Community members and advocates call for safer bike paths after an 18-year-old bicyclist was fatally struck in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough last week.
Hundreds of protesters staged a “die-in” protest at the intersection of Henri-Bourassa Boulevard and Jeanne-Mance Street where the teenager Isaac Larrivée, who was on his way to class, was run over by a driver of a vehicle suspected to have been stolen.
The vehicle was allegedly fleeing from Sûreté du Québec officers who were chasing the driver for traffic violations. The province’s police watchdog is investigating the incident.
“This death should never have happened,” said Raül Garate, spokesperson for Masse critique Montréal, a bike paths safety advocacy group which organized the protest.
“Yet it shows us that the situation for the most vulnerable remains precarious on our streets.”
According to data from Quebec’s auto insurance board, 12 bicyclists and 75 pedestrians lost their lives in the province 2025.
Garate also called on Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada and other elected officials to fulfill their campaign promise to listen to the concerns of bicyclists.
“We condemn the toxic online climate that fuels anti-cyclist hatred, as well as certain elected officials at the City’s helm who, at best, turn a blind eye to the incivility and insults directed at us,” the organization said in a press release.
At the intersection where Larrivée was struck, community members had also set up a memorial with flowers, heart-felt notes and a hockey stick to honour his memory.
One note read: “Dear Isaac, We are so, so sorry. We thank you for everything you’ve been to us. We love you very much, and you will always be in our thoughts and in our hearts. Rest in peace.”
“May your soul rest in peace, Isaac,” read another signed “from the entire competitive cycling community of Montreal.”
Other road safety groups as well as family of victims of road accidents participated in the protest Friday, according to Mettons fin à l’insécurité routière sur le trajet scolaire, a group which advocates for road safety of students said in a Facebook post.
“This tragedy highlights, in the cruelest way possible, the extreme vulnerability of cyclists and pedestrians on our roads,” the group said. “Now more than ever, the absolute protection of the most vulnerable road users must be a top priority.”
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