Eric Larry Cardinal, 30, was stabbed on July 28th, 2011.
Cardinal was Edmonton's thirty-second homicide victim of the year.
Case status is open and active.
It was a place police had been called to many times before – a pocket-sized park immediately north of the Edmonton Remand Centre.
It's one of the few green spaces available to local residents ... and the locals take advantage of its seclusion.
Named after African-American outreach worker Mary Burlie, the park offers a refuge for the homeless and addicted, out of sight from the rush of commuters along 97th Street and the thriving Chinatown district it sits beside.
Known as "the Black Angel," Arkansas-born Mary Burlie moved to Edmonton in 1969.
The daughter of migrant sharecroppers, Burlie was one of 13 in her family. After her husband was killed, leaving her with four children, she became a nurse's aide.
Burlie later married a Canadian, moved north, and spent years as an outreach worker at the Boyle Street Co-op while raising her six children and several foster children.
She served as an advocate for the poor, was president of the Alberta Black Women's Association, and worked for Change for Children, an international development agency.
Burlie died on July 13th, 1996, of lung cancer.
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Those who want to visit the concrete-and-steel Vision of Hope statue inside the park – a memorial to the 14 female engineering students murdered at Montreal's l'École Polytechnique on December 6th, 1989 – have to navigate a path around used syringes, abandoned clothing, cigarette butts, and the broken bottles and empty cans that once held the area's drink of choice: high-test malt liquour.
Like the school the statue honours, the park too has seen violence.
On November 25th, 2005 a woman was stabbed more than a dozen times but survived after she managed to make her way to a nearby men's shelter.
October 24th, 2008, Albert Lafontaine was found suffering from head injuries in the park. The 60-year-old died en route to hospital and police consider his death as suspicious.
On September 25th, 2009, Alfred Hudson was stabbed during an altercation with three other people over a can of beer. The 40-year-old man's murder remains unsolved.
And on July 28th, 2011, homicide detectives paid yet another visit after a fight took place within the park at 10465 97 Street.
Police got the call at about 9:20 p.m. concerning a disturbance. Officers a found a man suffering serious injuries and he was rushed to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Despite medical intervention, 30-year-old Eric Larry Cardinal died of a stab wound shortly after arrival.
Another man, also in his thirties, later showed up at hospital also suffering a stab wound. Police determined his injuries stemmed from the same incident.
"Second male arrived on scene at the hospital," Acting Insp. Regan James said. "Just by virtue of the circumstances it appears at this time that he is in fact related to this incident.
"He suffered some substantial injuries. I wouldn't consider them life threatening, but he has been injured as well."
The second man was treated while under police guard. After questioning, he was later released and was not considered a suspect by police.
Police cordoned off 97th Street from 104th to 106th Avenues.
"It's quite a big scene," James said. "There's quite a bit of evidence to collect."
Police said they were looking for an edged weapon. Forensics staff, challenged by the sheer amount of litter within the well-used gathering spot, worked through the night and into the next morning scouring the area – see images »
Police used rakes to comb through the park's bushes and through the grass along a parking lot fence line to the east. A Canadian Search Dog Association team was also brought in to search the area.
Detectives interviewed an eyewitness who described a fight.
"Investigators believe that other individuals were present at this altercation, and they're encouraging these individuals to come forward and call the complaints line," a police spokesman said.
"They can provide any useful information to the investigators who are looking into this file."
Those with information about events at Mary Burlie Park were asked to contact Edmonton police at 780-423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or online at www.tipsubmit.com. Tips can also be text messaged.
- In Edmonton: text TIP250 + message and send to CRIMES (274637)
- In Northern Alberta: text TIP205 + message and send to CRIMES (274637)
A confirmation message and unique code number will then be sent. Tipsters can respond by replying.
Cardinal's slaying was the third in a week. Seven months into 2011, Edmonton's so-far count of 32 murders seemed to guarantee the city would set a new murder record – eclipsing 2005's total of 35 homicides.
