Family and friends of Jannaï Dopwell-Bailey laid him to his final rest on Friday.
Dozens attended the teen’s memorial service at St Paul’s Anglican Church in his neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges.
It was a celebration of his love for his family, for his friends and for life.
“What a sense of humour he had. He would’ve definitely gotten into acting. He had so much potential; he was capable of great things. What a person,” said Kevin George, Dopwell Bailey’s cousin and godfather.
“He loved dancing and rapping. Always happy and energetic — a peacemaker who brought people together. He was the soul of the group and at the same time, the goofy one.”
But Dopwell-Bailey’s memorial was also a painful reminder of how all that potential and life ended so abruptly and violently.
Dopwell-Bailey was stabbed to death in front if his school in Côte-des-Neiges last month after a fight broke out between a group of teenagers.
He was only 16 years-old.
Another teen has been arrested and charged.
Dopwell-Bailey’s aunt says she’d like to see authorities do more than just put more police in place and really tackle the underlying causes of the increasing violence among youth in the city.
“This is so unacceptable, these are children being killed,” said Onica John.
“We also recently had a kidnapping, a shooting at a school, another (act of) school violence. This should not be happening.”
John is referring to the recent killing of another 16-year-old in front of a school.
Thomas Trudel was shot and killed in front of Joseph François Perrault high school in the Saint-Michel neighbourhood Sunday night.
On Tuesday, Laval police arrested a suspect and charged him with assault and the attempted kidnapping of another teenager in front of the Curé-Antoine-Labelle high school in the Sainte-Rose district of Laval, an incident that involved a firearm.
“These are kids, they’re supposed to be doing kid stuff not playing with guns and knives,” John said.
Both municipal and provincial authorities say they are doing everything possible to put stricter gun control but they can’t do it alone.
Mayors from across Quebec have come together through the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) to push the federal government to put in place tighter gun laws and control of firearm trafficking at the border.
“Quebec municipalities, particularly in large urban centres, are facing a surge in acts of violence involving hand guns. Tragic events that have happened recently in Montreal show once again the urgency in which the federal government must strongly intervene to fight crime. We must protect our population. It’s non-negotiable,” said Daniel Côté, mayor of Gaspé and president of the UMQ.
The federal government says it’s studying the issue of banning hand-guns.