Digital signage with the message "Dauphin Strong" is seen outside city hall in Dauphin, Man., on Saturday, June 17, 2023. Church services are to offer residents of Dauphin, Man., solace today as they mourn 15 community members who died in a highway crash that also left 10 gravely injured.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
DAUPHIN, Man. – Residents of a city in western Manitoba sought solace at church services Sunday – lighting candles, wiping away tears and offering prayers – as they mourned 15 community members who died in a bus crash that also left 10 gravely injured.
Father Brent Kuzyk of St. George’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Dauphin dedicated part of his liturgy to victims of the crash between a transport truck and a minibus.
The bus was carrying a group of seniors from Dauphin and the surrounding area to a casino near the town of Carberry, some 190 kilometres away.
Churchgoers lit candles and sang hymns. A few wiped tears from their eyes with tissues.
Many knew the victims, as some were members of the church.
“It’s a tragedy everyone must deal with together,” said Kuzyk.
“We shall meet the sadness, meet the devastation, meet the horror head-on and meet the questioning head-on, because there is no way to get around it. There is … no way to deny it. There is no way to run from it.
“People of faith, of strength, never run. We meet everything head-on.”
Those who died will live forever in people’s memories and in spirit, he said.
“Many have fallen asleep from this life, they are not gone.”
A board member at St. George’s Place, a retirement home where three victims lived, stood during the service and offered his condolences.
Another parishioner, Rona Kamfoly, said she knew some of those who died as they went to dances together.
“Sometimes you think about a person and then they’re gone,” she said.
“Time is going to heal – that’s how I look at it.”
The church was among many places of worship in the city of 8,600 that addressed the tragedy during their regular Sunday services.
Deacon Frances Stewart of St. Paul’s Anglican Church said before her service that she planned to offer a moment of silence for those who died.
It’s a time to offer comfort and be compassionate as people grieve, she said.
“As Christians, we have this wonderful hope, this wonderful promise of the life to come. But at this stage, the important thing is to just get through the first few days and then to be there for the months and years to come.”
RCMP continued to investigate Thursday’s fiery crash. Mounties have said the truck was travelling east on the Trans-Canada Highway when the southbound minibus crossed at an intersection.
As of Friday, investigators had not yet spoken with the driver of the bus, who remained in hospital along with the nine other survivors. Shared Health said in a statement Sunday that their conditions remained the same.
Kuzyk said he spent the last few days praying with people at seniors complexes where some of the victims lived.
“Simply being able to verbalize whatever they’re feeling always helps,” he said. “Since it’s such a small community, everyone knew someone on that bus or even had relatives on the bus.”
Coming together, praying for those who died, then burying them is part of the healing process, he said.
“When we begin to heal, we gain strength, we begin to understand and then we get to prepare our lives for the next step.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2023.
