It’s been more than six weeks since her son was killed and for Charla Dopwell, the memories are still raw.
“I send my son to school and he never returned,” she told Global News outside Mile End high school on Van Horne Avenue in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges district Saturday. “He never returned and I have to face that every morning when I wake up and I look inside his room and he’s not coming out to greet me.”
Jannai Dopwell-Bailey was stabbed to death in the mid-afternoon on Oct. 18. He was just 16 years old. Police say there was a fight involving a group of teens outside his school before he was attacked.
On Saturday his family and friends held a march that started just outside his school next to where he was stabbed. His loved ones said they wanted to honour his memory and to make sure he’s not forgotten.
“I want people to know my son is a loving, loving, caring person,” Dopwell said before the march started.
Jannai’s older brother, Tyrese Dopwell-Bailey, told reporters that the teen was a playful person and wasn’t part of any gang.
“He was a very happy child, a child with a lot of potential and he mattered. He mattered. His life mattered,” he said.
His brother’s killing was the city’s 25th homicide this year, and followed a string of shootings that have city and police officials calling this year unusually violent. Community workers and families, including Dopwell-Bailey’s, have been calling on city officials to do more for youth.
“There’s certain programs that need to be implemented to help with the young ones,” his cousin Onica John said. “Because if you leave them to just hang, they’re going to end up eventually doing stuff that they’re not supposed to.”
The family is also expressing concern for other youth, saying Dopwell-Bailey’s killing goes far beyond just his family and could’ve happened to any teen.
On Nov. 14 another 16-year-old, Thomas Trudel, died after being shot. He was on Dopwell’s mind Saturday too.
“I’m thinking of all the youths, all the children, that this never, ever happens to them,” she said.
She said she hopes politicians take her son’s death seriously and is grateful Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante visited her after coming under fire for going to a vigil for Trudel, who is white, and not attending a previous march for Dopwell-Bailey.
Police are still looking for a third suspect in the killing.
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