Balloons were released to honour the lives of the two children killed one year ago when a bus careened through the front of a daycare north of Montreal.
The intimate ceremony took place Thursday morning near the Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose in Laval, where the fatal crash happened on Feb. 8, 2023.
A city bus turned off the street and smashed into the daycare during the busy morning drop-off period. Maëva David, 5, and Jacob Gauthier, 4, died in the crash while six other children were hospitalized.
André Beaudoin, a father of a boy who attends the daycare, attended the private event Thursday. He was one of the men who intervened right after the bus collided with the building and pulled kids out from the wreckage.
Beaudoin said seeing the victims’ families helps with the grieving process.
“It’s a sad day. This morning I didn’t want to do anything at 8:30,” Beaudoin said through tears, referring to the time the crash happened.
“It’s just a hard day.”
Laval MNA Christopher Skeete was also in attendance and said he thinks “we’re all still grieving.” He described how two daycare educators let the a pair of balloons loose into the sky.
“It was a beautiful moment that I think symbolizes the absence, the grieving and of the loss of the two lives that were taken taken in a senseless act,” Skeete said.
Families carried white flowers and hugged one another during the short ceremony, which also included a moment of silence. Sobbing could be heard as the balloons drifted into the blue sky and out of sight.
The daycare has asked that people not leave flowers or stuffed animals outside the building but rather make a donation to the foundations of hospitals that treated victims, Cité de la Santé in Laval and Ste-Justine children’s hospital in Montreal.
Nancy Gschwender, who owns Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose, said in a statement that the tragic day “will remain engraved in our memories and our hearts forever.”
“I also have a thought for the other little butterflies in the group and their families, the daycare team, the children, the parents and our entire community. Everyone was affected by this tragic event,” she said, adding the well-being of the kids remains the team’s priority.
Former city bus driver Pierre Ny St-Amand faces a total of nine charges, including two counts of first-degree murder.
Ny St-Amand is set to appear in court in March. His lawyer says he plans to argue the 52-year-old did not have the necessary criminal intent for first-degree murder.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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