One year later: Parents, first responders on coping with trauma after deadly Laval daycare bus crash

Steps from a daycare in Laval, Que., a memorial for four-year-old Jacob Gauthier remains one year after he was tragically killed when a city bus plowed into the building's front entrance.

Steps from a daycare in Laval, Que., a memorial for four-year-old Jacob Gauthier remains one year after he was tragically killed when a city bus plowed into the building's front entrance.

The memorial, set up by the preschooler's mother, is filled with small stones hand painted by the children at the Garderie éducative Sainte-Rose, north of Montreal, with personal messages like "I miss you" and "I love you."

A sign overhead reads: "When words are not enough. May these small stone steps take you as far as our love carries you."

Thursday marks one year since Gauthier and four-year-old Maëva David were both killed in the crash that shocked the country and left a devastating hole in the lives of two families.

The families of the children who survived the tragedy are also still grappling with the trauma.

Sébastien Courtois recalled how he first learned of the crash when he got a frantic call from his wife on Feb. 8, 2023, about 20 minutes after dropping off his son, Jules Courtois, at the daycare. At first, he couldn't understand how the crash could have even happened, since the road was so far away from the entrance of the daycare.

His wife arrived there before he did and called him, saying she couldn't locate their son. She told him he was likely killed by the bus that tore through the front of the building. She was screaming so much, he had to hang up the phone.