The chief coroner of Quebec orders the holding of a public inquiry into the fire that killed two people last Friday in Old Montreal. The investigation could also be combined with that of the fire at Place d’Youville, which caused seven victims.
Coroner Géhane Kamel will chair the investigation. She will be assisted in her efforts by prosecutor Pierre-Olivier Bilodeau. The announcement follows the request of the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel. The latter had called for a public inquiry in the hours following this fire during which a mother and her seven-year-old daughter died.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Géhane Kamel
In a press release, the chief coroner, Me Reno Bernier, explains that Me Kamel will also chair the investigation into the fire that occurred in a building on Place d’Youville on March 16, 2023 and which left seven dead, since it concerns “similar facts” to those targeted by the new investigation.
The coroner could then decide to group them “according to the progress of the files”, Minister Bonnardel’s office indicated on Tuesday, welcoming the fact that the two investigations will be chaired “by the same coroner”, who will thus have a global understanding of the facts.
A public coroner’s inquest has already been requested into the fire at the Place d’Youville building in 2023. However, it has not yet started. Ultimately, it is the coroner’s office which will decide whether the two tragedies should be the subject of a joint investigation. In any case, it will not be able to start until the police investigation is concluded.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The building on Place d’Youville where a fire killed seven people in March 2023,
“The terms of the investigation and hearings will be established in accordance with the law, taking care not to undermine the ongoing legal process in these two cases. The investigation will make it possible to formulate, if necessary, recommendations in order to avoid other deaths in similar circumstances,” Mr.e Bernier, who will not make any further comments to preserve the independence of the process.
In opposition to Montreal city hall, we are already stamping our feet. “We are still awaiting the start of the investigation into the fire at Place d’Youville announced more than a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, these investigations will not be able to begin until the criminal investigations are completed. We cannot wait for one more fatal fire before shedding light on these tragedies,” says Councilor Abdelhaq Sari.
He demands that the Plante administration mandate the City’s Auditor General to investigate the processes for issuing transformation permits granted and the compliance inspections of work carried out in buildings built before 1940, among others in the Ville-District district. Married.