Coroner orders inquest into fatal Old Montreal fire that left 2 French citizens dead

MONTREAL — Quebec’s chief coroner ordered a public inquest Tuesday into a fatal Old Montreal fire that claimed the lives of two French nationals last week — the second deadly fire in the historic neighbourhood in less than two years.

The inquiry will be overseen by Géhane Kamel, the same coroner assigned to investigate a March 2023 fire in Old Montreal that killed seven people.

Chief coroner Reno Bernier said in a news release that “depending on the progress of the cases,” Kamel could choose to combine both inquiries because of the similarities between the two fires, both of which police suspect were deliberately set.

A mother and her young daughter from France were killed after fire swept through a building in Old Montreal early Friday.

Police identified the victims as Léonor Geraudie, 43, and seven-year-old Vérane Reynaud Geraudie. Their bodies were removed from the scene the evening of the fire and Montreal police are investigating the origins of the blaze, which is classified as “suspicious.” On Tuesday, Montreal police confirmed there were no additional victims.

There were 25 people inside the building at the time of the fire, including the two victims. Of the 23 who made it out, two sustained minor injuries and one person remains hospitalized.

Montreal police said the investigation into the latest blaze was ongoing and declined to comment on how the fire started or their search for suspects.

The coroner’s inquest ordered into the 2023 fire is on hold until the conclusion of the police investigation and any potential criminal trials. Montreal police ruled the seven deaths in that fire to be homicides, and they said last week they had submitted their case to the Crown for consideration.

Over the weekend, Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said his office was in talks with the coroner to find ways of expediting inquests into both fatal fires.

The latest fire started just before 2:40 a.m. on the ground floor, which housed a restaurant and wine bar called Loam, and quickly spread to the upper floors that were rented out to a third-party operating a 19-room hostel called Le 402. It took firefighters nearly 24 hours to bring it under control.

City property records show the building at 400 Notre-Dame Street East was built in 1923 and belongs to Emile Benamor, who also owned the heritage building on nearby Place D’Youville that went up in flames in March 2023. Benamor’s lawyer said his client had no comment when reached in the aftermath of the Friday blaze.

Local elected officials welcomed the announcement of an inquest.

“The City of Montreal and its services will co-operate fully with the public inquiry into the fire in Old Montreal that sadly caused the death of two people,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante wrote on X. “All light must be shed on this tragedy.”

The opposition Ensemble Montreal party complained the inquiry process is not moving quickly enough. “We cannot wait for yet another fatal fire to shed light on these tragedies,” Abdelhaq Sari, the party’s public security critic, said in a statement.

He called on Plante’s administration to ask the city’s auditor general to investigate the process for issuing permits for renovations and compliance inspections for work in buildings built before 1940.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press