A grieving mother sobbed during a somber, roadside ceremony held to recognize the honorary name of ‘Surafiel Way,’ given to a section of road in St. Vital in memory of her eight-year-old son who was killed last year while crossing the street.
Surafiel Tesfamariam was walking to school in February 2018 when he was hit by a vehicle while he used a crosswalk at Varennes Avenue and St. Anne’s Road. The city agreed to give a portion of Varennes Avenue the honorary name after the boy’s parents made the request as a memorial to their son.
Family friends and members of the Eritrean community were at the intersection Tuesday afternoon and consoled the boy’s mother, who cried loudly as city workers installed two new signs and presented Surafiel’s family with a sign of their own.
Speaking on behalf of Surafiel’s mother, Adiam Weldeyohannes, Eritrean community member Lambros Kyriakakos told reporters Adiam found it difficult to return to the intersection.
“It’s a difficult moment for the whole family,” said Kyriakakos. “At the same time we feel it’s a part of the grieving process.”
He said the family is moving to a different area of the city because of the boy’s death.
“They always have to avoid this intersection, when they go shopping, when they go to school,” said Kyriakakos. “They say the community’s great around here."
"The school was wonderful, the teachers were wonderful but we have to move forward and go to another area because the memories are kind of torturing us every day,” he said.
Family and friends console Surafiel’s mother, Adiam Weldeyohannes as city workers install the new signs. (Josh Crabb/CTV News)
Low-mounted flashing lights were added to the intersection last summer after the city’s infrastructure committee voted to add the flashers as a way to alert drivers when pedestrians cross the street.
Winnipeg police have previously said no charges will be laid in the collision because the driver didn't do anything criminal.
Police said from the moment the button was pushed to the moment of the collision, there was no time for the driver to stop.
The street will carry the honorary name for 10 years.
