Grief-stricken family and community members gathered Thursday morning for the funeral of Jacob Gauthier, one of the two young children killed when a bus rammed into a Laval daycare last week.
The ceremony was held at the at the Ste-Rose-de-Lima church, about two kilometres from the site of the fatal crash located just north of Montreal.
Teddy bears, flowers and candles lined the entrance outside the church, where mourners quietly hugged one another before the funeral. Five men carefully carried the white casket up the steps as church bells rang.
Jacob was four and a half years old, according to a funeral notice published last week. He is survived by his mother, father, sister, as well as grandparents and other extended family.
“He will be an angel for his parents,” said Michel Bouchard, the priest who baptized Jacob and led the funeral Thursday.
The sight of the small casket gave Bouchard goosebumps as he oversaw the mass. They celebrated Jacob’s life with tender eulogies and by playing some of his favourite songs since he was a big fan of Quebec band Les Cowboys Fringants.
Bouchard also noted how the community has rallied since the crash, and that commemorations for the young victims held at the church brought in both members of the parish and Laval over the past week.
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Samir Alahmad, the president of the province’s private daycare association, said that “everyone is suffering” in wake of the deadly collision, but “especially the families who lost their children.”
Every parent and all of Quebec should feel the pain the victims’ loved ones are going through, he added.
“Still a week later, we have no explanation as to why it happened,” Alahmad said.
The alleged attack occurred during the busy drop-off period on the morning of Feb. 8, when a city bus careened into the Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose. Jacob and a five-year-old girl were killed, while six other children were injured.
Pierre Ny St-Amand, a 51-year-old driver with the Laval transit corporation, was arrested at the scene.
The accused is facing nine charges, including two counts of first-degree murder. He is expected to appear in court Friday.
Funeral details for the young girl killed in the crash, who was identified by her parents as Maëva David, have not been announced.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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