"Unfortunately, it's a numbers game," Acting Insp. Regan James told reporters.
"We have high times and low times and sadly we're faced with a high time. We're looking forward to the quiet times."
Eric Cardinal spent his time living between the city and Saddle Lake.
The day before his murder, he and his brother Bill Quinn had hitchhiked into town from the reserve 180 kilometres northeast of Edmonton – read more »
Cardinal first moved to Alberta's capital a few years ago with his young daughter. After her mother died, the girl moved back to Saddle Lake.
Cardinal stayed behind, living on the streets with his brother. Days of drinking, followed by nomadic nights, often separated the pair – but they always somehow managed to meet up again.
"He liked to be outside," Quinn said, adding that Eric didn't like living in shelters.
But being homeless carried risk.
"There have been a lot of things that have been happening on the street," Quinn said. "People robbing people for a bottle of beer. When I was with him, none of that stuff would ever happen. I would protect him."
Cardinal did some time, picking up a few years in the crowbar hotel for stealing cars. But he was trying to turn things around.
"I know a lot of people on the streets loved him," Quinn said. "I was close to him. All my brothers loved him and his friends."
Cardinal's other brother, Sam Newborn, also noted the man was well-liked.
"He didn't deserve that. He had a lot of friends on the streets and he liked to drink but he didn't deserve what happened to him. He wasn't a gangster," he said.
Newborn said he also used to live on the streets with his brothers. "We were just lost in our addictions," he said.
A recovering alcoholic, Newborn now works at the Herb Jamieson Centre, a downtown homeless shelter located just blocks away from where Cardinal was stabbed.
Cardinal's murder in the Boyle-McCauley neighbourhood added to the list of violent deaths that plagues the inner city.
The stretch along 107th Avenue between 93rd and 116th Streets has now seen 28 homicides over the past two decades – see Problems persist on the Avenue of Nations.
Those living and working in the area expressed concern in wake of the homeless man's death – read more »
Media spoke to Nancy Dodsworth who walks 105A Avenue every day on her way to work, framing the latest murder inside Edmonton's sure-to-be pacesetting homicide count.
"Wow," Dodsworth said.
"Pretty much, something is being overlooked by someone. What's going on? There is a disconnect – maybe we need more support programs."
Dodsworth said she wasn't surprised to learn of another death in the neighbourhood.
"With the conditions of this area and the types of people forced to be here, it's not surprising at all," she said.
A daycare group of around 20 children walked by the park on a field trip as forensics staff continued to work the scene.
Their group leader said the kids were used to the area's rough nature and understood it wasn't unusual to see this kind of activity.
"I'm not from here so this area personally has me nervous," Lindsay King said. "(But the kids) know to stick with their partners."
One man said he has often thought the park should be closed but acknowledged doing so would not have much impact on area violence.
"There's a lot of fights there," Kevin Hibbett said. "But if you take away the park, it'll just happen somewhere else."
The stretch between 97th and 101st Streets just north of the former CN railyard houses a number of social agencies and facilities.
In addition to the Edmonton Remand Centre, set to close in 2013, the area hosts the Marian Centre, the Hope Mission, the George Spady Centre, and the Herb Jamieson Centre.
A short distance to the east, past parking lots, abandoned warehouses and police headquarters, sits the Bissell Centre and Boyle Street Co-op on 96th Street.
It was once thought the idea of a park – whose land was made available after several 1920s-era rooming houses were torn down in the 1990s – would lessen the area's tough nature.
Glen Wong runs the Assist Community Services Centre, an agency that helps new immigrants learn English and find employment. It's located across the street from Mary Burlie Park.
"Originally, we thought it would be nice, that there's a park right next to us," Wong said.
"We could bring kids out there. It turns out it's not the case. It's not very safe."
