Josh in Northern Alberta: END OF CIRCUIT

Ok so although this week is actually the end of my circuit rotation, I didn't have to travel anywhere this week whereas last week was major driving.

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THIS WAS MY DRIVING ADVENTURE OVER 5 DAYS

Last week's adventure started on a Sunday when I drove into Slave Lake. The next Monday I drove 1.5 h north to Wabasca for a quick day in Court. Although it was a day scheduled only for trials, of which there were 7 trials scheduled, not a single matter ran, so I spent the rest of the day driving around the hamlet of Wabasca.

It seems like quite a beautiful place, and I would like/am going back in the Summer/Spring. Although the overall population is quite small, maybe 1600 people, there is a lot of ongoing petty crime and rise of drug and gang crime in the area which is quite sad. The majority of restricted firearm matters come out of here, with young gangs just trying to get back at each other. There is also a family aspect involved with a lot of matters, with vendettas going back and forth.

This dog really didn't like getting his picture taken.

This is the main intersection in the town.

The majority of the housing here are trailers; I personally have seen very few houses.

One of the cool things for me is that Wabasca-Desmerais is surrounded by huge swathes of forest, where there is a logging industry. Although it is sad to see so many beautiful trees be cut down and turned into paper or what not, I ventured into a couple of yard to just see how many trees they have cut down. It is a staggering amount. Imagine football fields piled with logs 2 stories high and those are the lumber yards.

I almost got stuck going down this road. Luckily the tractor driver told me where to go.

I parked my car just to try to show the scale of how high these piles are.

On Tuesday I drove to the small hamlet of Red Earth Creek which is about a two hour drive from Slave Lake. I don't have many photos of this place; it's basically a camp town for people who work in the oil patch nearby. One interesting thing about Red Earth Creek is the courthouse is just a glorified trailer. It is the first trailer courthouse I've ever been too and it just goes to show that you're really not in the city anymore.

Once again no trials ran so it was just another beautiful 4 hours on the road into another part of town.

Wednesday I stayed in Slave Lake, which was a relief because there appeared to be a snowstorm overnight that caused havoc on the road. I didn't really experience much havoc because I stayed in town but the next day...

Thursday was my last circuit day. I had to drive in and out of Wabasca from Slave Lake and then back to Peace River. The weather was awful. White-out awful. Blind while driving awful. Go into the ditch awful. It was even worse south of us, with a 100 car pile up south of Edmonton and really bad fatality in Westlock about 1 hour south of Slave Lake.

So after the great escape I was so glad to be back at my basement apartment. It's still a work in progress, but I will send some pictures your way when it's almost done.

Friday was Call to the Bar day. It started with me speaking for my first Queen's Bench (Superior Court) matter in the morning. I put on the robes for the first time since I billed Alberta for them. They amazingly fit. The matter was just a quick speak to, and then my Call to the Bar ceremony was in the afternoon.

In Alberta, you can have a private Call to the Bar where one judge and your principal admit you into the law society. I chose Judge Paul, the main judge I had seen for the past three months on the Southern Circuit. He said some very nice words, made me swear on a Bible, and voila, I am now a member of the Law Society of Alberta, and not a moment too soon as my LSUC fees were due and there is a different payment option for not practising in Ontario lawyers. The ceremony was attended by members of my office as well as some local lawyers and sheriffs in town. It's not very often that you have new Calls in Peace River, so it's nice that the legal community comes out to see and celebrate with you.