“Him and his wife, both hard workers, working every day in the service industry and restaurant industry, truly trying to give their kids the best. It’s bad to see him go like this.”

“All you had to do was ask for help and he wouldn’t say no . . . He was a good example to all our employees,” said Bushi.

“He was very respectful. He liked sports a lot,” Bushi said.

Two people in the other vehicle died; they are 51-year-old Cynthia Caraoa and nine-year-old Anika Caraoa of Winnipeg. Three other people in the vehicle were sent to hospital with serious injuries.

The Metko family was visiting Ontario with plans to move there in the coming weeks. They were enrolling the two children in school and finalizing other moving details.

“They have a lot of family in the U.S., in Michigan, so he wanted to go to Ontario so he would be closer, just a driving distance from them,” said Bushi.

In a statement, the Albanian-Canadian Association of Calgary said they are working to raise funds for the family soon.

— With files from The Canadian Press