The people of Prince Albert are rising up and raising support for one of their own.
Friends, family, and supporters of Jim Primeau have organized a GoFundMe campaign, and a special pancake breakfast on Saturday to help pay for medical expenses and house renovations. Primeau was shot hours after evicting a tenant from a rental property on June 4.
Primeau’s eldest sister, Peggy Epp, said the family is grateful for the support during what has been a trying few weeks.
“We are all kind of operating in shock and anger,” Epp said. “(We’re) angry because it never had to happen. Nobody should think that they own your home and have more entitlement than you.”
Primeau was shot in the throat, resulting in a traumatic spinal cord injury. Initially he was put into an induced coma for four days, according to an update on the GoFundMe page, and was on a ventilator for 24 days because he could not breathe on his own.
The injury to his spine left his lower body paralyzed, although Epp said her brother holds out hope he will walk again.
“He’s bound and determined he’s going to walk again,” Epp said. “The nervous system has been damaged, but people have been healed before and have had some kind of recovery, and that’s what Jimmy’s working on…. The doctors are saying he’s paralyzed from the chest down, but Jim says ‘I made my legs move with my stomach muscles’ so we’re going to go at it like he’s going to walk again.
“There will be physiotherapy and that’s what we’re going to work to, and if he doesn’t walk, he doesn’t walk, but he’s going to work towards everything.”
Epp said Primeau can’t talk and has to communicate by writing on a white board. She said the family is overwhelmed by the show of support.
“We are the kind of family that is always there helping people and for my brother Jimmy to see this—and my sisters showing his this—he finds it unbelievable,” Epp said.
“For Jimmy to see … the community interested and donating money, he’s just flabbergasted. He just can’t believe people are stepping up who don’t know him.”
If Primeau can’t walk again, he faces a large number of medical expenses. Epp said her brother wants to be as independent as possible, which will mean renovating his rental property to make it wheelchair accessible. His current home is too small for a wheelchair, he said, and the rental property was badly damaged and needs significant repairs.
The family has setup a GoFundMe campaign, which has raised more than $3,000 as of press time. They’ve also scheduled a pancake breakfast fundraiser at the Twighlight Motel in the south end of Prince Albert.
The breakfast rusn from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday. There will be draws on site, as well as a 50/50. Breakfast is $10 for adults, and $5 for children under the age of six.
According to an update on the GoFundMe page, Primeau was trying to evict a tenant who moved in around March 2025. The tenant told Primeau should could not afford the first month’s rent, but needed a place to live to get her children back from Child Protection Services.
Primeau allowed her to move in and pay only half the rent, according to the update, but attempted to evict her after she refused to pay rent for April, May, or June. Primeau was also paying the rental property’s utilities at that time.
On June 2n,, the tenant was given 48 hours to evict the property. The tenant refused to leave until police arrived later in the day. Primeau was shot within an hour of her leaving. Epp said the tenant was not the person who shot her brorther.
“We will be forever grateful to Jim’s friend Don, who helped him until the police and paramedics arrived,” reads the GoFundMe update. “We are also eternally grateful to the doctors and nurses at the Victoria Union Hospital who worked so hard to stabilize Jim, allowing him to be airlifted to Saskatoon by STARS where he received and continues to receive the best care possible.”
Primeau is the youngest of six children. His older sisters have since banded together to help care for him and fundraise for him after the shooting.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
