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‘It’s a bad dangerous life’: family reflects on passing of missing P.A. man

Jun 10, 2016 | 6:00 AM

This week, a local family was shattered with the worst news they could receive.

The remains of Gilbert McCallum, 21, from Prince Albert, were found June 3 near Rosthern. The man was missing since April 20.

“My first thought was ‘the search is finally over and the family can be at peace,’” McCallum’s brother-in-law Josh Gamble said. His family said they hadn’t been sleeping or eating well since news of McCallum’s disappearance.

Gamble said McCallum’s passing is a warning for others living the gang lifestyle.

“The gang life, they don’t care about you,” he said. “They say that they do, but when stuff hits the fan, they’re not around. They just leave you abandoned.”

According to family, McCallum was no longer in a gang and had joined the Crazy Indian Brotherhood, a group of former gangsters working to help others off the street and away from the gang lifestyle.

Gamble said it was comforting for the family to know McCallum was being taken care of by the Brotherhood and wasn’t involved in gang activity any more.

RCMP confirmed McCallum’s death was the result of foul play.

He was described as a gentle, respectful person by his sister Chantel Stonestand, and a traveller by his cousin Janel Kinch.

“He could never stay in one place, he was always on the go,” she said.

According to grandmother Diane Stonestand, there were never less than 20 people searching for McCallum each time a search party went out.

“Family members when they had free time would go out and look. They never gave up hope that we’d find him. It’s not fair how this young man’s life was taken… But now we get to bring him home and rest him in his final place.”

The investigation into the man’s death remains ongoing.

 

ssterritt@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow