Trudeau lauds responders, community a year after bus crash

HUMBOLDT, Saskatchewan (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday lauded the “courage and professionalism” of first responders and the resilience of the community a year after the fatal bus crash of a junior hockey team.

He said in a statement that while “we cannot forget pictures of the wreckage” that shook all of Canada “what will stay in our hearts forever are images of compassion and strength.”

Trudeau noted the examples of “players clasping hands, united, in the hospital ward; young men learning to stand, walk and take to the ice again,” and “hockey sticks leaned up against thousands of Canadian front doors.”

A memorial service is to be held in the Humboldt arena to remember the 16 people killed and 13 injured. The Humboldt Broncos bus collided with a semi driven by a novice trucker who ran a stop sign at a rural intersection.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer pointed to the outpouring of support from across the country, while expressing his own difficulty making sense of the loss.

“As a parent and a Saskatchewanian, I still find myself without adequate words to capture how this tragedy has been felt by our province, and our nation,” he said in a statement.

He added: “A year may have dulled the sharpness of the pain, but no passage of time can change the depth of our sorrow.”