According to Lynne Baudouy there’s one things she’s hearing from her son’s friends and it concerns her.
“They’re scared to go to school, and that’s not normal,” she told Global News at the beginning of a march from Jeanne-Mance Park to Montreal city hall Saturday.
She organized the march to raise awareness about concerns of parents and youth, who are deeply worried about the spate of violence that has claimed the lives of several teenagers in the city over the last few months.
“How could I feel safe going to school knowing that my best friend got killed in a school,” eighteen year-old Samuel Mariampillai said.
His friend, 16 year-old Lucas Gaudet, Baudouy’s son, died after he was stabbed outside St.Thomas High School in Pointe Claire high school almost a month ago.
In all, six teens have been killed violently in Montreal since February 2021 — four since fall 2021.
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“At this age you shouldn’t be losing a best friend like this,” said seventeen year-old Aiden Andry, another of Gaudet’s friends. “Nobody should.”
Gaudet’s friends at Saturday’s march believe a culture of violence may be partly to blame.
“Everyone thinks it’s ok and cool,” said Mariampillai, blaming music videos and social media. “In modern day society now everyone thinks it’s cool to be gangster.”
Jasiyah Cromwell Henry, 17, another friend agrees.
“It’s the social climate,” he reasoned. “Everyone’s so so tense, everyone doesn’t want to be tested — they’re quick to jump to violence.”
Baudouy and others want governments at all levels to do more to catch youth before they fall through the cracks.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but I do know that we need more funding for our kids,” she argued, “because they feel left out. They feel like they have nowhere to turn.”
Last week the City of Montreal began hosting a forum with non-profits and educators, on youth violence — three days over several weeks. It includes a workshop in mid-March involving youth, to discuss how to bring down violence among their peers.
For Gaudet’s mom, action can’t come soon enough.
“God forbid this happens to another child,” she stressed. “I don’t want another parent suffering what we’re suffering, what we’re going through.
She doesn’t want her son’s death to be in vain.
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