Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid his respects to the young victims of Wednesday’s deadly bus crash into a Montreal-area daycare at a candlelit vigil Thursday evening.
Trudeau spoke with dozens of other well-wishers who gathered in the falling snow outside Eglise Catholique Sainte-Rose in Laval, just north of Montreal, where hundreds gathered to honour the two four-year-olds killed in the crash.
Speaking to reporters alongside Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer, Trudeau offered his support to the families of the victims, the first responders who attended the scene of the attack and lamented the “senselessness” of the tragedy.
“This is a moment to reflect on the incredible loss the families are feeling right now, on the hundreds of thousands of parents who dropped their kids off at daycares across the country this morning holding them a little tighter,” Trudeau said.
“All we can do is be there for each other.”
A shrine of candles, flowers and stuffed animals had already been created at the doors of the church, where Trudeau laid a bouquet of flowers. Similar memorials had popped up at other sites near the crime scene by Thursday morning, and grew larger throughout the day.
Flags on some public buildings, including the Quebec provincial legislature and the Peace Tower in Ottawa, have been lowered to half-staff.
Six other young children were hospitalized with injuries sustained in the crash.
Two of the four patients taken to Montreal’s Sainte-Justine children’s hospital were released Thursday morning, hospital officials said in a statement. The two others are in a “favourable” state of health, they added. Two other children injured in the attack were being treated at a Laval hospital.
The incident occurred Wednesday morning after a bus smashed into the front of Garderie Educative Ste-Rose daycare in Laval.
Pierre Ny St-Amand, a 51-year-old driver with the Laval transit corporation, was arrested at the scene and later charged with two counts of first-degree murder as well as seven other charges, including attempted murder and aggravated assault.
Authorities have not yet spoken to the motive behind the attack. Speaking to reporters in Quebec City on Thursday, the province’s Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel said the motive “remains incomprehensible.”
Earlier Thursday, Quebec Premier Francois Legault and other political leaders visited the neighbourhood where the crash occurred to offer support to families and daycare workers affected by the tragedy.
Legault urged people to take advantage of mental health supports, including children and workers inside the daycare when the crash occurred, calling it important and necessary.
On Wednesday, the House of Commons held a moment of silence for the victims. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre began the day’s question period by asking Trudeau in French what supports the federal government was offering to the people of Quebec who have been impacted.
Trudeau said all Canadians are thinking of the families affected in Laval.
“Our hearts go out to them, nothing can erase the pain and the suffering that these families and that community are going through right now,” Trudeau said, also speaking in French.
“We will be there to support them in the days and the months and the years to come as they go through this unimaginable suffering.”
Trudeau thanked the first responders who were called to the scene and all those offering help to those involved.
“We will continue to keep them close to our hearts and in our prayers,” Trudeau said during his remarks in the House of Commons.
—With files from Teresa Wright and the Canadian Press