MONTREAL — Montreal police commander Ian Lafreniere has confirmed to Global News that efforts are being made at the municipal courthouse to cancel a parking ticket given to Jeremy Horne on the night he died.
Horne had parked his parent’s car on a street in NDG. He later died at a friend’s home from an apparent overdose.
Thursday Mayor Denis Coderre told Global News, “I have a lot of sympathy for Mr. Horne,” Mayor Denis Coderre said. “I think when you lose your son, it is a tragedy.”
But he also noted that cancelling the ticket was a bureaucratic issue, not a political one.
“It’s like calling a judge. You don’t mix politics with the judicial process.”
“I’m not going to be the mayor who’s taking care of those kind of issues. Then what? Every time you have a ticket, you have to make a call to say to the process ‘take care of it?'”
Commander Lafreniere shared the news with Global News reporter Domenic Fazioli early Thursday evening. Lafreniere said the “process had begun to nullify the ticket.”
Jeremy died March 7. He suffered from borderline personality disorder and had struggled to obtain help for years. His father, Luc Horne, told Global News on Wednesday that the family made a promise to Jeremy when he died that they would continue to fight the bureaucracy that had prevented him from getting the help he needed during his lifetime.
READ MORE: Stigma keeps youth suffering from mental health issues in the dark
“He was always giving, always giving, but he was never able to take care of himself,” his father, Luc Horne, told Global News last Friday from his home in Vaudreuil-Dorion.
The same night he died, the car Jeremy was driving was issued a parking ticket.
His father was hoping that after his son’s tragic death, the $53 fine could be waived, however the City of Montreal told him this wouldn’t be possible.
READ MORE: Montreal father fighting parking ticket following son’s death
Mayor Denis Coderre confirmed on several occasions that he would not intervene to make an exception for the Horne family.
WATCH BELOW: Coderre won’t help NDG family cancel parking ticket
The response from the city and the mayor has caused even more grief for a family already dealing with the loss of their son.
“If it was your child, Mr. Coderre, would you accept such disrespectful behaviour?”
His mother, Norah Bourgoin, wrote: “The ticket was issued because my son could not put any money in the parking meter after he died.
“We live near Rigaud and were not aware of the location of the car and the keys were at the police station.”
Jeremy’s father, Luc Horne, told Global News: “The ticket is a sad testimony how our social and judicial system is fraught with bureaucracy which negatively impacts the lives of those who it is supposed to serve and help in the first place.”
WATCH BELOW: Jamie Orchard talked to Luc Horne about the death of his son and what he hopes to gain from speaking out
But the city’s decision not to help the Horne family and waive the ticket touched the hearts of hundreds of Montrealers.
This week, a social media campaign was started, asking Montreal’s mayor to show some compassion and waive the parking ticket Horne received the night he died.
In honour of Jeremy’s life and to recognize his struggles with mental health, the family is asking those who wish to help to make a charitable donation to Dans la Rue, a Montreal-based charity that helps youth living on the streets and who may be grappling with issues similar to those faced by Jeremy.
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