ABOVE: New book about the Humboldt Broncos hockey team is facing criticism from some of the victims' families.
“The story of our family members is ours to tell, either individually or collectively, as we choose,” read a post on Toby Boulet’s Facebook account on Monday. Boulet’s son, Logan, was one of the players killed in the crash involving the Broncos’ team bus and a semi-truck.
The crash on April 6 claimed 16 lives and injured over a dozen others.
On Sept. 5, Barry Heath, a former Saskatchewan coroner and veterinarian, published his book titled Humble Beginnings of the Humboldt Broncos and the 2017-2018 Team.
It is listed on the Indigo-Chapters website and is shown to be available at multiple locations in Saskatoon.
WATCH: A Saskatchewan author says he had good intentions when he wrote a book about the Humboldt Broncos and the team’s deadly bus crash. Blake Lough reports.
The mother of Ryan Straschnitzki, one of the Broncos who survived the crash but was left paralyzed from the chest down, tweeted her displeasure with the author on Monday as well.
“A man by the name Barry Heath has written a book about the tragedy and nightmare we have all been living,” Christina George-Haugan, the widow of former Broncos coach Darcy Haugan who was killed in the April crash, posted on Facebook on Monday. “He has done this without the support and endorsement of any family involved in this. In fact he was specifically asked not to do this at this time as none of us felt ready for something like that.
According to Boulet, Heath first sent letters to family members four to five weeks after the crash to pitch the book.
In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, Heath said he “followed the proper channels” by also contacting former Broncos president Kevin Garinger and sending him chapters of the book before publishing. He admitted that Garinger did not provide feedback.
Because the families did not agree to participate in the writing of the book, Heath relied on details and interviews already published in various media outlets. Before the post was deleted and his account made private, many commenters criticized him for trying to profit off the tragedy.
Toby Boulet post on Facebook.
Barry Heath comment on Facebook.
“Ask yourselves – have the newspapers and TV and radio stations given support to the families from the profits of the additional papers or advertising they sold? Or did they just keep hounding them for more interviews?” Heath wrote.
According to the author, the book also focuses on the early history of the team, but the table of contents shows at least 16 of the 28 chapters are dedicated to the bus crash and its aftermath.