SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007

Hundreds Say Goodbye to Boy With a 'Big Smile'
April 16, 2007

More than 300 family members, classmates and teachers gathered Monday morning at a church in Mississauga, Ont., to remember the life of the 10-year-old boy who died in a school bus crash on a highway west of Toronto last week.

Two girls hold photographs of John Pham outside his funeral in Mississauga, Ont.
(Andrea Lee/CBC) John Pham was described by his former teachers as a gentle-natured boy with a "big smile" and a "real sense of wonder and curiosity."

In a service that alternated between Vietnamese and English, Rev. Peter Pham Hoang Ba told of a helpful, kind boy who always put others before himself.

God has called John home now to be with Him in heaven, he said.

The boy's father, Tuan, spoke about his son during the funeral in Vietnamese for several minutes before he broke down in sobs. The reverend comforted him, while wiping away his own tears.

After the service, the boy's father spoke briefly with reporters, reading a prepared statement in halting English.

"In this hour of darkness, we know that John is looking down on us today and smiling. May God keep him safe and take care of him until the day when we can all be together again," said his father.

Friend Michael Canosa, 9, reminisced about playing video games with Pham for hours before school, after school and even during recess.

"He's better than me in a lot of games," Canosa said.

The funeral service was held at Mississauga's San Salvador Do Mundo, the church Pham regularly attended with his family.

John Pham's casket is carried into San Salvador Do Mundo Catholic church.
(Andrea Lee/CBC) Pham died after suffering severe head injuries when the bus he was on collided with a tractor-trailer in a relatively minor sideswipe that sent the bus swerving into a grassy median on Highway 410 in Brampton.

Aboard the bus were 27 students from Mississauga's St. Alfred Catholic School and four adults on a field trip.

The accident has renewed debate on whether school buses should be equipped with seatbelts.

Ontario deputy coroner Dr. Barry McLellan said his office is investigating Pham's death, but a formal inquest has not been called. The decision to call an inquest would be made based on what the police investigation finds, he said.

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