Alberta man, daughter are Highway 63 crash victims

Athird family devastated bya deadly head-on crashFriday onHighway 63 in northeastern Alberta includes a father and his daughter.

Calgary-area resident Dan Sennett and his 11-year-old daughter Faith Kondusky-Sennettdied when their northboundpickup crashed head-on into another pickup carryingsix people. The identity of the third person in their truck, who also died, is still not known.

Acelebration of Faith's life will be held next weekat St. Catherines, Ont., wherethe family is originally from, said family friend and pastor Anton Szymychalski.

"That was Faith's outlook on everything," said Szymychalski, who's known the family for more than 10 years and gave Faith her first communion. "She wouldn't want people to be sad and crying.

"She'd always try and find a way to make them feel better," he said. "The challenge will be to try and make the service hopeful, even when it's a tragic time."

Faith was a bubbly childand always happy, Szymychalski said.

"We have coffee after mass on Sundays and she was always helpful, trying to clean up for the older folks," he said."If someone was sad she'd try to do something funny to make them happy.

"She was just really outgoing and a wonderful, wonderful little girl."

Four peoplein the southbound vehicle also died.

Courtney Penney, who was six-months pregnant, and her husband Mark, 28, were passengers in a pickup truck belonging to their friends,Shannon and Trena Wheaton, who were also travelling with their two sons, Timothy, 3, and Ben, 2. Mark Penney and Timothy Wheaton were the only survivors of the crash.

The fiery crashhas rekindled calls to improve safety on the notorious highway thatconnects Fort McMurray and theoilsands with Edmonton.

An online petitionto twin the highwaynow has more 13,000 signatures, andaprotest has been planned for Saturday in Fort McMurray.

"People are just so sick and tired of hearing the excuses from the government," said Nicole Auger, one of the organizers.

"People are scared to drive on Highway 63 and the politicians and the Ministry of Transportation don't understand that because they don't drive on Highway 63."

RCMP in Fort McMurray warned drivers on Tuesday about the need to obey the 100 km/h speed limit along the road.

On Saturday, a day after the crash, officers stopped a 20-year-old manfrom Fort McMurray who was driving 184 km/h.