Ceremony to mark first anniversary of fatal Quebec daycare bus crash

A ceremony will be held today to mark the one-year anniversary of the day a bus smashed through the front of a Montreal-area daycare, killing two young children and injuring six more. A city bus is shown next to a daycare centre in Laval, Que, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, after it crashed into the building leaving two children dead. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Balloons are to be released today in a ceremony marking one year since a bus smashed through the front of a Montreal-area daycare, killing two young children and injuring six more.

The commemorative event will take place in a park near the Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose in Laval, which became the site of the tragedy on Feb. 8, 2023, when a city bus turned off the street and roared down the daycare’s driveway during the busy morning drop-off period.

Five-year-old Maëva David and four-year-old Jacob Gauthier died in the crash, while six other children were sent to hospital.

Former city bus driver Pierre Ny St-Amand is charged with two counts of first-degree murder as well as seven other charges, including attempted murder and aggravated assault.

A preliminary hearing is set for March, and Ny St-Amand’s lawyer says he plans to argue the 52-year-old did not have the necessary criminal intent for first-degree murder.

The daycare has asked that people not leave flowers or stuffed animals outside the building but rather make a donation to the foundations of hospitals that treated victims, Cité de la Santé in Laval and Ste-Justine children’s hospital in Montreal.