Jannaï Dopwell-Bailey rests as calls to tackle crime grow in Montreal – Montreal

Jannaï Dopwell-Bailey’s family and friends carried him to his final resting place on Friday.

Dozens of people attended a memorial service for the teenager at St Paul’s Anglican Church in his Côte-des-Neiges area.

It celebrates his love for family, for friends and for life.

“What a sense of humour he has. He’s definitely going to be acting. He has a lot of potential; He is capable of doing great things. What a person,” said Kevin George, Dopwell Bailey’s cousin and godfather.

“He loves dancing and rapping. Always cheerful and full of energy – a peaceful person that brings people together. He’s the soul of the group and at the same time an idiot. ”

But Dopwell-Bailey’s memorial is also a painful reminder of how all that potential and life ended so suddenly and so violently.

Dopwell-Bailey was stabbed to death in front of his school in Côte-des-Neiges last month after an altercation broke out between a group of teenagers.

He was only 16 years old.

Another teenager was arrested and charged.

Dopwell-Bailey’s aunt says she’d like to see the government do more than just bring in more police and really address the underlying causes of the growing violence among young people in the city.

“This is unacceptable, these are children being killed,” said Onica John.

“We also recently had a kidnapping, a shooting at a school, another (act) of school violence. This shouldn’t have happened.”

John was referring to the recent murder of another 16-year-old in front of the school.

Thomas Trudel was shot dead in front of Joseph François Perrault High School in the Saint-Michel neighborhood on Sunday night.

On Tuesday, Laval police arrested a suspect and charged him with assault and conspiracy to kidnap another teenager in front of Curé-Antoine-Labelle High School in Laval’s Sainte-Rose district, an incident relating to a gun.

“These are kids, they’re doing childish things, not playing with guns and knives,” John said.

Both city and provincial governments say they are doing everything they can to control guns, but they cannot do it alone.

Mayors from across Quebec have come together through the Union of Quebec Cities (UMQ) to push the federal government to enact stricter gun laws and control the arms trade at the border.

“The autonomous cities of Quebec, especially in the major urban centers, are facing an increase in acts of violence involving firearms. The recent tragic events in Montreal demonstrate once again the urgency with which the federal government must intervene strongly to fight crime. We must protect our population. It is not negotiable,” said Daniel Côté, mayor of Gaspé and president of UMQ.

The federal government says it is working on a gun ban.

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Vigil honors the life of a 16-year-old stabbing victim in Montréal