With white flags, Quebec daycares show solidarity with Laval community after fatal crash

When Georgia Haloulos got to work at the Hellenique Ta Pedakia daycare in Montreal Thursday, she knew she had to put on a smile despite the heaviness of knowing two children had died in a Laval daycare the previous day when the building was rammed by a bus.

“Whether it’s in one daycare or another, we’re all teachers, we all feel the same. Kids are our priority and we love what we do,” she said.

“We want to make sure we send them back home happy, that they’ve had a great day, they’ve been educated, they had fun, they played with their friends. You make sure they go home safe. No one wants to call a parent or let a parent hear that. The thought gives us chills.”

Haloulos is still trying to process what happened while knowing she can’t bring those difficult emotions to work, as the children “don’t need the stress,” she said. For Haloulos, being around children and playing helps her take her mind off the tragic news.

“When we leave the premises, it’s a different story.”

© Charles Contant/CBC Georgia Haloulos says she has to put on a brave face to make sure the children she cares for feel safe at their daycare.

Her colleague, Jihad Rhoualemi, an educator for the three- to four-year-old age group, said she couldn’t sleep Wednesday night. She said she cried non-stop, thinking about the two children who were killed — and how their parents must be feeling.

“Say we’re outside, we’re taking a walk, an accident can happen like a kid can fall or someone tries to kidnap, we’re there and we’re vigilant. That’s our job,” she said through tears.

“But a bus that drives right through a wall and kills babies, kills children trapped under the bus…”

Rhoualemi says she wants parents and educators in Laval to know she and her colleagues stand in solidarity with them. But she says she and her colleagues just have to keep going, because incidents like these are rare, unpredictable and can’t be prevented.

“We are trying to breathe, tell ourselves it already happened, we’re trying to be calm and not showing anything to our kids today,” she said.

“I put on some music this morning, they danced and sang like usual, we didn’t change anything. We’re doing our best for the kids’ safety, that’s all we can do.”

© Charles Contant/CBC Jihad Rhoualemi said she couldn’t sleep Wednesday night thinking about the two children who were killed in Laval.

The Réseau des services à la petite enfance de l’Est du Québec urged people to hang white flags in front of daycares across the province. At least 10 participated.

Samir Alahmad, president of the Private Daycare Association of Quebec, said he has never faced anything like Wednesday’s attack and hopes he never has to again.

“What we got yesterday is news no one wants to get, we are devastated. It’s tragic when something happens to kids. What happened yesterday, there are no words to describe it,” he said.

But he says daycares in Quebec are very safe, and “there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do to prevent things like this,” which he says is heartbreaking.

“Daycare should be the safest place you put your kid. Can you imagine, you leave your kid in the morning and receive this phone call,” he said.

“We’re speechless, we are powerless in front of what happened.”

Quebec’s minister of families, Suzanne Roy, said she spoke to educators and workers who were in action to support the children in their daycares. She said that despite their own distress, workers still put the children and their families first.

“They were shocked and emotional, but wanted to be there for the kids who were still there and worried parents coming to pick up their children.”

She said psychosocial support for daycare workers is available.