A letter stating this debt is not and never has been accrued by you and requesting verification of their claims in the form of contracts, statements of account, etc would not reset it.
A letter stating "I know about this debt, and refuse to pay it because" does reset a statute of limitations.
Write a letter in the format of my previous post and you'll be fine.
A date from 2002-01 is not only stats barred, but as of January it became illegal for a collection agency to contact you with regards to this debt... that is if the debt was allegedly incurred in Alberta.