Posted 5:00am Updated 7:14am
(Quebec) Jacinthe Latulippe remembers that morning five years ago to the day. The little house in Lotbinière was full of children getting ready for school. It was just before spring break and the anticipation of the upcoming holidays was in the air.
It was a morning like any other, a morning when everything jostle. The mother of the family remembers that her daughter Anaïs prepared her lunch. The little girl walked away with her sister in a gust of wind. Jacinthe Latulippe barely had time to say goodbye to Anaïs. She never saw her alive again.
The 11-year-old girl was fatally wounded this morning in Saint-Flavien on the south coast in the Quebec region. Anaïs walked with her sister in the heart of the village on a wide verge intended for pedestrians but eroded by snow in winter. The driver swerved onto the hard shoulder and killed the girl.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FAMILY
Anaïs Renaud’s last class photo
“Even today, when I see children there, parents with prams, my heart hurts. Almost nothing has changed,” says the mother in an interview.
Five years after the death of her daughter, Jacinthe Latulippe has decided to speak out again because she feels powerless, abandoned by politicians, her community and the Quebec government. But she still believes things need to change.
Coroner Géhane Kamel, who investigated Anaïs’ death, wrote it in black and white in her March 2020 report: In the heart of the village of Saint-Flavien, where the school is located, a sidewalk must be built to save lives.
But after a long struggle, Jacinthe Latulippe realizes that there will be no sidewalks in Saint-Flavien. The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility does not want to build it, even if the Principale Street where Anaïs died is a numbered street under its jurisdiction. The state returns the ball to the municipality.
Rather than respect the coroner’s recommendation, Saint-Flavien opted to put the issue to a referendum in September 2021. The majority rejected the sidewalk and the bill that went with it. The municipality calculated that it would have cost $88 per year per property over 25 years to repay the loan.
“A sidewalk should not be a luxury. We must stop seeing these accidents as unfortunate incidents. It’s preventable. We need a better layout,” the mother, who was appalled by the referendum result, swears.
We had a hard time recovering from that. It was demotivating. I was disillusioned. I had a flat effect for several months.
Jacinthe Latulippe, on the result of the referendum
She starts a petition
If Anaï’s mother speaks to La Presse today, it is because she is hoping for the public’s help to force the government “to take its responsibilities”. She believes that the Department of Transport should systematically build sidewalks in the urbanized sectors of its numbered streets, which is currently not the case.
Jacinthe Latulippe is launching a petition today with Piétons Québec and Accès transports viables entitled ‘For the right of children to walk safely’.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVE
Sandrine Cabana-Degani, Managing Director of Piétons Québec
“It’s upsetting,” Piétons Québec director-general Sandrine Cabana-Degani said over the phone, alluding to the tragedy and the authorities’ response.
What we’re seeing throughout this story is that the Department of Transportation needs to live up to its responsibilities. It is not normal that he gives the municipalities the choice of whether or not to build a pavement on the main streets, which are actually ministry streets.
Sandrine Cabana-Degani, Managing Director of Piétons Québec
She notes that Quebec does not hesitate to widen its streets to accommodate more cars at the request of communities. But when the same communities demand sidewalks on the same streets, Quebec refuses to pay.
“It is not normal. It’s two weights, two measures, ”denounces the director general of Piétons Québec.
“The Ministry of Transport of Quebec has changed its name. It’s now called the Department of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, she said. It has adopted a sustainable mobility policy, in which it commits to taking into account the needs of pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas. We ask him to put his words into action. »
painful memories
The death of little Mariialegenkovska on her way to school in Montreal in December has brought back painful memories in Anaïs Renaud’s family.
“We knew that another family would follow the same path as us. It’s absurd as death, it doesn’t make sense,” says Jacinthe Latulippe.
Then a mobilization of hundreds of parents across Quebec for pedestrian safety near schools was organized. It gave him some hope after five years of “disappointment”.
Another nationwide protest is planned for March 15 in front of schools. Jacinthe Latulippe plans to be there. She wants to demonstrate in front of the elementary school in Saint-Flavien. The one where your daughter went five years ago. The one that doesn’t have a sidewalk yet.