‘Hardworking and Kind’: Murdered Woman Crossing Dartmouth Street Came to Canada to Start New Adventure – Halifax | The Canadian News

Suete Chan was worldly, adventurous, and brave.

So adventurous, in fact, that in the summer of 2020 she decided to emigrate from Hong Kong to Canada and call Nova Scotia home.

Chan was on her way to work in Dartmouth last Wednesday morning when she was hit at a crosswalk on Pleasant Street.

The 27-year-old woman died in hospital.

“I work very hard. And he was also very soft and gentle, and very kind, and he was kind of cheerful. I wanted things to be happy and it was very sweet, “said Tabitha Osler. It owns Fairechild, a Dartmouth-based eco-clothing company.

In August 2020, Chan applied for a marketing manager position at the company “and it was one of the best resumes I ever reviewed,” Osler said.

“After interviewing several people, I offered him the position. And then we started working to integrate her here through the Atlantic immigration pilot program. “After an intense application process, Chan arrived in Canada earlier this year. He was just days shy of his 28th birthday when he died.

Two days ago, Osler installed a GoFundMe fundraising campaign for Chan’s family, with an original goal of $ 35,000. It has exceeded $ 85,000. The money raised will help Chan’s parents make the trip from Hong Kong to Canada to claim his remains and belongings. Chan was the only son of his parents.

“They have to bear the cost of last-minute travel and long-term accommodation, to meet public health quarantine requirements. The costs will be in the thousands of dollars, ”the GoFundMe page reads.

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Osler felt compelled to organize the fundraising effort because she wanted to support Chan’s family in the best possible way. As Chan’s sponsor during the immigration process, Osler said she feels like Chan’s bond with his home away from home.

“I feel completely responsible for her. I feel like I’m his mother away from home. I am only 10 years older than her, but I definitely feel that now I am the family that has to take care of her here, even though she is gone, ”she said. “I don’t know how you could continue in your life after this, so maybe I’ll give you one less thing to worry about for a short period of time. “

“How can we prevent this from happening again?”

The driver of the vehicle that struck Chan, a 41-year-old woman, was fined for a summary offense for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

During a Permanent Commitment to Transportation last Thursday, Dartmouth Councilman Tony Mancini mentioned the fatal collision, urging that safety in the area be discussed.

“What happened? How do we prevent this from happening again? Did we do something wrong? Could we have done better? These are all questions I have and I’m sure my colleagues and staff have too,” he said.

In 2019, a pedestrian was hit on the same stretch of road in a hit-and-run. In that case, the driver was ultimately sentenced to six months in jail and two years of probation.

Meanwhile, Osler and her husband have been working with the funeral home, making arrangements for Chan’s family when they arrive.

He also hopes to offer as much comfort as he can, as they grieve together.

“I feel like, you know, they took her from us and I just want her back,” he said.

“That’s all I can think of, is that I just want her to come back. And I just want this nightmare to end. “

—With a file on Aya Al-Hakim