up to the news that her 17-year-old daughter, Samantha Berard, had been killed in a drinking and driving incident.
“It was a very shocking wakeup call,” she said. “I thought I was dreaming.”
Berard left a Lively bar in the early morning hours of that day, and climbed into a vehicle driven by her boyfriend, Dustin Simon. 
Family and friends of 17-year-old Samantha Berard, who was killed in a drinking and driving incident in 2008, held a walk in her memory July 20. Supplied photo.The Marymount Academy student never made it back to her Whitefish Lake First Nation home. The vehicle the pair were in swerved and hit an embankment on Regional Road 55, close to Old Soo Road.
Neither Bernard nor Simon were wearing a seatbelt, and Berard, who was partially ejected from the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Simon, who survived the crash, was sentenced to two years and two months in jail, for impaired driving causing death.
Family and friends of 17-year-old Samantha Berard, who was killed in a drinking and driving incident in 2008, held a walk in her memory July 20. Berard’s six-year-old brother, Brandon Ranger, and her mother, Jennifer Ranger, spread an anti-drinking and driving message at the event.
A similar event was also held last year, she said, but it was more of an impromptu gathering.
“This year, we thought we’d get the media involved, because there’s way too much drinking and driving in the community,” she said.
“I am hoping that this sends a message to people out there that you are taking chances with other people’s loved ones out there, and please stop (drinking and driving).”
In June 2009, three teens — Caitlin Jelley, Steven Phillipe and Jazmine Houle — were hit and killed by a drunk driver on the side of the Municipal Road 80 in Hanmer.
By coincidence, Houle is the niece of one of Ranger’s childhood friends. Ranger said the incident hit close to home.
“I think about (the teens killed in this incident) all the time,” she said. “It’s hard to move on when you hear about drinking and driving on a weekly basis, sometimes two to three times a week. Nobody’s getting the message.”
Ranger’s youngest child, six-year-old Brandon, brought a hand-made no drinking and driving sign to the event, complete with his own illustrations, and the word “No” printed multiple times at the bottom of the poster.
“It’s for my sister’s walk,” he said. “She was nice to me. I miss her.”
Ranger said she always considered her daughter a wonderful person, but thought it was just that she was looking at her through her “mother’s eyes.”
But she said he hasn’t heard one negative thing about Berard in the two years since the accident occurred.
“(Samantha) was very articulate,” she said.
“She loved playing baseball and football. She was a great hostess. Every time we had a family gathering, she was always preparing veggie plates and fruit platters. She was always asking people ‘Are you comfortable? Do you want something to drink?’
“She was always playing with the little kids. If she saw a little kid get hurt, she would always be the one to go and attend to the child.”
Mallory Blake, who was among those at the event, was one of Berard’s close friends.
She recalled her friend as a fun person who was “full of life all the time, and always ready to do something crazy.”
“I think it’s very important that we all do something to show people what can happen if you drink and drive,” she said, as her eyes welled up with tears.
“It was horrible. Don’t (drink and drive). There’s never a good reason, ever. You can stay home, you can walk, you can stay at your friend’s house. Anything.”
