Jean-Eudes Fournier is categorical when we speak to him about the drama that unfolded before his eyes on Monday. “My wife, I owe her everything. It was she who saved my life,” the seventy-year-old told the prime minister, telling him he hadn’t left home since the tragedy.
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The man and his wife Micheline Poirier walked peacefully on Boulevard Saint-Benoît on Monday. They stopped for a few minutes to chat with their friend Gérald Charest, not knowing that in that “Salut!” filled with the typical good humor of a man, they heard his last words.
“He was happy, he was laughing. I said to him, “You’re a bit weird,” Mr. Fournier recalls with emotion.
It’s been a shock ever since.
The couple had not left the house for three days. It was the Prime Minister’s visit that convinced her to get back outside and, above all, to return to the scene of the tragedy.
“We have to go further out,” suggested François Legault, urging them not to hesitate to seek help.
“We’re well surrounded,” Jean-Eudes Fournier and Micheline Poirier assured him.
Extremely saved
On Monday it was the latter who heard the sound of the truck coming in a whirlwind. Hardly time to call out “Attention!” and pushed her husband that the van had passed. A few meters further on, Gérald Charest was not as fortunate.
“He went, he came from behind. I screamed, but it was too late,” explains Jean-Eudes Fournier.
Monday should also have been emotionally charged for the couple’s daughter and son-in-law. As rumors of the drama circulated around town, Frédéric Bureau and Sarah-Josée Fournier thought of Jean-Eudes and Micheline.
The couple often walks downtown, but concerns quickly set in and escalated when their calls back home went unanswered.
“On the display we had a call from an unknown number. From the search at work we knew it was an SQ police officer, so we went straight to the hospital,” says Mr. Bureau, who still struggles to believe fate spared his in-laws.
Can you forget the horror?
Still in shock from what they saw, the couple left their home for the first time on Thursday. They welcomed the visit of the Prime Minister and other politicians, a gesture they described as “warm”.
“It alleviates a little bit of what we experienced. It feels good,” says the 75-year-old.
And for the future, when he says he wants politicians to commemorate Amqui and honor the memory of the victims by taking action, Jean-Eudes wants to forget Fournier.
“I don’t want to remember it anymore.”
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