TORONTO – Thousands of cards, photos and flowers dedicated to the victims of a deadly van attack. were dismantled by city staff at an event in Toronto on Sunday, to be replaced with a permanent memorial.
Mayor John Tory was in attendance as the impromptu dedications left in the days after the April 23 attack were taken down.
“The flowers will go, but the poems and the other prayers that the people left in writing will be kept by our archives as a part of the historical record of this tragedy and the outpouring of affection that followed,” Tory said.
He said the items will be in storage until the city comes up with an appropriate way to display those pieces.
For now, the makeshift monuments along Yonge Street in north Toronto have been replaced with a temporary plaque, but Tory said the city will eventually erect something permanent.
“There will always be a scar here, there will always be a scar on the city, but it does represent that healing does take place,” he said.
Ten people were killed and another 16 were injured when a van jumped the curb and ran over multiple pedestrians on the sidewalk.
A 25-year-old man from Richmond Hill, Ont., faces 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder in the incident. His case has been put over until September.
— With files from Nick Westoll