After I hung up my cellphone in the Edmonton Sun newsroom in December of 2015, I didn’t understand what I had just committed to. I did, however, understand it was, really really, important.

The call came from Vicki Bertola. She was part of the Premier’s Council of the Status of Persons With Disabilities — a provincial government advisory group on disability issues.

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I was sitting on my second three-year term as a council member.

Vicki called to ask if I would sit on a new committee to review the safety regulations in residences — group homes mostly — of persons with developmental disabilities.

Following the 2007 death of an Edmonton woman with Downs syndrome in a group home fire, the provincial government brought in new regulations, with legislation being effective

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