CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
One of the last lines of Ullie Kaye’s poem, “Next Door,” reads, “We are only separated by a glimmer of time. An interval. Take comfort. I have only built a house next door.”
Kerry Flood read those words in memory of her late friend, Kassidy Ballantyne-Holmes, on Oct. 27. That evening, family, friends, loved ones and neighbours gathered at the city’s cenotaph in a memorial walk to remember Ballantyne-Holmes, a Stratford resident who was killed in a shooting earlier that month.
Flood, the organizer for the event, told the gathering crowd of about 50 people the idea for the night was not to grieve alone and to celebrate their loved one’s memory together.
“Eleven days ago, our worlds changed with the senseless act that took Kassidy away from this earthly plane,” Flood said that evening. “Since then, so many emotions started like sadness, overwhelming grief, pure shock and unwavering anger. There is absolutely no reason this should have happened, and that really makes this even harder to process than it already is.”
“I never thought that I would be standing here having to deal with something like this,” Ballantyne-Holmes’ aunt, Michelle Boudreau, said.
On behalf of the Ballantyne family, she shared that the Kassidy they knew and remember was a little girl with beautiful eyes and “the biggest heart.”
“I know we're not going to have answers, and the answers that we get may not be the answers that we want,” Boudreau said. “We are the ones that are left here to have to deal with all that and grieve with that.”
Boudreau added systems are failing residents in this country but it is up to those residents to fix them – being supportive of each other is all that anyone can do.
“Find a way to be kind, love someone, be kind to someone,” Boudreau said. “Just by saying something nice to someone makes their day and makes them feel that they're appreciated here.”
As dusk fell on the crowd, candle lights twinkled on and the group walked from the stone steps up Lakeside Drive and around Lake Victoria. Participants were encouraged to share stories of Ballantyne-Holmes and remember her, as well as hold candles.
Apart from being a visual symbol of Ballantyne-Holmes’ spirit and lights to guide the participants, they also created a “moody” atmosphere that she would have loved, Flood said.
Before they did, a number of participants lit up small sky lanterns as the crowd watched them float away.
“Let us alchemize our anger into activism,” Flood shared. “Let's stand up for the vulnerable and marginalized people in our community; let it be known that we will not stand for violence against women.”
Ballantyne-Holmes was killed on Oct. 15 from a gunshot wound in what police are calling a homicide. Her death is the second fatal shooting to occur in Stratford in the last three months.
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