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Colleagues of drowned Montreal firefighter recall the moment their boat capsized

Published

2 years ago

November 22, 2022

MONTREAL — A Montreal firefighter told a coroner’s inquest on Tuesday of his desperate search to stay afloat and find his colleagues in the churning waters of the Lachine Rapids after the boat carrying them capsized during a rescue attempt.

Robin Brunet-Paiement said he knew that he and his colleagues were in dangerous waters when they pulled up to a stalled boat with two people aboard on Oct. 17, 2021 — though he hadn’t realized how far into the rapids they had gone.

He told the inquest into the drowning death of his colleague Pierre Lacroix that he was trying to manoeuvre the craft to a steadier position when he felt a wave hit. Their boat collided with the pleasure craft, and he saw water coming toward him. The next thing he knew, he was underneath the overturned HammerHead rescue boat.

“My memory is I found myself on the ceiling (of the boat),” he said. “The lights lit the boat and I saw pebbles at the bottom of the water.”

Coroner Géhane Kamel is presiding over hearings that are scheduled to last two weeks at the courthouse in Joliette, Que., about 75 kilometres northeast of Montreal. She told the firefighters her goal is not to assign blame but rather to prevent future tragedies.

Brunet-Paiement managed to pull himself out and climb on top of the flipped boat, yelling for his colleagues. Fellow firefighter Michael Maillé climbed up next to him, but they were soon both swept away by another wave, he testified.

He said eventually, as he was fighting for breath in the water, he managed to grab hold of his other colleague, François Rabouin, who was in bad shape.

“I told him I wouldn’t leave him, that we would finish this together,” he said.

Eventually, they made their way to the pleasure boat, which had not capsized, and were pulled aboard by the two occupants. Later, he directed a rescue boat to a light in the water, hoping it was his two remaining missing colleagues.

A short time later, that boat returned, but just one of the remaining missing firefighters was aboard.

“It was then I understood Pierre was dead,” he said.

Maillé told the inquest that he was the only one of the four who wasn’t initially trapped under the boat. He said he saw Brunet-Paiement and Rabouin emerge, but not Lacroix.

Maillé told the inquiry that he was able to get off a first “mayday” call before he was swept off the boat’s hull into the water.

Rabouin, for his part, said he never saw Lacroix after the boat capsized. By the time he escaped from under the boat, he was exhausted and disoriented and convinced he was going to die, he said.

His last memory of his friend, he said, was on the boat in the final chaotic minutes as the wave hit. Lacroix was trying to lift his collar to keep the water out of his raincoat, and the two shared a look.

“He was still smiling,” he said.

Stéphanie Lacroix, Pierre Lacroix’s daughter, addressed each of the firefighters at the conclusion of their testimony. In a tearful exchange, she told Brunet-Paiement and Rabouin she’d known them since she was a young girl, and didn’t want them to blame themselves.

“I will love you unconditionally until the end of my life,” she told them.

Earlier Tuesday, Lt. Sylvain Dominique of the Montreal fire department testified that despite an extensive effort from the water, shore and air, rescuers did not look under the capsized HammerHead boat in the initial hours after the accident.

Dominique, who was working at a command post from shore, told the inquest that the capsized rescue boat was located within an hour of the accident but was stuck at the bottom of the river and couldn’t immediately be flipped over.

He says he directed search teams to ignore the boat and instead focus on searching the open water for Lacroix because he believed the firefighter was likely already dead if he was trapped beneath it.

“Given the time that had elapsed, if Pierre was under the boat there was nothing we could do,” he said.

It was only at about 3 a.m. — some seven and a half hours after the accident — that a Montreal police underwater camera determined that Lacroix’s body was pinned beneath the capsized boat.

Dominique told the inquiry that he wasn’t aware that Montreal police possessed underwater cameras capable of looking under the boat’s hull. Had he known, he would have asked for them, he said.

Later, he told a lawyer for Quebec’s workplace health and safety board that he felt the nautical squad lacks proper equipment, including proper maps, and waterproof radios and personal GPS trackers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2022.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

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Canada coach Jesse Marsch continues to give youth its due ahead of Panama game

Published

5 hours ago

October 2, 2024

Anne Joseph

Canada coach Jesse Marsch continues to give youth its due, handing Jamie Knight-Lebel, Santiago Lopez and Kwasi Poku their first senior call-ups for the October international window.

The Canadian men, currently ranked 38th in the world by FIFA, face No. 37 Panama on Oct. 15 at Toronto’s BMO Field in their first home outing since their fourth-place finish at Copa America in July.

The Panama game serves as prep for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal second leg, scheduled for Nov. 19 at BMO Field. And while a friendly, it has implications for the CONCACAF rankings, which play a role in the quarterfinal draw.

The Canadians have leapfrogged the United States into second spot behind Mexico in the CONCACAF ratings, which are different from the FIFA rankings. Panama sits fourth.

The Canadian team is holding a camp in Montreal ahead of the Toronto friendly with an open training session planned for Oct. 9 at Saputo Stadium. Players will also be visiting local youth soccer clubs.

“This is the people’s team,” Marsch said in a virtual availability from Austria. “And we want people to feel like that. We want the public and the community to feel like that. We want them to be able to touch and see and feel their players. And then we hope that this will generate more and more energy for what we want to become in 2026 (at the World Cup).”

Marsch is planning expanded training time in camp, given his team has just the Panama game during the October window. Canada Soccer said it was unable to find another opponent, citing “the global competition schedule.”

