As we reflect on the importance of Remembrance Day and the role the Canadian military has played in conflicts past and present the Free Press reached out Drayton Valley’s Lane Starling on for his thoughts on his life as an active member of Canada’s Armed Forces.
Fredrickson: How long have you served with the Canadian Military?
Starling: I joined the Military in 2003. I was 17 years old and still in high school. I Joined the Reserves (Part time) as a Field Artilleryman with 20 Field Regiment in Edmonton. I found out later, after he passed, that it was the same Regiment my grandfather Chester Vig served in during the Second World War.
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Fredrickson: What tours have you done?
Starling: In 2006 I fought in Afghanistan on a 155mm Howitzer crew. It was a “busy” 6 month tour. I took part in dismounted patrols through the mountains looking for Taliban, was once ambushed outside Khandahar City, and fought at the First Battle of Panjwai. There was a second local Drayton Valley resident, a good friend of mine, Keith Alexandrovitch who was with the infantry there at the same time.
Then in 2017 I was in Latvia as part of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence contingent. I was a Joint Terminal Attack Controller that time. Which is a fancy way of saying that I specialized in calling in airstrikes. That was a much calmer tour and it was great to see and work in that area of the world with all the different countries coming together to form one fighting unit.
Recently I made the switch from the Army over to the Air Force and became an officer. Now I work for NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) at 22 Wing in North Bay, Ontario. Here I am an Air Battle Manager. Basically I’m Air Traffic Control for military operations. We “manage” air battles (dog fights), air-to-air refueling and conduct 9/11 type intercepts of suspicious and hijacked aircraft. We also track Santa.
Fredrickson: Why did you join the military?
Starling: As to why I joined? I can’t really say. It was more of a calling than anything else. From as early as I can remember I never really had a question as to doing something else. I’ve had other jobs, worked at the sawmill, and in the oilfield for a time however nothing really stuck. It wasn’t until I came back from Afghanistan that it solidified for me. I realized it was just what I was meant to do. In 2007 I went over to the Regular Force. Been here ever since.
Fredrickson: What does Remembrance Day mean to you?
Starling: When I was younger, Remembrance day wasn’t really a big deal. It wasn’t, truly. It seemed to me to be a faceless war, where someone would call off a list of names that I had absolutely no connection with. Coming from a small town in rural Alberta, I think we could count on one hand the number of living Vets we had in the community. My Grandfather never talked about the war, at least certainly not with me and I never knew any of the other vets. Everyone else would try to explain why it was important; however it all seemed very hollow and disconnected, far away and impersonal. Obviously that has changed. For me now Remembrance Day is very much a personal thing. For me it’s not about the wars and conflicts we have fought in, it’s about the people that I’ve met and have known along the way and their stories they have shared. The first house my wife and I purchased was from a Korean War vet, our neighbor served in Cyprus and Bosnia. I spent a month in South Korea with several Commonwealth War Vets and walked their old battlefield. Obviously my own stories and people I knew from the Afghan war have an impact, but most importantly it made everything relatable. All the stories, the history. For all the reasons people told me that Remembrance Day was important I now understood. Unfortunately I’m not sure that’s a meaning I can impart on anyone else. For me it was a very personal journey to get to my meaning of Remembrance Day. But if anyone ever wants to have a coffee and hear a story next time they see me around town, don’t hesitate to stop and ask me.
Businesses will now have another option for dealing with trespassers thanks to a new program that Enforcement Services have put into place.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management for the Town, says one of the biggest challenges for businesses in the community who were issuing trespass notices is that someone has to attend court in order for the trespassing charge to stick. With the new Trespassing Agent program which comes into place on March 20, businesses who enrol will not have to attend court.
Previously, businesses who contacted the RCMP to report a trespasser had to issue the trespass notices themselves.
For many businesses the process didn’t work well. Larger franchises, like banks, found arranging the issue of a trespass notice and attending court was not logistically feasible. Small business owners, on the other hand, could issue the notice but may have to close their business in order to attend court.
Rossing says there are two different pieces of legislation that speak to trespassing, the Petty Trespass Act and the Trespass to Premises Act.
