Stephen's story: 'He might be here today if he would have had a safer supply'

Brenda and Richard Gaunt’s first child, Stephen, was an active and inquisitive toddler, prone to follow his curiosity quite literally wherever it led him.

“He’d run out the door and I’d have to chase him down in my underwear,” his father recalled, with a chuckle.

Stephen was born in Calgary and his family moved to Winnipeg in 1986 for work, before returning to Alberta and settling in Edmonton. He was the oldest of three children.

“He was a smart kid but he was shy, self-conscious,” his mother said. “He was a bit of an introverted kid and had a little anxiety, I think, growing up