Montrealer among five dead after small plane crashes in Haiti, son died in Christmas Day work accident

A Montrealer is among the five victims of a small plane crash in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.

The family of 57-year-old Gamaniel Valcin confirmed the death in a press release Thursday morning and said that “he was a man as well-known in Quebec as in other parts of the world for his community and social work.” He was a pastor and ran MICEAQ, which helps newcomers.

This comes only months after another tragedy for the Valcin family. His 22-year-old son Riley died on Christmas Day in a work accident at La Grande roue de Montréal.

“Remember them for the great men they were,” says Joey Valcin, of his brother and father. “I want people to remember my father for the great man he was: the generous, loving, compassionate, strong-willed man he was. And he always put others before himself, just like my brother.”

Joey dropped his father off at the airport yesterday at 7.am. and shared his final moments with him.

“I gave my father a hug. I told him that I love him and that I would see him again, and he said the same,” he said.

Paule Robitaille, a member of the Quebec Liberal Party, tweeted that she had just seen Gamaniel last week when they honoured Riley at his old high school in Montreal North with the National Assembly medal and a scholarship in his name at École secondaire Henri-Bourassa.

“Terrible fate for this exemplary family who has and will continue to show immense courage,” wrote Robitaille in a Facebook post.

MORE:

• Riley Valcin awarded a posthumous Quebec National Assembly medal
• Family wants to keep Riley Valcin’s memory alive after Grande Roue reopens
• Man who died on Christmas Day ferris wheel accident remembered as driven, loving friend

The plane was headed to the southern coastal city of Jacmel when it tried to land in the community of Carrefour and hit a truck transporting soda bottles.

Pierre Belamy Samedi, a police commissioner for that region, said a total of five people were aboard the plane.

Haiti’s National Civil Aviation Office identified the plane as a Cessna 207 but no further details were immediately available.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry tweeted that he was saddened by the crash and offered his sympathies to the relatives of those who died.

“We told each other we love each other many times., so all of this helped me process this easier,” Joey said. “But I can’t even think about the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to spend one last moment with my father.”

Before his flight, Joey says he reminded his father how fragile life could be.

“I texted my father one last time, ‘If his death came, to embrace it and not look back that I loved him.’ So much coincidence. But since my brother’s death, I’ve been trying to prepare my family for the worst possible event. And I hope that my father, in his last moment, remembered the words that I shared with him.”

As Riley Valcin made his mark as a passionate athlete and dedicated civil engineering student at Polytechnique University – now with a scholarship bearing his name – Gamaniel is leaving behind a legacy of his own, as a man devoted to the community.

“He never bragged about what he did, but he helped so many people,” Joey said. “I know that there’s at least a thousand people in Haiti screaming for him right now, crying, and that will miss him.”

The Valcin family is asking the Canadian government to help them coordinate the repatriation of the body, so Joey and his mother could start the healing process.

“If you’re inspired by my strength, know that I’m the manifestation of my father,” Joey said.

A man, Joey says, lived life to its fullest, especially after losing Riley.

“He made sure to tell everybody around him that he loved them before leaving because, me and him, after my brother’s death, were so aware that we can go at any moment.”

Gamaniel would have turned 58 on April 29.