‘It’s not meant to be a sad day’: Family of van attack victim help Toronto students launch kindness campaign

Students at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School in Toronto launch the 'Kind is Cool' campaign in honour of van attack victim Anne Marie D'Amico.

On the seventh anniversary of the Toronto van attack, the family of one of the victims helped students and staff at a Toronto elementary school launch a new campaign to spread kindness.

The Kind is Cool campaign was launched at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School on Wednesday to honour the memory of Anne Marie D’Amico, a 30-year-old woman who was one of 11 people who lost their lives in the attack on April 23, 2018.

“When there’s an opportunity to spread kindness, to have impact you run with it” said school principal Maria Aloisi.

“She has an amazing family that has taken a tragedy and turned it into something that is beautiful and impactful so that her memory is not forgotten.”

D’Amico’s family, who set up the Anne Marie D’Amico Foundation to raise awareness about domestic violence, participated in the assembly by placing flowers at the front of the auditorium.

“It’s not meant to be a sad day,” her brother Nicolas D’Amico said. “It’s meant to be a day of celebrating our true values and who we are as people, and the kindness and love we have for each other.”

Eleven people died as a result of injuries they sustained when Alek Minassian deliberately drove a truck onto a busy sidewalk near Yonge Street and Finch Avenue.

Ten people were killed that day, 16 others were injured, and one woman died more than three years later from injuries suffered that day.

The school’s gymnasium was decorated with hundreds of purple turtles, which her family says represent D’Amico’s favourite colour and animal.

Students sang songs about kindness and talked about ways they practice kindness in the classroom.

“I think of people who just feel bad every day. Just want to show them some kindness,” said Massimo Armeni, a Grade 8 student.

“We had a new student and he’s been settling in really well because everyone’s showing him kindness,” another student Temi Olorundare shared.

Nicolas D’Amico said his sister had “an innate ability to be kind to everyone.”

“Sometimes people think it’s not cool to be kind and people kind of go to the other way and she kind of flipped that script and that’s what we’re trying to do here today as well,” he said. “Make sure that everyone understands that kindness and inclusion are important.”