Ashley Petit. Photo courtesy of Facebook.
There will be a bittersweet reunion in North Battleford this weekend, 20 years in the making.
On July 5, 1997, a small boat capsized on Canoe Lake during heavy waves. All five occupants ended up in the water, but only one survived. Ashley Petit, who was 14 at the time, was rescued by a couple in another boat. This Sunday she will meet the people who saved her life.
It is a day that will always be burned into the mind of Ashley Petit. She watched helplessly as her nine-year-old sister drowned.
Her two young cousins and her grandfather also died. She was the only one to be rescued. It has caused her to feel guilt and lots of sorrow over the years, but she has also wanted to say thank you to the couple that saved her life.
She launched a recent Facebook campaign, and within 24 hours, found her rescuers and has spoken to them by phone.
“It was surreal, it was a very, very, long time coming,” she said. “I have been looking for them for what seems like more than 10 years.”
Ashley is a private person, and doesn’t really like all the media attention, but she says there are a lot of people who may find closure by telling the final chapter, including the people who rescued her.
“They talked about what happened that day, and they wondered what happened to me after experiencing such trauma,” she said.
The couple that saved her is from the North Battleford area. They were camping at Canoe Lake in 1997 when they witnessed the tragedy unfold. They have not been back since.
On Sunday, they will be welcome with open arms by the girl they saved 20 years ago. A girl who is now 34, a loving mother of two beautiful children and a northern Saskatchewan teacher with a master’s degree in education.
Ashley Petit taught in her community of Buffalo Narrows for six years before moving to Ile-a-la Crosse, where she has been teaching for the last three years. She is also involved in all kinds of youth activities, including coaching various sports.
She is a little nervous about Sunday’s reunion, but thinks it will help in the long process of dealing with the tragedy that impacted not just her family, but the whole community.