Quebec’s chief coroner has ordered a public inquiry into the deaths of two people in a major fire in Old Montreal last week.
Coroner Reno Bernier ordered the inquiry at the request of Public Security Minister François Bonnardel.
Léonor Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie, both from France, died inside a three-storey, 100-year-old building on Notre-Dame Street when a suspicious fire broke out early Friday morning.
The building housed a restaurant on the main floor and a hostel upstairs.
This is the second coroner’s inquiry into a suspicious fire at an Old Montreal building in just over a year and a half. In March 2023, a fire in a building on Place D’Youville killed seven people. Both buildings at the heart of the inquiries are owned by Émile-Haim Benamor.
The first inquiry was ordered in April 2023, but has been delayed due to the ongoing criminal investigation.
Coroner Géhane Kamel is presiding over both inquiries, which will make recommendations, where appropriate, to prevent further deaths in similar circumstances.
Given their similarities, Kamel could eventually decide to combine the two, a news release from the coroner’s office reads.
The terms of the inquiries and hearings will ensure that the ongoing judicial processes in these two cases are not compromised, the release says.
Building safety questioned
The Official Opposition at Montreal City Hall has been calling for a public inquiry since Friday’s fatal fire, saying it’s important to understand what happened, but more importantly, why.
“Not just in regard to the criminal inquiries … but also with regard to the safety of these buildings that are older buildings and that have an impact on people’s lives,” said Saint-Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa, referring to Benamor’s two buildings being used for short-term accommodation.
He also questioned why the city is still handing out permits to buildings that don’t conform with its own regulations, such as those with windowless bedrooms. In both Old Montreal fires, people staying in the buildings reported a lack of windows in bedrooms.
The Montreal fire department has repeatedly insisted the building on Notre-Dame Street was inspected this year and was considered compliant with the fire code.
Martin Guilbault, a division chief with the Montreal fire department, told reporters this weekend that a lack of windows in bedrooms “was not an issue” in Friday’s fire.
“In terms of fire safety, a window is not considered a means of escape,” he said on Saturday.
Montreal police said last year that the March 2023 fire at the building on Place D’Youville was intentionally set. Inspectors had flagged a number of fire safety violations at that building, including a lack of smoke detectors and problems with its fire escape. The building hosted Airbnbs, which were illegal in the area.
