Alberta teens face $1,800 in fines for using unmarked crossing at railway tracks
In two separate incidents Thursday, three Airdrie teens were each slapped with a $600 trespass ticket after using a popular shortcut crossing CP Rail tracks.
Halle Vallance, 15, was coming home from the mall when she was stopped by a CP Rail police officer in an unmarked vehicle and given the ticket.
"So many people cross it that I just didn't think like it was a problem," Vallance says. "And the gate was open. Like, if it was closed I wouldn't have crossed."
A gate in the long fence behind the Airdrie Walmart and London Drugs leads to a short, well-defined path that crosses the double railway tracks.
The shortcut saves nearly two kilometres of walking around the active rail line.
On the west side of the tracks, closest to the residential area, there is a sign next to the wide-open gate, but it wears a heavy coat of black spray paint that appears weathered.
"For nine years we've lived here that (gate) has almost always been open," says Abigail Cornyn, 14.
On Friday people of all ages, including two with a dog, could be seen using the crossing.
Abigail and her sister Madeline Cornyn were on their way to buy school supplies when an officer called them over to the unmarked cruiser.
"So we both gave him our drivers license, and then he said 'is this your first time being arrested?'" 16 year old Madeline says, adding they were afraid they would be taken to jail.
Instead they were given tickets. It was only later they realized how much they were for.
$600 TICKETS
CP Rail confirmed in a statement Friday that the girls were ticketed, also adding an additional 63-year-old was hit with a $600 ticket. The statement went on to say that trespassing on CP Rail property is both dangerous and illegal.
But the Cornyn girls' father, who works in occupational safety, says that the approach is all wrong.
"It's clear this is an established pathway with no signage that this is against the law and no gate in place," Bruce Cornyn says.
Halle's mother says while she expects her daughter will walk around in future, she was upset with what she sees as a heavy-handed approach.
"Six hundred dollars? That does not fit the crime at all," says Shelley Vallance, who says she went to speak to the officer a short time after the ticket was written.
"When I told him that he should have educated the kids, he said, 'I can arrest her and charge her right now.'"
The parents say they plan to be in court to challenge the tickets.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.