“Under both of the legislations, the property owner or their agent are required to provide trespass notices, help get people off of their land, and stuff like that,” says Rossing.
The first offence fine under the provincial legislation is normally $600, but it could be up to $10,000. A second offence could have a fine of up to $25,000
The higher fines come into place when the individual ignores the notice and returns to the property. If the trespasser returns three times, the officers can then issue a summons to court. If they fail to attend, a warrant is issued, and at that point if they are found guilty, the higher fines can be given.
Rossing says the program is helping streamline the process for businesses. If they choose to enrol in the program, it will allow peace officers or the RCMP to act as their agent and issue the notices. It also means the business owners won’t have to attend court.
“Court is scary for a lot of people, and we understand that,” says Rossing.
The purpose of the program is to improve the process because officers are continuing to get calls to the same place over and over and business owners or their employees are uncomfortable with the court process. Until now, there hasn’t been any way to address those issues.
“It’s been a lot of work on the back end because there is no follow up process in place and there is no trespass notice being issued,” says Rossing.
He says the hope is that by having this program in place, businesses can sign up and they can begin to address the issue more efficiently.
Several different municipalities in the province have a similar program in place, says Rossing. While developing the program, Rossing did research on other initiatives and reached out to other municipalities that had something similar in place. He says he wanted to be sure that he had everything in place before he announced the program in the community.
There are also checks and balances that have been worked into the program.
“If you’re trespassed from a local business, one of our officers shows up and says you’re trespassed for six months, if you don’t agree with it, you can appeal that process,” says Rossing.
He says there is also the option for the business owners to speak with the officer and reduce the amount of time the individual is trespassed for. In some cases, if the RCMP issue a notice that’s in effect for six months, a business owner may come forward and advocate for the trespasser if the individual doesn’t normally behave in that manner
“They can say, ‘This person is normally a good customer, but there is something going on with him right now. I think maybe a month would be more appropriate,’” says Rossing.
However, it is ultimately the final discretion of the officer.
Once a business is enrolled in the program, they will receive a sticker that they can place in a conspicuous area that is easily visible for officers. If they receive a call, the officer will know that they can issue the notice themselves rather than speaking to the owner and explaining the process that has to take place.
Rossing says enrolment in the program is free, and he encourages businesses to sign up if they are having consistent issues with people loitering or being a nuisance on their property. Those who are interested in enrolling can visit www.draytonvalley.ca/enforcementservices/trespassingagent and fill out the form. They can then email it in to enforcement@draytonvalley.ca or drop it off at the Town office.
Fredrickson: What challenges/opportunities have you faced during your career?
Starling: A lot of the challenges and the opportunities in my career were the same events. But not solely for me, and not the reasons you might think. My military career isn’t mine alone, it includes my family the entire time. Obviously Afghanistan was a challenge for me but it also left my wife alone as a single parent while I was gone. Our second son was born while I was in Panjwai and when I came home my oldest son (not yet two at the time) took a while to even remember who I was. One of the biggest challenges was the biggest opportunity. Moving away for the first time. It was hard. The Starling family is pretty rooted in Drayton Valley. It’s all my wife and I have ever known, and so to pack up and move to New Brunswick was a big challenge. Since then we have lived in four different provinces and each time my wife has had to restart her career or find a new job. My kids adjust to another new school and new friends. I’ve been gone a lot with work. In the last year, I’ve been gone nine months. My family has more or less become accustomed to me entering and exiting the family routine and picking up as we go. But on the same token, we have a really close knit family because of all that. When we move to someplace new, the first people we know are each other. My kids have lived on the east and west sides of Canada and everywhere in-between. They have seen and appreciated Canadian culture across the whole country. They have been introduced to different ideas and views that are important to different people across the country. We have lived in bilingual communities and my kids can now speak French because of it. Everyone has learned how to meet new people and friends. Whenever we have to move now, we see it as an opportunity instead of a challenge.
The funniest thing is though, no matter where we live in the country, whenever I hit the Thorsby bend on the way back to Drayton to visit, I get the weirdest nostalgic feeling of “I’m home.”
