The family of a toddler killed when an SUV drove into a daycare north of Toronto is speaking out and demanding change to boost safety in all childcare facilities.<\/p>\n
One-and-a-half-year-old Liam Riazati died Wednesday after a vehicle drove into a Richmond Hill, Ont., daycare, leaving six young children and three adults injured.<\/p>\n
York Regional Police said Friday that two of the injured children remain in critical condition. A 70-year-old man is facing dangerous driving charges, and police have said they do not believe it was a deliberate act.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of family, friends and community members gathered Sunday morning at Elgin Mills Cemetery in Richmond Hill to honour Liam. White flower arrangements lined the inside of the funeral centre, as a slide show of pictures of Liam and his family played on a screen at the front of the room facing rows of attendees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been three days now, and we\u2019ve been like walking dead in our own home,\u201d Liam\u2019s mother, Behnoosh Noori, said in a translated letter she read from at the funeral. \u201cLife doesn\u2019t go on without you, Liam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, dozens of vibrant helium balloons were released into the sky as guests gathered closely around Liam\u2019s final resting place at the burial site.<\/p>\n
Mina Riazati, Liam\u2019s aunt, described her nephew as a \u201cbeautiful boy\u201d who was \u201ceverything\u201d to her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t even think for a second that we would sit here, gathered for his funeral,\u201d she said. \u201cThe only thing that is going through my mind is that it could (have been) prevented from happening\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s hoping legislation will be passed named after Liam to make sure childcare facilities are designed safely \u2014 for the protection of both kids and childcare providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease do something,\u201d she said. \u201cStop talking nicely. Stop just saying nice words and acting that you care \u2026 Make some rules, regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saeedeh Pourmusa, a close relative of the Riazati family, said she hopes Liam\u2019s legacy will be ensuring that other children remain safe and that no family has to go through a similar tragedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are the most fragile members of our society,\u201d Pourmusa said, adding that safety considerations should be made for children no matter where they are \u2014 from a parking lot to their homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would never place my kid in front of glass when there is a risk of a car running into the glass. So if that is something I don\u2019t do at home, I\u2019m not expecting this to happen for my kid outside of the school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Pourmusa said the Riazati family has been in touch with local officials to have their concerns heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would think that in the 10 years that I\u2019ve been on council, this is certainly one of the saddest days in our city for sure,\u201d said Richmond Hill Mayor David West.<\/p>\n
The responsibility of making changes to improve childcare facility safety falls on the province, West said, adding that it is not within the jurisdiction of municipalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be monitoring this, as I\u2019m sure the community will, to make sure that action happens quickly and it happens effectively,\u201d West said.<\/p>\n
Last week, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the government is looking into legislative changes that would require higher curbs and bollards in areas near childcare facilities, along with restricting parking near its windows and walls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very pleased to see the swift action and the action that\u2019s going to be taken to affect real change,\u201d West said, adding that he had spoken to Calandra the day after the crash.<\/p>\n
Children, Community and Social Services Minister Michael Parsa was in attendance at the funeral but declined to speak with reporters, citing respect for the family.<\/p>\n
Asked whether promises of change from officials are sufficient, Pourmusa said \u201cit is never enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all need to continue every single day and every single moment to make this world safer for every kid. That\u2019s not something that we can stop trying for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a toddler killed when an SUV drove into a daycare north of Toronto is speaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-144528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}