The first day of kindergarten is a special day in every kid’s life and one Longueuil father made sure it was a day his twins would treasure forever.
The boys, William and Tristan, made a grand entrance on their first day of school on Thursday — each getting a chauffeured ride to school in a police car.
But none of it would have been possible, without the help of Dominic Ahier, Yanick Bissonnette and Philippe Tessier, three Longueuil police officers.
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In a heartwarming video posted to YouTube, the trio fulfills a promise they made four years ago to the boys’ dad, Det. Sgt. Sébastien Glaude, just before he died from cancer.
“He was 33 years old,” Ahier told Global News. “Passed away Nov. 9, 2014.”
WATCH: Three Longueuil police officers honoured a 4-year-old promise they made to dying colleague to escort his twins in a police car on their first day of school.
It was Glaude’s third bout with the disease.
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“When he got the news the last time, there wasn’t much hope for him,” Ahier explained. “He called me and tried to make peace with it. We were asking him to go on fighting and fighting, but the doctors weren’t so hopeful this time.”
Ahier said the promise was prompted by a text message that Glaude sent to them when his health started failing.
“It was one line that struck us, and it was something that he repeated to us often, ‘Guys, if you could, bring my boys to school in a police car on their first day of school,'” Ahier said.
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For Ahier, keeping that promise was only natural.
“It was really a simple request. It’s not that much, but it meant a lot for him and it meant a lot for us, too,” he said.
Ahier admitted he wasn’t sure he could hold it together.
“I never broke down yesterday and I was sure I was going to break down when I saw the kids,” he said. “But when I arrived, seeing the kids in the driveway, I was full of joy.”
“I was really happy to do this.”
Ahier recounted how Glaude feared being forgotten.
“He wanted his sons to know who he was,” he said.
And while fulfilling the promise was a way to keep Gluade’s memory alive, Ahier said the Thursday drive to school was all about the boys.
“We wanted it to be a day about them, not about their daddy,” he said. “They were really happy to finally get to their day of school. It was really a joyous moment from start to finish.”
— With files from Global’s Dan Spector
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