One fatality in crash at Bathgate and Montreal Road
A former University of Ottawa student was killed in a car accident at Bathgate Drive and Montreal Road on Nov. 17.
Emergency services arrived at the scene at 9:35 p.m. to free Valerie Charbonneau and her boyfriend Marco Gauthier from his overturned Buick after he lost control of the vehicle and hit a streetlight at 9:30 p.m.
Firefighters managed to free 21-year-old Gauthier and send him to the hospital alive but in serious condition, but Charbonneau could not be rescued.
Charbonneau, 20, was a student at the U of O for one year before taking this year off to work as a manager at Pizza Hut. She had plans to return to school next year. She loved working with children and had hoped to become a teacher.
Born in Ottawa and a former student at collège catholique Samuel-Genest, her graduation in 2011 and acceptance to the U of O were some of her father Rick Charbonneau’s proudest moments.
The last conversation he had with his daughter was on Nov. 15 after he worked on her car and tried to get it to start.
“She gave me a hug and said, ‘I love you,’” he said. “I said, ‘I love you too, and I’ll see you tomorrow.’”
“She was loved by everybody. She had a lot of friends,” he said. “She was self-assertive. She had a mind of her own and she didn’t let anybody step on her feet.”
Her funeral was held Nov. 23 at the Saint-Louis-Marie-de-Montfort church.
