Eva-Rose's mother confides, a year after the death of her little girl swept away by the river

Marie-France Ouellet reviews the images of the afternoon of December 22, 2023 every day. The mother was watching her four-year-old daughter whom she had taken sliding with her little brother on land belonging to the City of Dolbeau-Mistassini, near the Chute des Pères motel. She saw Eva-Rose being swept away by the freezing waters of the Mistassibi River after crossing a portion of the fence that borders the body of water.

A year later, she agreed to speak to the media one last time, feeling indebted to those who supported those around her. The meeting was held in a business in Dolbeau-Mistassini because Marie-France Ouellet wanted to protect the privacy of her family. The gaze of others weighs on her when she goes to public places.

Marie-France Ouellet is the only one to have witnessed her daughter's last moments.

Every time I think about it, it comes back to the event. It's really vicious.

The family navigates this storm by supporting each other even though grief is unique to each person. Marie-France Ouellet, for her part, aspires to remember only memorable memories of her eldest daughter while trying to rebuild herself.

We are all in the same situation, but we have very different reactions.she summarizes.

There isn't a day that goes by when we don't talk about the little one. We think about it, we often cry, she confides, her throat tight with emotion. It's boring to say, but it brought us closer, it made us understand things.

Some days are more difficult than others: Eva-Rose's fifth birthday, Halloween and her first school year that never happened. On the eve of Christmas, Marie-France Ouellet anticipates the moments to come.

She would have liked a beautiful dress that rotated. I remember my daughter with her beautiful spinning dresses, how happy she was. Inevitably, I see her again in the river. All memories are ruined by this eventshe lets fall, sobs in her voice.

What I find most difficult is not shopping for her dress, not making her happy, not shopping for her gifts, not doing pixie shots.

Time for a single slide

Eva-Rose had accompanied her maternal grandmother to work all morning of December 22. The latter had suggested to Marie-France Ouellet to go outside with the little one who had been good.

My God, that didn't tempt me. I suggested DIYremembers the mother.

The mother looked for options to please her daughter who wanted to slide. Snow was becoming rare. She opted for the back of the Chute des Pères motel, where she used to slide when she was younger. The view was beautiful in this area.

My daughter did not surrender [à l’eau]there was a path that was not snow-covered, a valley that would slow her down. I expected her to stop halfway through. It wasn't dangerous. Thirty centimeters further, she would not have fallen into the rivershe explains.

Eva-Rose's first slip was her last.

I would have done those damn DIYs instead.

It is not the sector she chose to slip that eats away at Marie-France Ouellet, but rather the consequences that resulted from it.

I took away this little happiness in the lives of everyone around me.

The biggest guilt I have is towards my father. I feel like I took away his little girl who was everything to him. I feel like I took my daughter away from everyone I love. I feel like I'm hurting people. I feel like a bad person because of what happenedshe said in tears.

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I had no power over the fence. No one would have checked the fence, supposes Marie-France Ouellet. It's there, it's supposed to be maintained, it's supposed to serve a purpose.

The mother remembers every second of the disaster. Her memory only erased the journey between the riverside and the hospital, where she was taken, in shock.

The City put on notice

The day after the tragedy, the famous fence was repaired.

Since then, Eva-Rose Gauthier's family has put the City of Dolbeau-Mistassini on notice on February 26 to claim compensation. The file, which was quickly entrusted to the Municipality's insurers, has still not been resolved. The amount requested by the applicants is unknown.

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Find your daughter

After the tragedy, Marie-France Ouellet wondered for five long months where her daughter could be or if the call in the middle of the night announcing the discovery of her body would wake her up.

We looked for it so hard. We were going to the edge of the river. My father walked along the rocks looking for her without ever knowing where she could be.

Throughout the research, what I wanted was to hold my daughter, rock her, apologize, tell her I love her, sing her song one last time.

Eva-Rose's body was found on May 19 in the Vauvert sector, north of Lac Saint-Jean. His funeral was celebrated on June 7.

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The team at the Marc Leclerc Funeral Complex allowed him to realize his wish to see his daughter one last time.

I didn't see her face, I didn't touch her skin to skin, but I was able to hold her, sing her song one last time. It really soothed me to be able to touch his little hand through the blanket. My daughter was brought back to me.

From that moment on, I started breathing again. Before that, I was constantly on autopilot, I wasn't functional.

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A life never normal again

The summer went relatively well for the trained specialist educator. It was a good period with an increasing slope. The month of August brought an abrupt end to this progression.

My daughter dreamed of going to school. She had been talking to us for over a year about what she would do, what she would learn. She was such a smart little girl. I found it difficult. This year would have been his first return to school.

Marie-France Ouellet learns to live without her daughter.

My life will never be normal again. I will always remain the mother of the little girl who fell into the river.

It's difficult to be the mother I want to be for Arthur. I lack energy. It's difficult, but I do what I canshe notes with great pain.

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Marie-France Ouellet still gives herself the right to dream. She wants to expand her family without ever replacing or forgetting Eva-Rose. She hopes Arthur and his future children will know how exceptional their sister, now among the stars, was.

I continue to talk to him, to teach him things. It has to continue, if it stops completely, I won't make it throughconcludes the mother.