Prince Edward Island news — Twelve names. Twelve lives cut short by impaired driving. On Saturday, MADD Canada gave them a permanent home with the unveiling of the MADD PEI Memorial Monument at Charlottetown’s Joseph A. Ghiz Memorial Park.
By Maplestime News Desk | Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island | September 20, 2026
Sources: Globe Newswire (MADD Canada), ADVFN | Last updated: September 20, 2026
Key Takeaways
- MADD Canada unveiled its new PEI Provincial Memorial Monument on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, at 11 a.m. at Joseph A. Ghiz Memorial Park, 29 Edwards Street, Charlottetown.
- The monument — an artistic representation of PEI that appears to break apart and come back together — is engraved with the names of 12 victims of alcohol- and drug-related crashes.
- The ceremony included a candlelight vigil and the first public viewing of the monument.
- Attendees included Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown, provincial ministers Zack Bell and Jill Burridge, and the RCMP and Charlottetown police chiefs.
- This is MADD Canada’s first monument in PEI; it already has memorial monuments in eight other provinces.
MADD PEI Memorial Monument Unveiled in Charlottetown
On Saturday morning, under a Charlottetown sky, families, police officers, and elected officials gathered at Joseph A. Ghiz Memorial Park for a ceremony that was as quiet as it was heavy. At 11 a.m., MADD Canada unveiled the new MADD PEI Memorial Monument — the organization’s first provincial memorial monument on Prince Edward Island.
The monument itself is an artistic representation of the Island, depicted as if it were breaking apart and then coming back together. It’s a shape that needs no explanation for anyone who has lost someone to impaired driving: a life, a family, a community — shattered, and somehow reassembled around the loss.
Engraved on it are the names of 12 victims of alcohol- and drug-related crashes. Twelve names that families can now visit, touch, and read in a place that is theirs.
A Vigil, a First Viewing, and a Community Present
The unveiling ceremony included a candlelight vigil and the first public viewing of the monument. It was not a political event in the usual sense, even though politics was in the room: Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown attended, along with provincial ministers Zack Bell and Jill Burridge. The RCMP and Charlottetown police chiefs were there too — the people who, too often, are the ones who knock on a family’s door with the worst news.
Their presence said something. Impaired driving isn’t treated on PEI as somebody else’s problem. It’s the whole Island’s problem — police, politicians, and neighbours alike.
“Every Name Represents a Person Who Was Loved”
Tanya Hansen Pratt, National President of MADD Canada, spoke the words that will stay with anyone who was there: “Every name on this Monument represents a person who was loved, a family that was changed forever and a community that continues to carry the loss. This monument is a place to remember those we have lost, but it is also a powerful reminder of why we must continue working to stop impaired driving, an entirely preventable crime.”
That last phrase — an entirely preventable crime — is the point of the whole monument. Every name on it represents a crash that did not have to happen. Every one of the 12 was someone’s child, sibling, partner, or friend, and every one of their deaths was avoidable.
Steve Sullivan, CEO of MADD Canada, added: “For families who have lost loved ones in alcohol- or drug-related crashes, having a permanent place to honour them can be deeply meaningful.”
He’s right. Grief needs a place to go. For years, PEI families who lost someone to impaired driving had no provincial monument of their own — no shared, permanent place to gather. They do now.
MADD PEI Memorial Joins Eight Others Across Canada
The Charlottetown monument is the ninth provincial memorial monument MADD Canada has placed across the country — the first in Prince Edward Island, joining monuments already standing in eight other provinces.
That national network matters. It means the MADD PEI Memorial Monument isn’t an isolated gesture; it’s part of a country-wide statement that impaired driving is a national emergency with a local face. In Charlottetown, that face is 12 names on an Island-shaped stone at 29 Edwards Street.
What the Monument Asks of the Rest of Us
A monument doesn’t stop the next crash. Only people do. The vigil candles will burn out; the speeches will fade; what remains is a stone in a park and the question it puts to everyone who walks past: what are you doing about this?
MADD Canada’s message has never wavered, and the MADD PEI Memorial Monument makes it physical — impaired driving is entirely preventable, and every statistic is a person. Twelve names are now carved in stone in Charlottetown to make sure nobody forgets that.
The next move belongs to the living: don’t drive impaired, don’t let someone you love drive impaired, and back the enforcement and education work that keeps the next 12 names off the next stone.
Maplestime will provide updates from MADD PEI Memorial as announcements are made.
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Twelve names on a stone, and impaired driving is still entirely preventable — what excuse is left? Tell us in the comments. And share this with every Canadian who gets behind a wheel.
