A Montreal mother named Jamie describes her life as fundamentally broken since a violent attack on her teenage son over four years ago. The incident, which occurred on Valentine's Day in 2021, left her with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, unable to work, and struggling to support her three children on social assistance.
A Day That Changed Everything
Before 2021, Jamie's life followed a familiar rhythm. She worked in a warehouse and co-parented her three children with her ex-partner. That normalcy ended abruptly on February 14, 2021. Her 14-year-old son had just dropped off his younger sister at their apartment in Côte-St-Luc. As he was leaving through the building's corridor, he was stabbed four times.
"I had to save my son's life," Jamie recalled, her voice breaking with emotion during the interview. She added that the motive remains a mystery, stating, "no one even knows what happened to him" or why he was targeted. Police reports from the time indicated the stabbing followed an argument in the apartment lobby between the boy and a man in his 40s that escalated violently.
The Ongoing Struggle with Trauma and Poverty
The psychological aftermath for Jamie has been profound and disabling. She has not been able to return to work due to PTSD diagnosed after the attack. As a single mother, she now supports her three children—a 13-year-old daughter and two sons, now 19 and 21—solely on social assistance.
"I'm trying my best," she said. "I'm still working at it; it's very hard. I could not even wish that upon my worst enemy, because this is too painful." The trauma forced her to relocate; she left the Côte-St-Luc apartment and now lives near the Monk métro station. "I didn't want to stay there," she explained.
Looking Forward, Day by Day
Jamie, who moved to Montreal from Saskatchewan 14 years ago, is now focused on small, incremental goals. She is looking for work and working on her recovery. One of her personal objectives is to learn French, a challenge in her current state. Her outlook is summarized in her own words: "I'm just living day by day."
This holiday season, for the first time, she is a beneficiary of the Gazette Christmas Fund. The support brings a glimmer of hope. If the aid can cover her family's food costs, she dreams of taking her children to an arcade for a moment of joy. "I want to be able to go to an arcade and enjoy ourselves. That's how I look at it," she shared.
Jamie fondly remembers the Christmases of her youth in Saskatchewan, filled with music, gifts, and happiness. Now, in Montreal, a city she calls home, the Christmas Fund offers crucial support as she continues to navigate the long shadow cast by that day in 2021.
