CORNWALL, Ontario – Like many communities across the country, Cornwall grieves with Humboldt, Saskatchewan.
It has been nearly a week since 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos team were tragically killed when their bus crashed into a tractor trailer while en-route to a game in Nipawin.
Since that day, an outpouring of support has spread across the country and around the world for this community that lost so many of its young people.
In Cornwall, local schools, businesses and even us here at the Cornwall Seaway News participated in Jersey Day on April 12 in solidarity with Humboldt.
Local hockey mom Tracy Trudell remarked that she was touched by seeing signs of respect at sympathy, even on the other side of the border. She stated that when she passed through customs at the point of entry near Cornwall, on the American side, there were hockey sticks resting against the building in memory of those who lost their lives in the crash.
Tracy has a teenaged daughter who plays for the girls Typhoons hockey team and they had recently traveled, by bus, to play a game in Timmins, ON.
“I can’t imagine what those parents are going through,” she said. “Putting her on the bus now is so scary. It definitely touched home.”
Tracy’s eight-year-old son Carson made a memorial cross out of two hockey sticks that he says he will place in his family’s yard in remembrance of the Humboldt Broncos.
The same story of support played out across the United Counties of SD&G.
“All of us were deeply saddened by the tragedy in Saskatchewan, particularly as many of us have spent countless hours on buses travelling to hockey games and other sporting events,” said Chris McDonell, Mayor of the Township of North Glengarry.
McDonell has ordered that the Canadian flag outside the township office be lowered to half-mast out of respect for Humboldt, Saskatchewan.
