An ‘incredibly emotional’ remembrance marks the fifth anniversary of the Yonge Street van attack in North York

More than 100 family, friends and community members gathered for an “incredibly emotional” afternoon in North York on Sunday to honour the legacy of the people killed and injured five years ago in the Yonge Street van attack.

A solemn moment of silence moved some to tears as the names of the 11 people who died in the April 23, 2018 attack were read out: Renuka Amarasingha, Andrea Bradden, Geraldine Brady, Sohe Chung, Anne Marie D’Amico, Chul Min “Eddie” Kang, Ji Hun Kim, Betty Forsyth, Munir Najjar and Dorothy Sewell. Amaresh Tesfamariam, 65, was one of the 16 who was injured in the attack and who later died of her injuries on Oct. 28, 2021.

The commemoration began with speeches from Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie, Coun. Lily Cheng, and faith leaders in the community. There were also performances including songs and poems from community members — all with messages of hope and resilience.

Family members of Anne Marie D’Amico were among the crowd and said April 23 is an “incredibly emotional” reminder for them that takes them back to the tragic day.

“We find the more people you can have rallying around you or supporting you, the more we feel that it helps us kind of move forward,” Nick D’Amico, Anne Marie’s brother, said Sunday.

Nick shared that it was a feeling of complete and utter shock when he found out about the van attack.

“I was thinking back to (the Humboldt bus crash) because it was shortly before this happened. I was thinking, ‘How could something like that happen in our city?’ And then to realize that it happened to someone you love, someone you care about — it’s devastating,” he said.

The family, wearing matching purple sweaters on Sunday, created the Anne Marie D’Amico Foundation in December 2018 to honour her and carry on her legacy of kindness, positivity and to spread awareness about domestic violence. Nick said his sister’s memory lives on through the foundation.

“When I go see her at the cemetery, I see her face on the tombstone. It kind of brings me back to the person that she is,” Nick said. “She’s evolved into this incredible thing in this powerful charity that we’ve started. That’s what she is for me and for my family.”

Cheng, also the co-founder of We Love Willowdale community group formed after the tragedy, thanked the D’Amico family for continuing to carry the light through the foundation and inspiring others.

Following the commemoration service held at a Cineplex theatre on Yonge Street, dozens of attendees — including first responders, elected officials and mayoral candidates — made paper boats they carried across the street to release in the reflecting pool at Mel Lastman Square.

Cheng guided the procession and urged a thought or prayer for the victims as the little paper boats, bearing LED lights, were released to reflect light and hope.

Cheng said it felt surreal that Sunday marked five years since the tragedy, and that the community wanted the victims’ families to know their loved ones have not been forgotten.

“Sometimes when you have an incredible loss of someone you love, it can feel like the whole world’s moved on — and we want them to know that our community stands with them,” said Cheng who represents the neighbourhood where the attack took place.

“It was unfathomable then, and still shocking now, to think how our innocence as a community and as a city was lost,” said Cheng.

While people remain heartbroken over the tragedy, McKelvie said it was wonderful to see the community come together to hold a memorial and remember those who were lost.

“We’re all saddened that we are having to hold such a solemn occasion, but yet we’re also uplifted with how everybody has come together with the spirit of remembering those lives that were lost,” McKelvie told reporters.

Paper hearts were also strung on railings at Mel Lastman Square where attendees could write messages of condolences and hope.

North York Arts executive director Christina Giannelia said the collaborative art installation, Toronto Love Project, was started after the attack by Toronto artist Berene Campbell. Campbell and North York Arts invited quilters around the world to help by making colourful banners “stitched with messages of hope, peace and love.”

“I think that through art and through words and through colour can come inspiration and hope from something tragic,” Giannelia said.

A city committee is in the process of receiving proposals for a permanent memorial to remember the victims.

Alek Minassian was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.

He claimed at his trial to be angered by women who wouldn’t sleep with him and to have been radicalized on the internet. The presiding judge found he carried out the van attack to achieve notoriety.

Minassian was sentenced to life in prison last year with no possibility of parole for 25 years. He’s appealing his conviction.

Following Sunday’s commemoration, pizza, snacks and drinks donated from local restaurants served to those who came out to remember and honour the victims.

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