The Cree community of Waswanipi declares four days of mourning, in Nord-du-Québec, as it mourns the death of four of its members in the Chapais road tragedy that occurred on Thursday, which also killed a forty-year-old from the region.
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The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) confirms that four of the five victims were from Waswanipi, where they were going aboard the van which was involved in a head-on collision with a van, early in the afternoon on Route 113 , at the eastern entrance to the city.
The driver was a 47-year-old man, accompanied by a 60-year-old female passenger and passengers aged 63 and 69. The victims are Abraham Ottereyes, the driver of the van, as well as patients Allan Etapp, Charlie Gull his wife Cecile Gull.
The van belonged to the regional health department and was transporting patients.
The Coroner’s Office has opened an investigation. The driver of the van, 45, also died from his injuries.
“Terrible tragedy”
This tragedy “left our community in shock and disbelief,” declared Irene Neeposh, chief of the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi, in a press release, announcing four days of mourning “in honor of the lives lost” .
“I ask all residents to take a moment to reflect on the preciousness of life and to express our sympathies to those who are grieving. As we mourn the loss of our members, let us also remember the importance of compassion, empathy and unity,” she added.
It is a “terrible, terrible tragedy,” commented the chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, Ghislain Picard, in an interview with The newspaper.
Messages of sympathy and solidarity have also multiplied, with regard to the victims and the Cree village of around 1,700 souls.
“I know the community is strongly, strongly, [de manière] completely understandable, shaken by the tragedy, so our thoughts today, our prayers, go to the community of Waswanipi,” said Mr. Picard.
It’s the kind of event that leaves scars, he explains.
“Obviously everyone knows each other, yes, but everyone is closely related too, has very, very close family relationships. It’s characteristic of all our communities, so, yes, I think it shakes everyone,” he emphasizes.
Valued citizen
For a reason still unknown, the van would have deviated from its lane and ended up in the opposite direction. A serious fire broke out in the van following the impact. All occupants were pronounced dead at the hospital.
According to our information, the man who was in the pick-up vehicle was Michel Pinet, a resident of Chapais.
“A very friendly young man, working, with a young family… I am really, myself, a little stunned by what is happening,” says the mayor of the municipality, Jacques Fortin.
“He was a guy who was involved in hockey,” who “liked to get involved with young people,” he remembers.
He wonders if weather conditions may have played a role. He said this stretch is not known to be problematic, but it had snowed the night before.
“The path was beautiful, but it was snowy, icy, so we had to be careful,” despite the passage of the snow plow and the spreading of abrasive, according to him.
“[L’accident,] I [ne] don’t explain it to me, because he was a diligent driver, he’s a guy who was normally very safe,” he mentions, claiming to have worked with him in the past at the Ministry of Transport (MTQ).
MTQ employee
Mr. Pinet was team leader in roads and structures for the MTQ, confirmed the public organization, which said it learned the news with “great sadness” while specifying that he was not in office at the time of the facts.
The accident occurred with his personal vehicle. A psychological support unit has been set up for his colleagues and members of his family, spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun said.
According to the ministry, this section is not considered accident-prone. There have been three minor accidents there, from 2018 to 2022.
The SQ confirms that the weather is one of the factors under study. “We are not ruling out any hypothesis,” said Sergeant Hugues Beaulieu.
After last summer’s forest fires, “it’s another tragedy that’s being added” to Chapais, sighs Mayor Fortin. “It sure is terrible.”
Twenty-four hours after the incident, Friday, Route 113 was still closed to allow authorities to complete their investigation. Reconstructionists and fire scene technicians from the SQ went to the site.
At the time of the tragedy, there was dry mist, bitter cold of -14°C and gusts of 39 km/h in the region, according to Environment Canada data.