Marie Hélène PRIMEAU

The father of Marie-Hélène Primeau said he bears no malice for the man charged with driving drunk into his 17-year-old daughter, killing her as she rode her bike on the Lady Aberdeen Bridge on Tuesday night. "I'm not angry," Daniel Primeau said yesterday in a calm, steady voice, adding that to be angry about the tragedy would be to deny what his daughter stood for. Mr. Primeau said Marie-Hélène "saw everything in a positive light." He said it is for that reason that he and his family are making a decision not to let themselves be overcome by anger. Remi William Comeau, the 51-year-old man charged in the crash, will have to face the justice system, but he won't become their focus. "I feel hurt," said Mr. Primeau. "This is a criminal act, it's a tragedy. But we decided to be about Marie-Hèléne. The message we get out of it is the positive view of life and the rest we don't care ... we can't." After pausing for a moment, he continued. "It would be to deny what Marie-Hélène was about. She never went on a warpath. She never went on a negative track." Mr. Primeau said his daughter went beyond looking at life in a glass-half-full way. "Marie-Hèléne decides to change a glass so that everything is full. 'Half full is not enough, let us make this a full experience.' She made sure the glass was the right glass," he said, trying to put into words what she meant to the friends and family around her. "It's the step after optimism," he said. "She made things better." Her passions included adventure. She spent a month rock climbing in Western Canada and spent each week in yoga classes, always finding some extra time for her friends. "The most important thing I will remember, she was always happy to do something with her friends, to go out and meet other people," said friend Gabryelle Ct. "She had no prejudices about people," said Ms. Ct, describing her friend as warm and welcoming. Valerie Morin had similar memories. "One evening, Marie and I were working on a home economics project, but we got tired and decided to watch the stars together with our two other friends," said Ms. Morin. "We spent hours talking about everything and anything." However, Ms. Ct said getting angry won't bring her friend back. In jail in Gatineau, however, Mr. Comeau was the target of someone's anger. Mr. Comeau was taken to hospital after being beaten up. Police said Mr. Comeau suffered a black eye and head injuries after being attacked at around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. In the meantime, Mr. Primeau said that as upset as he is, he's not going down the road of negativity. He also doesn't want to lead any campaigns. "I'm not looking to get on a bandwagon to make a big cause of this," he said. "We just decided, as a sign of positivism, if people have energy to spend, we recommend they call Jellinek Foundation," said Mr. Primeau, referring to the Gatineau centre for drug addiction. Mr. Primeau said he will take his cue from his daughter. "She saw everything in a positive light. She didn't have an ounce of negativism in her." Published in the Ottawa Citizen on 9/1/2007