Funeral held for 4-year-old boy killed in Laval daycare bus crash last week

"A lot of tears, a lot of sadness and a lot of courage from the parents,” said Marie-Andree Bourdon, attending the funeral for young Jacob Gauthier, one of two children killed in the Laval daycare tragedy. Alyssia Rubertucci reports.

By The Canadian Press and News Staff

A funeral was held Thursday for one of the two young children killed when a bus crashed into a daycare last week in Laval, Que., just north of Montreal.

The bells of the Ste-Rose-de-Lima church tolled at 11 a.m. as five men carried the small white casket of Jacob Gauthier into the sanctuary.

A funeral notice published last week said Jacob was four-and-a-half and is survived by his mother, father, sister, as well as grandparents and other extended family.

Jacob Gauthier

Jacob Gauthier was one of two children killed when a Laval city bus crashed into a daycare on Feb. 8, 2023. (Credit: Les Salons Funéraires Guay/Family of Jacob Gauthier)

Church pastor Michel Bouchard, who baptized Jacob when he was a baby, says planning the funeral with the boy’s parents was hard on everyone.

“I met them two, three days ago,” said Bouchard. “And to prepare that celebration… it was difficult. But they’re strong. They are strong.”

Media were asked to keep their distance as family and friends made their way into the church, past tributes of stuffed animals and flowers that were placed outside the door.

“We cried a lot. A lot of tears, a lot of sadness and a lot of courage from the parents,” said Marie-Andrée Bourdon.

Four silver cars from the funeral home pulled up shortly before the service started, and men could be seen unloading large displays of white flowers.

“There was a choir singing the little boy’s favorite song, with a fine orchestra of violins. The parents even spoke,” said Clémence Vachon.

Sainte-Rose-de-Lima church has been a gathering place for the community. A mass was held there last Friday in honour of the two victims, the injured, and daycare staff.

“Since the beginning of the Friday, it was a very nice celebration with a very deep spiritual feeling and people were there and it was like that also this morning,” said Bouchard. “Because a lot of the church was full there, the relatives of the family, but also a lot of people from the parish.”

Church Sainte-Rose-de-Lima Laval daycare bus crash funeral

Sainte-Rose-de-Lima Church, Laval, Feb. 16, 2023. (CREDIT: Alyssia Rubertucci/CityNews)

Church Sainte-Rose-de-Lima Laval daycare bus crash funeral

Inside Sainte-Rose-de-Lima church in Laval on Feb. 16, 2023. (Credit: Alyssia Rubertucci/CityNews)

Samir Alahmad, the president of the province’s private daycare association, said it is hard to describe the magnitude of the parents’ pain.

“I mean, the minimum we can do today… this is just terrible, we have to be with the parents, you know, to show them…(it’s) the least we can do,” said Alahmad.

“We went to the (funeral home) yesterday… it was terrible. Every parent in Quebec and every citizen in Quebec should feel the pain. Those people are suffering now. I mean, there’s no word to describe what the family are suffering today.”

Alahmad questions how a little more than week later, there is no explanation for “why (this) happened.”

“We should come here to show the parents, show the society in general, I mean, what’s happened is totally not acceptable in society like us and any society anyway.”

The alleged bus attack at the Garderie Educative Ste-Rose on Feb. 8 left two children dead and sent six to hospital with injuries.

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 and seven other offences, including attempted murder and aggravated assault.

“I live not far from the daycare and I was really upset by what happened,” said Bourdon. “You see things like that elsewhere, but here in our little hometown of Sainte-Rose, everything is so calm, people know each other, so we never would have thought it would happen.”

Funeral details for the second child, who was identified by her parents as Maeva David, have not been announced.

—With files from Alyssia Rubertucci

Church Sainte-Rose-de-Lima Laval daycare bus crash funeral

Inside Sainte-Rose-de-Lima church in Laval on Feb. 16, 2023. (Credit: Alyssia Rubertucci/CityNews)

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