A city bus driver crashed his bus into a daycare in Laval, Quebec this morning. Witnesses say it looked like a deliberate act. Bystanders grabbed the driver as he exited his vehicle and subdued him until police arrived.

Two children are reported deceased with at least four others injured and rushed to hospital (with reportedly non-life-threatening but significant injuries). The children are estimated to be 4-5 years old.

Neighbours rushed to the scene and helped to rescue some children who were reportedly stuck underneath the vehicle.

There was a large response to the scene from emergency teams. Reporters are saying that police officers at the scene were in tears. That is not a sight you usually see no matter how heartrending a situation may be but with little kids severely affected it's tough to maintain composure.

I have volunteered with several police departments, going out on ride-alongs as they patrol and have always thought their self-control is remarkable. However, this scene was described as of great magnitude and, of course, it's always extra emotional when children are injured.

An administrator from one hospital stated to reporters that the children admitted there have "suffered trauma". He means physical at the moment but says that psychological support will also be provided.

The status at nearby hospitals is labelled "total mobilization", with ORs on standby for the victims. The injuries are described as being "poly-trauma". One child is reportedly in ICU.

Of course I would take note of such a significant event in Canada even though it's across the country from me. But Laval, Quebec is one of the places I lived in during my Quebec "missionary" days as a JW and so it caught my attention. Just the mention of that city instantly brings back a lot of memories.

Of course, the focus is on all those affected by this horrific act, reportedly deliberate. Potential charges, announced quickly, are said to include homicide.

There's enough tragedy in this world that is beyond human control. It's extra-excruciating when devastating acts are done on purpose.

Potential motive is not known but witnesses describe the bus driver as "acting erratically". I guess it's too soon to attribute blame if the guy was suffering from some kind of mental breakdown but in some circumstances it's difficult to extend compassion.


Here's one news source about the event:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bus-hit-daycare-laval-1.6740987



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2023 02:03PM by Nightingale.

Oh, Nightingale--I am so sorry for everyone involved, and as well, for all Canadians everywhere.

These are the really tough situations for law enforcement and medical personnel. (My first, post-high school, job was working for the City of Los Angeles--largely in the Police Department, so I have some idea of just how rough these situations can be for those involved.)

My very best wishes for the very best outcomes go out to each of the kids (both those who were physically hurt, as well as to their classmates), to their families, and to everyone in Canada.

Thanks, Tevai, for your kind words.

Truly awful and sickening.

The news reports are saying the daycare wasn't on a main road and certainly not on the bus route of this driver. It's like he went out of his way (literally) to find this place. We can't jump to conclusions though.

It certainly sounds as if he was suffering a severe mental health crisis (which you might guess of anyone who would choose to commit such a heinous act, until proven different) as it took several bystanders to hold him and he apparently either was naked at the time of the crash or stripped naked after. Certainly that doesn't seem to be a lucid act.

The images are showing a school bus off to one side but he is reported as being a city bus driver. I assumed at first he was driving the school bus shown in the reporting but that doesn't quite make sense.

We'll have to wait for authorities to gather and share more details.

Those poor parents. Innocent little children. Excruciating.

Nightingale, in another time in another life, I lived in Lachine, Quebec, on the west side of the island. Trying to remember Laval. Is it to the south of Montreal, across the St. Lawrence?

Oh, that's a coincidence, Kentish, both of us "displaced" to the same city at one point in time.

Laval is described this way:

"Laval is a city in Quebec, Canada. It’s mainly set on Île Jésus, across the Prairies River from Montreal. Park Rivière-des-Mille-Îles has trails along the waterfront. To the east, the Nature Center features gardens, ponds and farm animals. The Saint-Vincent-de-Paul historic district is home to neoclassical buildings and cafes. The Cosmodome museum explores space travel. Sauriol and Marineau farms offer berry picking."


And in the Canadian Travel Guide:

"Laval city is an island located at the southwest portion of the province of Québec, just next to the Island of Montreal. The city is detached from the Canadian mainland to its north by the Rivière des Mille Îles. To its south, the Rivière des Prairies separates it from the Island of Montreal. The city of Laval occupies Îles Laval and Île Jésus.

"Laval is designated as the suburban region for the Greater Montreal metropolitan Area. It occupies a total area of 247 square kilometers or about 95 square miles. Around 401.5 thousand people live in the city, most of whom are white Canadians and French. Around one-fifth of the population was born outside Canada and is considered as one of the major destinations for immigrants coming to the country. Many of the city's immigrants came from French-speaking countries in the Caribbean, as well as from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa. More than 90 percent of the city's population is Christian, most of whom are Roman Catholic. French is the main language spoken in most homes in Laval. Far lower on the list of the common languages spoken by the residents are English, Italian, Greek and Arabic."

---

So, yes, south of Montreal. Interesting about all the different origins and languages of its population.

I lived in both Laval and Montreal while I was in Quebec. A person I considered one of my best friends ever lived there with her parents and she and I were JW mishies together. Her father was a fervent ham radio guy and he taught me some of the trade. I loved her, the ham radio and Laval. I never saw her (or anyone else from there) after I left the JW fold. They cut you off completely in case you spread your sinful ways to others. As if you have a contagious disease. Banned like a leper, in a NY minute.

