It’s been almost two months since Dustin LaFortune was dropped off at the General Hospital in Regina. He was badly beaten and bruised.
Dozens of LaFortune’s supporters showed their support Saturday by marching down Regina streets. Their hope is this kind of brutal violence never happens again.
The unified group walked from the Regina Police Station to the General Hospital. LaFortune’s brother Ryan was pleased to see the people who came out with a message.
“To see the public out here saying they’re not going to stand for this kind of thing and stand in front of the police service saying this is not cool,” Ryan LaFortune said.
His brother was dropped off at the hospital on April 16 with severe injuries. The nation was shocked as more information about the incident came to light. LaFortune weighed only 90 pounds when he arrived at the hospital and showed signs of being beaten, burned and mutilated.
His other brother Rogi said dealing with what happened is really hard.
“It’s been stressful because me and my brother were really close,” Rogi LaFortune said.
Little Aurora LaFortune-Airhart held Rogi’s hand during the march. The seven-year-old knew why she was there, though.
“To support daddy,” she said.
Aurora is struggling to understand why someone would hurt her dad like that, but she said he is healing.
“He’s getting much better,” Aurora explained.
Supporters came from across the country to lend their support to LaFortune and his family. Kathy Zarchukoff drove 10 hours from B.C. because she felt like she needed to be in Regina with everyone.
“It touched our hearts and it hasn’t let go,” she said. “It could happen to any of us. We just had to do it.”
LaFortune’s cousin Marcel is grateful for everyone who came out to support his family.
“Dustin needs to know we’re all here for him,” Marcel LaFortune said. “We’re going to bring all these pictures up to him and let him know there are people here rooting for him.”
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