Memorial installed in Pointe-Claire for boy who drowned 52 years ago

What started with a makeshift memorial has become a permanent marker in Pointe-Claire to honour Alain Nadeau, a young boy who drowned 52 years ago.

“Our parents had five kids. They never really got to close the door on this. Never had closure and never grieved. So, this is a really good moment for our mother,” said Nadeau’s sister, Guylaine Nadeau.

His mother, Lucille Nadeau, says it’s taken a long time but that there’s finally something to mark the spot where her son died.

Brad Wilson, who was just four years old at the time, was one of the last people to see six-year-old Nadeau.

They were playing near a stream in Terra-Cotta Natural Park at the height of the spring melt.

“People always ask how did a kid drown in that little creek? It wasn’t a creek that day. It was a rushing whitewater river. He was right there, and he was gone in a blink of an eye,” Wilson said.

Nadeau’s body was found nearly a kilometre away. It had been swept into a storm sewer that empties into Lac Saint-Louis.

Until a few years ago, there was nothing marking the tragedy in the area. That changed when Nadeau’s nephew put up a small handmade sign, and then another one appeared next to it.

The family says it does not know who put it up.

“Our family is very grateful, and we want to thank them, whoever you are out there,” Guylaine said.

It is what sparked the push for the monument in memory of Nadeau. It includes a QR code that links to his story.

Over half a century later, rescuers still remember that day.

“It was it was tough,” said rescuer Gilles St-Denis. “I knew the father very well. [He] was a friend of our family. It was it was hard. He was asking me, ‘you got to find him, you got to find him.’”

But through that loss came inspiration.

“I’m a retired firefighter paramedic, and I think that was the beginning of me being fascinated by emergency services. And so I like to think that maybe some good came out of that day,” Wilson said.

Nadeau’s mother said she finally has some closure.

“It’s a relief,” said Lucille, adding that it’s a long-awaited reminder of a life cut short.