1 year later, Quebec City remembers victims of horrific Halloween stabbing attacks
CBC
Quebec City residents are invited to commemorate the victims of the fatal stabbing that happened last Halloween in the city's historic district on Sunday afternoon.
The ceremony, organized by the city, will take place at three different locations where the attacks occurred.
"Together we will remember these people who lost their lives or were injured in this murderous craze," said Quebec's outgoing mayor, Régis Labeaume, in a statement.
François Duchesne, 56, and Suzanne Clermont, 61, were killed on Oct. 31, 2020 when a man dressed in medieval clothing attacked them with a sword. The man wounded five more people that night.
Carl Girouard, 25, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder. His trial is set to start in December.
A temporary memorial honouring the victims will be set up in front of city hall. A permanent one is planned for Place d'Armes, a well-known square in the centre of Old Quebec, in the spring of 2022.
Labeaume will give a speech and hold a minute of silence at city hall at 1 p.m. Sunday, before walking to a space dedicated to Clermont on des Remparts Street with Quebec City's police chief, Denis Turcotte, and the families of the victims.
The group will then head to Place d'Armes to pay tribute to Duchesne.
The victims' favourite songs will be playing at each location.
Clermont's husband, Jacques Fortin, will not be present. He told Radio-Canada that he decided to spend the anniversary of her death in Paris front of the Eiffel Tower, a monument he says she adored.
"We travelled, we laughed, we ate well," Fortin said. "We were an ordinary happy couple and then this tragedy changed everything."
Duchesne's family declined to do interviews with the media, but told Radio-Canada that the commemorative ceremony means a lot to them.
"The world is a lot less beautiful without François, to cherish his memory in the heart of the city he loved so much, gives it back some colours," said his sister Marie-Josée Duchesne in a written statement to Radio-Canada.
"All the gestures and the showings of solidarity, small or big, mean a lot and we are very receptive and grateful for them."
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