GOLDSTREAM, B.C. As a memorial for Andre Courtemanche grows at the base of the Niagara waterfalls in Goldstream Park on Thursday afternoon, his family is saying goodbye, one last time. “Today is Andre’s funeral; it’s a heartbreaking day,” said Kirsten Marten, who is the spokesperson for the Courtemanche family. At the same time that the funeral was taking place, the Island Corridor Foundation was having a meeting with West Shore first responders and mental health stakeholders to discuss safety improvements to the Goldstream trestle. “We discussed everything, whether it be barriers, railings, fencing and nets, you know, basically everything was discussed,” said Chief Chris Aubrey of Langford Fire Rescue. “We need to make sure that whatever measures that are put into place are going to be effective.”
VICTORIA A call from the parents of Andre Courtemanche – who took his own life earlier this month at the Goldstream trestle – has been heard by the Island Corridor Foundation and others in the capital region. “Last summer, on July 7, my sister jumped off the Goldstream trestle and she killed herself,” said Vincent Gornall. After Courtemanche took his life the same way in early January, Gornall joined the call for suicide prevention barriers to be constructed along the trestle. “The evidence is particularly strong that for locations like this, which for really awful reasons become magnets for people with suicidal ideation, we can provide proper barriers that prevent people from using those locations and from tragedies to continue happening there,” he said.