MADD Edmonton issues sobering reminder with red ribbon campaign launch

MADD Edmonton & area chapter launched its red ribbon campaign at City Hall in Edmonton on Nov. 7, 2025. (Darcy Seaton/CTV News Edmonton)

A sobering campaign was kick-offed on Friday, with a red ribbon serving as a reminder to not drive impaired ahead of the holiday season.

MADD Edmonton and area launched its annual Project Red Ribbon campaign at City Hall in downtown Edmonton. Several members of the city’s police, emergency workers, and organizers spoke about the dangers of impaired driving and the impact it has on the community.

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According to a statement from the Edmonton and area chapter of MADD, there is an average of nine federal criminal charges and provincial short-term license suspensions laid in Canada for alcohol or drug-impaired driving every hour.

Morgan Maltby was one of the speakers at the event. In 2020, a drive home to Sherwood Park would lead to the death of her best friend and her boyfriend at the time.

“A careless drunk driver was on the wrong side of a divided highway with his lights off, three times over the legal limit, speeding down the highway, and he had struck us head-on,” Maltby said, adding that both her friends were killed “instantly” while she ended up in hospital for about eight months.

Since then, she and her friend’s mother have become involved with MADD in hopes they can help raise awareness about the harms of driving while intoxicated.

“I think a lot of people think this could never happen to me, or that just doesn’t happen, but it can and it can happen to anybody,” Maltby said. “Mothers should never lose children. No one should ever lose somebody from such a careless act.”

She and others tied red ribbons around the mirrors of emergency vehicles parked outside City Hall as part of the campaign launch.

“As long as we help a few people at a time – slowly but surely – hopefully, we’ll get there,” Maltby said, adding it is especially important to remind new and young drivers.

“It’s not okay to get in a vehicle intoxicated or with someone intoxicated,” she said.

With Project Red Ribbon, MADD Canada is asking those to show “their commitment to sober driving” by displaying a red ribbon or car decal on their vehicle, keys or bags in support of their cause.

Red ribbons and car decals are available by contacting the Edmonton and area chapter of MADD by phone at [phone] or by email at [e-mail], and through the MADD Canada website at madd.ca.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Darcy Seaton