The BLOOD:
On January 12, 2008, seven high school basketball players
and a coach's wife were killed in a horrific collision near Bathurst, New
Brunswick. The pre-Electronic Stability Control (ESC) 1997 FORD E-350
15-passenger van the team was travelling in collided with a tractor-trailer. On
that stormy winter night, eight people
died: Daniel Hains (age 17), Javier Acevedo (age 17), Codey Branch (age 17),
Nathan Cleland (age 17), Justin Cormier (age 17), Nickolas Quinn (age 16),
Nikki Kelly (age 15) and Beth Lord.
Eight months later, on September 25, 2008, a group of
musicians on a cross-Canada tour were involved in a single vehicle rollover
outside Brandon, Manitoba which resulted in the death of one of the passengers,
Michael Benedetti Gurr (age 26). The five young men were travelling in a pre-ESC 1994 FORD E-350
15-passenger van at the time of the incident.
The TOIL:
Some of the mothers
who had lost their precious sons in the Bathurst tragedy began to
advocate for the safer transportation of students participating in extra- and
co-curricular school activities in New Brunswick. Isabelle Hains, Ana Acevedo
and other parents fought for an inquest and for the resulting Coroner's
recommendations to be implemented in the Province. The 15-passenger vans are
now banned for use in the transport of
students in NB.
In the fall of 2008, Isabelle Hains set up an information
and advocacy website called VAN ANGELS (www.vanangels.ca).
Transport Canada, the provincial jurisdictions, the car
manufacturing industry and the Canadian public were starting to take notice of
the mothers' determination to find answers to their queries, to initiate
positive changes in student and small group transport and to pressure for
government and industry accountability.
On the west coast of Canada, another mother, Stella Gurr was
now venturing down the same hard road as these New Brunswick mothers and also
sought answers and accountability in the death of her son, Michael.
Isabelle and Stella were naturally drawn together by their
painful loss, a commonality of beliefs and the focus to bring the issue to a
national level.
It is now 2013 and the Van Angels' five year battle to ban
15-passenger vans for student and small group travel and provide
public awareness to the inherent dangers of these vehicles has been a
long, difficult and often frustrating journey into the world of government regulators and big business. There have been
many accomplishments along the way and the group has successfully brought the
issue onto the public stage.
The TEARS:
The heartache and tears... always.
