edmonton - a living history - november 2006

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it will be a nice town once they finish building it

Selected recent events in Edmonton's modern history.

<< july 2006 | main | december 2006 >>

the Whyte Avenue problem | the trial of Michael White
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The Whyte Avenue Problem >permalink<


The weekend of November 18 – 19th, 2006 saw Edmonton police dealing with an unusually high level of violence and death – even by Edmonton's standards.


At about 2:10 a.m. on November 18th, two groups of men were arguing on the sidewalk between the Second Cup outlet and Stolli's Bar on the west side of 104th Street north of Whyte Avenue.


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Two men suffered minor stab wounds to their upper bodies and a third was stabbed seriously enough to be sent to University of Alberta Hospital where he was listed in stable condition [full details].


Twenty-four hours later and just a block west of this incident, two separate attacks occured within moments of each other, one of them ending fatally.


Around 2:30 a.m. on November 19th, Dylan Cole McGillis and two friends had just left a bar on the south side of Whyte and were crossing the avenue near 106th Street to get back to their car.


They were swarmed by a group of up to fifteen males. McGillis was stabbed in the chest and later died becoming Edmonton's 34th homicide of 2006 [full details].


Moments later and a half-block west on 106 Street north of Whyte Avenue, a 29-year-old man was yanked from his truck and stabbed multiple times, at least once in the leg [full details].


Also over the two days, police were called to a hall party in the city's west end where they found 17-year-old Evan Grykuliak dying of stab wounds; a 23-year-old man was found kicked and stabbed outside the Y Afterhours club at 102nd Street and 100th Avenue, and two men died in separate and spectacular car crashes.


While Edmontonians were shocked by the death of 17-year-old Evan Grykuliak, the murder of Dylan McGillis on the city's premier party strip brought the greatest response from the community, business leaders and politicians.


The strongest reaction of the day came from Edmonton police chief Mike Boyd.


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"If not us, then who? If not now, then when?"


In a mixed show of frustration and determination, Boyd outlined a plan of attack.


"We're going to be doing business differently. There's going to be some re-focuing of resources and Whyte Avenue certainly will be one of the areas but there will be other areas in the city as well."


For more about the debate over the area's bars, possible solutions to problems on the popular strip and the immediate police response, visit the Last Link Whyte Avenue page.


The Trial of Michael White >permalink<


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Of all the homicides that took place in Edmonton in 2005, the case of Liana White gripped the attention of area citizens and Canadians the most.


Liana was four-months pregnant and the mother of a three-year-old daughter when on July 12th, 2005 she seemed to have disappeared into thin air.


For five days, the story of the missing woman was on the front page and the lead story of radio and television newscasts.


On July 17th, her body was found face down in a ditch along Edmonton's northern outskirts. Her husband, Michael White, was charged with second-degree murder and offering an indignity to a dead body.


Sixteen months after he was charged, the trial of Michael White got underway on November 2nd, 2006.


The story of Liana White and her murder was again the focus of media and coffee talk [full details].



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