The future of Mary Burlie Park may be determined not by its notoriety but instead by virtue of its location and potential for commercial development – read more »
Sitting on the edge of a Chinatown district looking to expand south and east, Qualico Edmonton's Station Lands project looking to expand north and east, and the City of Edmonton's Boyle Renaissance, Quarters and Jasper East projects signalling major redevelopment east of the park – in addition to a new Royal Alberta Musuem – the parcel of land may soon become a hot potato – see project images »
Area overview
Yorkton Development's Chinatown Towers
Wild Rose Circle project
Qualico's Station Lands development plans
Epcor Tower, anchoring the Station Lands development
Boyle Renaissance project
The Quarters project
Royal Alberta Museum
And buried under the John E. Brownlee Building next to the remand centre is a little-known secret: a roughed-in LRT stop called "Future Station."
Built with plans to ferry prisoners to the Edmonton Institution in the city's northeast (should the line ever have extended that far) making Future Station operational could anchor the overhaul of the area – especially if the underpass on 97th Street is re-graded as was done at 101st and 109th Streets.
In other words, there would no longer be an "other side of the tracks" stigma attached to the area.
This puts Mary Burlie Park squarely in the centre of major urban renewal.
In Noverber 2010, the city announced $10.7 million plans to upgrade the area as part of its Great Neighbourhoods program.
The project would be designed to remove barriers, reduce crime, improve access and change perceptions of the McCauley district.
A key player is the owner of Chinatown's Pacific Rim Mall – situated across the street from the park.
Their representative said that while the firm's top priorities are making the district safer and cleaner, there was a concern about the concentration of services catering to the homeless.
"[There] would definitely have to be a decrease and thinning out of the number of social agencies in the area, and a greater police presence," Terry Lui said.
"There are a lot of great things McCauley offers, but if you can get them in a clean area where you wouldn’t be bugged and smell urine and feces ... you would probably go there."
In January 2011, the Chinatown and Little Italy Business Association submitted a proposal to the city to turn the park into a formal Chinese garden and cultural heritage centre – becoming essentially a tourist destination with charged admission.
Understandably, news of plans to redevelop the park upset the family of the woman honoured – read more »
Mary Burlie's daughter Stephanie, a social worker at both the Boyle Street Co-op and the Bissell Centre, spoke with the Edmonton Journal's Paula Simons.
"I'm kind of surprised and a little bit disheartened," Stephanie said.
"Our family didn't ask for a park to be named for my mother. But we are very proud of it, and we are offended than an honour could be given, and then taken back in this way. It's disrespectful to my mother, and to those who loved her and worked with her."
Burlie said it would be shameful and dishonest to strip her mother's name from the park, less than 15 years after the site was named for her.
"Her legacy is so real, and it's so close to the people here. It's very upsetting."
Stephanie said she was also concerned about the idea of enclosing the park area to accommodate a traditional Chinese pagoda-style building, elegant gardens and fountains, along with shops, and charging admission to get in.
"There are no easy answers to homelessness. But abolishing the park, or trying to put a gate around it, I don't think this is the way we should go. There's so much more that could be done to solve this problem and make it a better situation."
Burlie said her family feels passionately about their mother's park, and the protection of her legacy.
However, Burlie’s son-in-law, Richard Sanders, said her family didn't oppose the redevelopment as long as her name was retained in the inner city.
"She was very tolerant, but knowing Mary like I did, I don’t think she would be very tolerant of some of the behaviours that are displayed."
Mayor Stephen Mandel said he was open to ideas but was wary about displacing current downtown residents.
"There are homeless people down there, but they have nothing to do all day. What kind of facilities are we going to have for them?"
But given the ups and downs of Edmonton's boomtown economy, announced plans may stay as dreams.
And for Mary Burlie Park, the nightmare legacy of violence is likely to continue.
All the information presented on this page has been compiled primarily from published media reports and should not be interpreted as having legal bearing or other prejudice against the individuals named on this web site.
The Last Link on the Left practices fair presentation and the disclosure of relevant interests.
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