Five years later: Memories of devastating Toronto van attack live on for community

'Some people remember like it was yesterday and for some it feels distant.'

TORONTO — On the first unseasonably warm day of the year, a bustling area in north Toronto sees a variety of pedestrians out enjoying the sun: mothers push strollers, teens leaving school chat in groups and office workers in suits gather outside for their lunch breaks.

There are few visible signs that the deadliest attack in Toronto’s history — and one of Canada’s worst mass murders — took place on this stretch of Yonge Street on a similarly sunny day five years ago, when a man deliberately drove a rented van down a busy sidewalk on April 23, 2018.

In a local park, a modest plaque provides one small reminder of the rampage that left 10 dead and 16 injured that day. A permanent city memorial is still in the works.

For some who live and work in the area, however, memories of the attack remain vivid in their minds.

“Every time I work around here, every time I crosswalk, I always remind myself, maybe I’ve got to be careful before I start walking,” says Jiyong Lee, who lives in the neighbourhood and works at a butcher shop on the attack route.

“That’s what I have in my head every time I work here and walking around here. I cannot get rid of it.”

Lee remembers the day clearly.

He had stepped out of a subway station after attending classes at Seneca College to find covered bodies on the street and a stretch of road closed by police.