RCMP in the northern Alberta town of Fort McMurray are investigating the death of a man who friends say relocated from Toronto a year ago.
Police launched the investigation after they responded to an anonymous call at 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning. They arrived at a downtown apartment building and discovered a man's body.
An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday afternoon to determine the victim's identity and the cause of death.
RCMP haven't identified the man, but friends say he is a 19-year-old former Toronto resident named Abdinasir Ali, The Toronto Star reported.
According to family friend Mohamed Gilao, Abdinasir relocated to Fort McMurray last summer to find work in Alberta's oil patch. But he may have become involved in criminal activity, Gilao said.
RCMP are treating the man's death as a homicide, The Star said.
A number of Canadians of Somali descent have been killed in Alberta in recent years.
In February, Torontonian Saed Adad, 22, was found dead in a Fort McMurray apartment complex.
At the time, Ahmed Hussen, the president of the Canadian Somali Congress, said the death toll across the province was well into double-digits -- unofficially standing at 29 -- since the summer of 2005.
A feeling of marginalization combined with what he described as the "very, very lucrative" drug trade in an oil-rich economy sets a trap for some people to be drawn into trouble, Hussen said.