The Quebec people were friendly, despite me trying to convert them from their Catholicism (a doomed mission from the start), and appreciated my pitiful efforts with my jr high school French. I didn't really ever feel a lot of enthusiasm for persuading people to change their church. And the differences between the WatchTower Society and the Catholic Church are astronomical, to say the least. The WTS condemns all other churches but has a particular disregard for the Catholic brand.

All these memories came flooding back today just at the mere mention of Laval. It's not a city you hear much about at this end of the country.

Nightingale, I was there in 1968 and to the late summer of 1969, working for Canada's then biggest publishing company. Good job, with bosses in Toronto so little daily supervision, but not the best pay. I can relate to the RC influence in Quebec and saw it first hand in the eastern townships my work took me to. The center of things was the main office in Toronto so I seized the opportunity to move back when an opening appeared. I thought, too, that my schoolboy French would get me by but I soon learned that the Quebecois speak a very different version of French from what they termed Parisian French.

I'm very sorry to hear of that, Nightingale. It is distressing to hear of young children being hurt. I work around young children all day long, and they are the sweetest -- so open hearted and loving. Kids wave to me in the hallway, and even students who are not mine know who I am and say hello. Sometimes they run up to hug me.

Little kids just want love and care, and sadly, an adult really let them down today. It does sound like the driver may have been having a psychotic episode.

>>>There's enough tragedy in this world that is beyond human control. It's extra-excruciating when devastating acts are done on purpose.

Every day that same thought comes to me.

So many humans are absolute monsters. We have enough horror and suffering without people doing harm intentionally. We can't seem to stop the worst of them.

I think animals would agree with me that humans are the worst and most dangerous species on earth!

I am sickened and angry at this news. If the driver did indeed intentionally leave the road to crash into the daycare, I am at a loss for words. If our precious children, in a place which is supposed to be safe for them, are vulnerable, in a Canadian city???

I read yesterday an article suggesting that Canada is suffering from fissiparous tendencies like those tearing the US asunder, in part because of QAnon.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/6/canada-is-coming-undone

I sincerely hope that is not the case or that alternatively the deterioration doesn't go far. Canada has for years been a beacon of hope for many of us to the south.

Fissiparous:  Inclined to cause or undergo division into separate parts or groups.

Example: "she was unsuccessful in holding a fissiparous membership together"

Here at RfM, we are absolutely a fissiparous bunch of united non-believers . . .

You knew that already, you old crony!

Well, not everyone grew up with the two-volume Oxford Unabridged dictionary, with included magnifying glass, honkie girl !!

The unabridged dictionary is 21 volumes plus appendices, you silly goose, and you must provide your own magnifying glass.

But at $1,300 (plus, of course, my nominal transaction fee), you should be able to buy one with an evening's tips from the taqueria where you work.

Especially if you wear that cute skirt.

"The Compact Oxford is a great reference.  Photo-reduced pages allow the Complete Oxford Dictionary to be printed in 2 volumes, but a magnifying glass is necessary ..."

https://bahamas.desertcart.com/products/94920444-the-compact-edition-of-the-oxford-english-dictionary-2-volume-set

I can see that the above description, and others claiming it's the equivalent of the 21-volume set, may be in error.  (Not that I care...)

But I refuse to feel bad about not being able to memorize the two-volume set I had.  For a Lamanite to accomplish such a fête would be considered slapping lipstick on a weasel.

"Had?"

You no longer have it? I'm appalled.

That was in the early 1970s!!  I can see it in my mind's eye, sitting on a shelf in our little apartment when my little mormon family was living in the Hollywood 2nd ward, and I was the Elders Quorum's secret weapon during the softball season.

Yeah, and Elder Kennedy lived in the ward for a brief period!  

He was the Elder with a small hammer in his shaving kit, which mystified those of us who shared the bathroom in the four-person unit apartment in Colonia Industrial, in Mexico City, early in 1966 ... until one morning, we heard hammer noises coming from the bathroom.

We found Elder Kennedy using that small hammer to beat on his tube of toothpaste to make sure he got every little bit of toothpaste possible out of it!  EVERY LAST BIT!!

No one ever asked him about that habit then, and I didn't bring it up when we met again eight years later.

And I won a cake-baking contest in that ward.

When you first mentioned the hammer, I thought you were going to say Elder Kennedy tried to break out.

There's a movie like that. You know, the one with the shoulder-porn poster.

The driver has been charged with 2 counts of first degree murder plus other charges. He ran out of the bus after the impact screaming and tearing his clothes off.

This is just unspeakable. I can’t imagine.

In kind of an inverse tragedy, many of the survivors in Turkey are children and infants. The smaller they are, the more likely they fit between chunks of fallen concrete, and weren’t crushed. Many of them don’t even know their family last name, so hard to locate relatives.

A sad week.

The earthquake hit Kurdistan hard--as if those people haven't suffered enough.

I saw rescuers uncover two little children who were just lying there underneath all the rubble, alive, unable to move. They must be freezing by now. It's unimaginable.

The video showed them still trapped but at least visible at that point. It looked like one child was lying sideways, face forward and I think I was looking at the back of the other. How terrifying to be alive, under all that concrete, but trapped.

I saw this story on the evening news. How horrifying for all involved.