Seventeen of the 26 players called into the Canada camp are 25 or younger with goalkeeper Max Crepeau (30) and midfielder Jonathan Osorio (32) the elder statesmen of the group.

Knight-Lebel and Lopez are both 19, while Poku is 21. All three are Canadian youth internationals.

There is also a recall for Zorhan Bassong. The 25-year-old defender, who has made 19 MLS appearances for Sporting Kansas City this season, won his two senior Canada caps under John Herdman in January 2020.

Marsch noted there had been interest from Wales in Knight-Lebel, who has a Canadian father and Welsh mother. Born in Montreal, Knight-Lebel was five when family moved to England.

“We felt like this was a good chance to get him into camp and expose him to what we’re doing,” said Marsch. “And then see how he responds.”

The roster also features 18-year-old Fulham defender Luc de Fougerolles, 20-year-old Nathan Saliba and 21-year-old Niko Sigur.

Knight-Lebel, currently on loan from Bristol City to Crew Alexandra in the English fourth tier, and Poku, who joined Belgium’s Molenbeek from Forge FC in a Canadian Premier League record transfer in August, have both made four appearances for the national under-20 team, helping Canada reach the knockout stage at the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

Lopez scored six goals in seven appearances at the U-20 level internationally, finishing the 2024 CONCACAF U-20 Championship as joint-leading scorer.

Marsch debuted uncapped midfielders Niko Sigur (Hadjuk Split, Croatia) and Saliba (CF Montreal) and forward Stephen Afrifa (Sporting Kansas City) in the September window when Canada drew No. 17 Mexico 0-0 and beat the 18th-ranked U.S. 2-1 in Arlington, Texas, and Kansas City respectively.

Marsch’s camp roster this time features 12 MLS players including Saliba, Jonathan Sirois and Joel Waterman from CF Montreal, Sam Adekugbe and Ali Ahmed from the Vancouver Whitecaps and Osorio and Richie Laryea from Toronto FC.

Marsch expects to trim his roster ahead of the Panama game.

The Canadians are 5-2-6 against Panama, with the most recent result a 2-0 win for Canada in 2023 CONCACAF Nations League semifinal play.

Marsch said fullback Alistair Johnston (back) and midfielder Ismael Koné (ankle) are rehabbing injuries. Veteran defender Kamal Miller and midfielder Samuel Piette were not called up this time so as to allow room for young talent.

—

Canada Roster

Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United (MLS).

Defenders: Sam Adekugbe, Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Zorhan Bassong, Sporting Kansas City (MLS); Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Derek Cornelius, Olympique Marseille (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Luc de Fougerolles, Fulham (England); Jamie Knight-Lebel, Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Joel Waterman CF Montreal (MLS).

Midfielders: Ali Ahmed, Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Nathan Saliba, CF Montreal (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).

Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Santiago Lopez, UNAM Pumas (Mexico); Liam Millar, Hull City FC (England); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS); Kwasi Poku, RWD Molenbeek (Belgium); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS).

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

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Constantini picks up second upset at Grand Slam opener with win over Homan

Published

5 hours ago

October 2, 2024

Anne Joseph

CHARLOTTETOWN – Italian skip Stefania Constantini scored her second big upset of the HearingLife Tour Challenge with a 6-4 win over defending Canadian and world women’s champion Rachel Homan in Wednesday’s second draw.

Constantini pulled ahead 3-2 with two points in the fifth end, then followed with a steal of one in the sixth end and two in the seventh.

That left Homan needing four points in the eighth and final end to draw level, and she fell short with a deuce.

Constantini’s win at the triple-elimination debut event of the Grand Slam of Curling season followed a 6-4 victory over four-time Canadian champion Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., on Tuesday.

It was a rare loss for Homan, whose Ottawa-based foursome was coming off a title at last week’s PointsBet Invitational in Calgary.

Einarson rebounded with a 7-4 win over Delaney Strouse in Wednesday’s second draw. It was the second loss for the American skip, who was defeated 9-3 by Homan on Tuesday.

In other results from Wednesday’s second draw, Sweden’s Isabella Wrana edged Edmonton’s Selena Sturmay 8-7 and South Korea’s Gim Eun-Ji beat Switzerland’s Xenia Schwaller 7-4.

In men’s action from Wednesday’s morning draw, Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller downed Scotland’s Cameron Bryce 10-3, Switzerland’s Michael Brunner defeated Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 6-5, James Craik of Scotland beat American John Shuster 7-5 and Brad Jacobs’s Calgary-based team beat Scotland’s Ross Whyte 7-3.

Two more draws were scheduled for later on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

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Los Angeles Kings begin taxpayer-subsidized NHL pre-season road trip in Quebec City

Published

5 hours ago

October 2, 2024

Anne Joseph

QUEBEC – The Los Angeles Kings have arrived in Quebec City to kick off the final stretch of their NHL training camp, in a trip that’s buoyed by millions of dollars in public money.

The team practised today at the Vidéotron Centre, where they’ll face off in exhibition play against the Boston Bruins on Thursday and the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Saturday.

The Quebec government has drawn criticism for agreeing to spend an estimated $5 to $7 million subsidizing the event.

Kings president Luc Robitaille declined to say how much money the team is getting, but told a news conference today that being paid for trips is part of the team’s business model and helps cover travel, hotels, and player salaries.

He says the team will also give back while it’s in Quebec City by visiting a hospital, hosting hockey clinics with children and donating 400 sets of hockey equipment to local organizations.

The office of Finance Minister Eric Girard said this week that the public money will help absorb the expected deficit of the management company hosting the event, and is also intended to help showcase Quebec City as capable of hosting a major league sports franchise.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

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