PHOTOS: The aftermath of the murders of two 16-year-olds in Montreal

Vigils for Jannai Dopwell-Bailey and Thomas Trudel reveal how similar these tragedies are despite how differently our elected officials reacted to them.

Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, a 16-year-old boy, was fatally stabbed outside of his high school in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood of Montreal on Oct. 18. Less than a month later, another 16-year-old boy named Thomas Trudel was shot and killed in Saint-Michel. Trudel’s death received a significant amount of attention from elected officials and Dopwell-Bailey’s did not. Premier François Legault laid flowers at a makeshift memorial for Trudel and Mayor Valérie Plante held a news conference. Dopwell-Bailey’s family invited Mayor Valérie Plante to Jannai’s vigil and she did not respond. Neither of them have even tweeted about Dopwell-Bailey. Premier Legault infamously denies the existence of systemic racism in Quebec but when comparing our elected officials’ reactions to these murders… I think it is fair to ask, is he blind to systemic racism or a willing participant in perpetuating it?

The following photos were taken by Thomas Quinn at a vigil for Jannai Dopwell-Bailey on Oct. 22 outside of Dopwell-Bailey’s Côte-des-Neiges high school in Montreal.

Charla Dopwell, Jannai Dopwell-Bailey’s mother

Tyrese Dopwell-Bailey, Jannai Dopwell-Bailey’s older brother, holds Jannai’s friend as he struggles to speak. On the far left, then-mayor of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-De-Grâce Sue Montgomery, one of the only elected officials in attendance.

Jannai Dopwell-Bailey’s friends console each other. Tyrese Dopwell-Bailey, Jannai’s older brother, is crying while livestreaming the vigil on Instagram.

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The following photos were taken by Thomas Quinn on Nov. 20 at a march in Thomas Trudel’s memory. There was a makeshift memorial at the site in Saint-Michel where Trudel was shot and killed on Nov. 14.

A man holds a sign displaying Meriem Boundaoui, Jannai Dopwell-Bailey and Thomas Trudel at the “No to violence and weapons” march in Thomas Trudel’s memory. Boundaoui was a 15-year-old girl who was killed in a drive-by shooting in the borough of St-Leonard last February.

Two women hold a sign displaying Meriem Boundaoui, Jannai Dopwell-Bailey and Thomas Trudel at the “No to violence and weapons” march in Thomas Trudel’s memory.

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