Remembering the victims, striving for justice on 1-year anniversary of Old Montreal Fire 

An Wu, Charlie Lacroix, Camille Maheux, Nathan Sears, Dania Zafar, Walid Belkahla and Saniya Khan.

In front of the heritage building on Place d’Youville, neighbours and family members remembered the seven who lost their lives in a blaze one year ago.

Robert Lacroix, Charlie’s grandfather, visited the site and left flowers at the building. 

Childhood friends of Charlie, visiting from Terrebonne, where she was from, remembered her as an incredible, happy and creative person. 

“We want to share that we want the investigation to be completed,” said Danaée Sawyer-Desmarais. “We want to know what happened to Charlie and why it happened.”

Josée Lamarche lives two doors down from the site of the tragedy. A year ago, she awoke to power cut on the street, and a cloud of smoke outside her window.

“It is important for people to come out and pay tribute to the innocent lives lost,” she said. “Whenever I pass by the building, I’m always moved, and I sympathise enormously with the families of the victims.” 

In the early hours of March 16, 2023, renters woke to flames engulfing the 14-unit building at the corner of Place D’Youville and du Port Street. Of the 22 people staying in the building, seven died, six of whom were short-term Airbnb renters. 

After the fire, grieving families drew public attention to the safety risks posed by illegal Airbnb rentals. Most of the units were listed on Airbnb without proper permission. 

Montreal fire department inspection reports show that between 2009 and 2018, the building had blocked and “dead-end” fire escapes, and a broken fire alarm system. 

The family of victim Nathan Sears, 35, applied for a $22-million class-action lawsuit against Airbnb, alleging the company neglected to verify the units were suitable for renting. 

Nicole Aline Legault, a family friend of Nathan Sears, created a display of her drawings of those who died that included QR codes linking to information about each of the victims and the ongoing investigation.

“I feel very strongly about the way the city has handled this, the way Airbnb has handled this and the way landlords like the one who owned this building run this city, and it’s really scary,” she said.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Quebec passed a law requiring registration numbers on short-term rental listings, and the City of Montreal increased fines to up to $100,000 and resources for enforcement.

The Montreal police criminal investigation determined the fire was deliberately set after finding traces of accelerants. 

“I still think about it very often, because we heard in the news that something else might have been at play here, but we’re not super sure what happened,” said Ricardo Magalhães.

“I hope the victims find justice.”