A ghost shoes memorial was held on Saturday in the Plateau-Mount-Royal borough, after a young man was fatally struck by a public transit bus.
At the intersection of Saint-Denis Street and Rigaud Street, a candle, a blue rose and a pair of white shoes lay as friends and family gathered to pay respects and honour a life lost with a plaque dedicated to the memory of Zachary Laferte-Landry.
“We do this to inform public opinion, but also the city councillors about the unsafe conditions pedestrians and cyclists have to face daily on the streets of Montreal,” said Sophie Lavoie with Ghost Shoes and Bicycles Quebec, the group who organized the memorial.
The 18-year-old loved hockey and had just moved to the city from the Magdalen Islands to pursue studies at the Cégep du Vieux Montréal.
Lavoie said Laferte-Landry’s story is one that is heard far too often.
“The issue doesn’t only concern Montreal. It concerns everyone in Quebec. There are children. There are elderly people who die every year, and the answer we receive as citizens, as pedestrians, is like, ‘well, it happens.’
The memorial comes just one day after a woman was killed in a collision with a pickup truck at the intersection of Papineau Avenue and Cremazie Boulevard.
Ghost Shoes and Bicycles Quebec said they will continue their advocacy work until Montreal’s streets are safer for all.”