Laval life

The residents of Laval, Quebec must be happy to see September come to an end.

One of the larger suburban areas in Canada, Laval borders Montreal to the North. Its population of around 365, 000 is largely francophone and they seem to have an incredible ability to produce hockey stars like Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux and Martin St.Louis. This is a town where hockey starts to become topical this time of year as the QMJHL gets underway and the neighbouring Montreal Canadiens start its preseason.

But on September 13, another Laval resident would dominate national headlines as Kimveer Gill took the life of fellow Laval resident Anastasia DeSousa and wounded another 19 before turning his gun on himself at Dawson College.

Family home of Kimveer Gill
Photograph by : THE GAZETTE/Allen McInnis

The citizens of Laval must have wondered a little more than most how unpredictable life can seem at times and how everything can change in the blink of an eye. Two weeks might have allowed some of the specifics of Gill’s spree to fade but the impact on the community must still have been fresh.

And then this past Saturday, Laval literally started to fall apart.

The overpass reportedly collapsed at the noon hour on Saturday, with five dead from falling debris and six injured as the highway disappeared beneath them.

Could a disaster any more unexpected yet equally terrifying happen to someone? I used to live in Nothern Ontario for more than a few years and whenever I visited Toronto and merged from the 400 on to the 401 East, I'd think each and every time: a) "this is pretty high" followed by b) "I would really not want to fall from here."

Needless to say, my thoughts when I’m driving on the highway and stuck in gridlock under an overpass aren’t too dissimilar. If I was alone in that regard before I'm pretty sure I never will be again.

Photo By: Reuters/ Shaun Best

But the worst part for Laval residents? This marks the second collapse of an overpass in six years in the city. Any sense of security on those roads surely crumbled with all that steel and asphalt on Saturday.

That has to be the case for someone like Cameus Menase and his kids. In a Canadian Press story used by The Toronto Star on Sunday, Menase reportedly witnessed the collapse and told reporters that he takes his kids to school across the same overpass every weekday.

If attending school wasn’t difficult enough these past two weeks, how is the ride to school on Monday going to feel for everyone in that car?

Time will pass and eventually people will move on but as a city Laval will probably never forget September 2006.