Canadians step up in the face of horror

Canadians were shocked and saddened by two horrific events in April in very different parts of the country, which left 26 people dead and 29 seriously injured.

But despite the differences in location and cause of the suffering and deaths, I couldn’t help but notice that the response, whether it emerged in Saskatchewan or downtown Toronto and then spread across the country, seemed quintessentially Canadian.

In early April, a bus full of young hockey players — the Humboldt Broncos — coaches, trainers and a sportscaster crashed into a loaded transport truck on a lonely stretch of highway in central Saskatchewan. Sixteen people died, 13 were injured.

The classic Canadian road trip: a small-town hockey team on its way to another small town for a game that everyone in both towns was excited about. Thousands of such road trips are taken across the country every winter.

Just over two weeks later, an addled young man aimed a van down a busy Toronto sidewalk. Within minutes, 10 people lay dead, 16 seriously injured. Why would you not walk down the sidewalk in the spring sunshine? Why would you ever expect that you would be cruelly mowed down? This is Canada after all. In both cases and despite not knowing what they were heading into, people at the scene rushed to help.

On the road from Humboldt to Nipawin, people jumped out of their cars and rushed to the crash site. Farming families in nearby houses ran over with blankets and whatever else they thought might help. At one point more than 80 people were attending to the mangled bodies of the dead and injured. According to Jessica Brost, an EMS responder, front-line workers were joined by administrators and desk jockeys who normally don’t attend such incidents.

In Toronto, complete strangers rushed to help the people lying in the street. Shanna Han saw it happen from her window and rushed down to comfort Eddie Kang. But he died on the sidewalk. Roula Massin tried to revive Dorothy Sewell but she, too, took her last breath as she lay on the sidewalk.

And that Toronto cop, Ken Lam! What authority he exuded while confronting a person who had just killed 10 people. I can still hear his controlled, barking voice. See him move ever so carefully to turn off the police car siren. Holster his gun and then forcefully take the suspect to the ground.

As the days passed after each incident and it became clear what had happened, people mourned for the dead rather than openly seek vengeance on the arrested driver of the van in Toronto or the truck driver who walked away from the crash near Nipawin.

All of that will be dealt with in good time.

And then there was the crowd funding. A fund started by a Humboldt hair stylist raised $15 million for the community and families of the Broncos. In less than a week, $1.5 million was raised for the victims of the Toronto mass murder.

Canadians are often prone to wondering just what it is that holds this vast, cold, sparsely populated and multicul- tural country together. Can people in Vancouver possibly have a lot in common with people in Regina? Do people in northern Manitoba ever see themselves in people in P.E.I.?

When I look at the photo of the Humboldt Broncos taken only days before the crash, they all look so young and excited.

An apparently all-white team, glowing with pride, their hair bleached for the playoffs. Seventeen and 18-year-old guys with their whole lives in front of them.

How different from the photos of the dead and injured in Toronto. So many women, so many colours, ages, ethnicities and reasons for being on the sidewalk at that particular time.

Yet all these people, from Humboldt to Toronto, all their tragedies and triumphs, are part of the Canadian story.

And despite all the differences from one part of the country to another, both devastating incidents have made it clear that Canadians from east to west are quick to step up for one another no matter the risk.