EDMONTON — The fatal shooting of a Quebec police officer and a Boxing Day gunfight in Toronto that left a teenage bystander dead is spurring the grieving family of a slain Alberta Mountie to speak out.

Colleen and Keith Myrol are urging Canadians to make violence, gun crime and treatment of offenders a top issue during the home stretch of the federal election campaign. Their son Brock was one of four RCMP officers killed by a gunman near Mayerthorpe, Alta., earlier this year.

In an e-mail to news outlets Wednesday, the Myrols appealed to the voting public to ask federal candidates for an action plan on violence and justice issues, instead of settling for vague promises tossed off by would-be politicians going door to door.

"When they coming knocking at your door, ask them what they're going to do, because our children are dying on the streets of Canada,'' Colleen Myrol said from her home in Red Deer, Alta.

The Myrols urged voters to write, call and e-mail candidates in their area, and to call in to radio talk shows to help push justice and violence issues to the top of the political agenda.

The parents of a 15-year-old girl caught in the crossfire of a Boxing Day shootout between two groups of young men on a busy Toronto street said Wednesday their daughter, Jane Creba, was a caring soul who was a best friend to her sister and protector of her younger brother.

Earlier this month, Const. Valerie Gignac, 25, was gunned down when responding to a noise complaint in Laval, Que. Francois Pepin, a man with a history of harassing female police officers, is charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm.

Myrol said neither Pepin nor her son's killer, who was a known police-hater, were supposed to have weapons -- yet both somehow had high-powered guns and used them to kill police officers.

"Whether it's a constable doing their duty, or whether it is just the average Canadian going about their life, something has gone very wrong in this country,'' the mother said.

"It's time to say that is the No. 1 issue in Canada what are we going to do to work towards making it safer for Canadians?''

Brock Myrol, and fellow RCMP officers Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston, and Anthony Gordon were shot and killed March 3 by gunman James Roszko after staking out his northwestern Alberta farm where they'd discovered stolen car parts and a marijuana grow operation. Roszko then turned his gun on himself.

Colleen Myrol said Canadians need to know whether candidates believe in more rehabilitation for offenders, or in taking stricter measures to keep them in jail.

Her husband, Keith Myrol, said individual voters have the power to make change. "They don't think they do, but they do,'' he said.

"Every vote has power but it has no power if you don't vote,'' he added.

Earlier this week, federal party leaders condemned the Boxing Day shootings in Toronto, which left six other people injured.

Prime Minister Paul Martin called the violence "a senseless and tragic act'' by young people who feel marginalized by society.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said gun crime in Canada now rivals what is seen in large U.S. cities and NDP Leader Jack Layton also pledged tough action.

Last fall, the families of the four slain Alberta Mounties travelled to Parliament Hill to meet with political leaders, but came away with no solid promises for justice reform.

They went to Ottawa demanding tougher sentences for repeat offenders and a crackdown on drug crimes.