Fatal Laval daycare bus crash last year ‘imprinted’ on Sainte-Rose community

For some residents in the quiet area of old Sainte-Rose in Laval, north of Montreal, shock isn’t enough to describe their feelings after a city bus crashed into the Garderie éducative Ste-Rose on Feb. 8 last year, leaving two children dead and another six injured.

Some, like resident Martin Deland, say they’re forever marked by the tragedy.

“It was disbelief,” he said. “It was an attack to the core of the community here.”

“As long as the residents will be here, we will remember,” he added.

Some say the incident was traumatizing.

“We’re going to think about it for a long time,” says Lucille Drainville, a Sainte-Rose resident. “When we see the buses passing by, we would never have thought that a bus could be the target of such a serious incident.”

Pierre Ny St-Amand drove an empty city bus into the building filled with kids and witnesses say he was delirious and needed to be restrained. He faces two counts of first degree murder and seven other charges.

“I take the bus 151, which is the famous bus often and I have a thought now and then, ‘This is the one that plowed into that daycare,'” said resident Rory McEvoi. “I try not to dwell on the bad.”

The Sainte-Rose-de-Lima Church became a gathering point for mourning community members, with candles, teddy bears, flowers and cards lining the outside and inside last year.

The funerals of both children who died, four-year-old Jacob Gauthier and five-year-old Maëva David were also held at the church.

“The people from parish, not everyone knew them, but they came and they support the family together,” said Fr. Michel Bouchard, priest at Sainte-Rose-de-Lima church. “What I told the family is the only way to get out of this situation, even if it is always in their minds, is by offering this situation to God.”

“After a little while you see that anything can happen, anywhere, anytime, no town is safe,” said McEvoi. “You always hear, ‘Nothing happens in our little town,’ well, it did that day.”

A public commemorative event involving balloons being released into the sky will be held at Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles nearby the daycare on Thursday to mark the anniversary. 

“I cannot speak on behalf of the whole community, but for myself it’s going to be difficult,” Deland said. “For a lot of years, it’s going to be just imprinted in our brains, in our hearts.”