North York women's shelter unveils plaque to honour Toronto van attack victim's legacy

Janna Abbas · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 6:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

A plaque honouring 1 of the victims of the 2018 Toronto van onslaught was unveiled connected Tuesday astatine the North York Women's Shelter. 

Wednesday marks the seventh day of the Yonge Street attack, which took the lives of 10 people, mostly women. The victims included 30-year-old Anne-Marie D'Amico, remembered by those who knew her arsenic a cheerful and caring individual as good arsenic a committed volunteer. 

In her honour, the Anne Marie D'Amico Foundation donated $1 cardinal to the structure to springiness backmost to the North York community, wherever the onslaught occurred. The shelter, successful turn, enactment up the plaque to admit the donation and assistance sphere D'Amico's legacy.

Nicholas D'Amico, D'Amico's member and president of the foundation, told CBC Toronto that the plaque holds a peculiar spot successful the family's hearts.

"It's a awesome of anticipation for anyone that comes successful present to amusement that determination is love, determination is kindness retired there, and determination is idiosyncratic [at the shelter] that tin beryllium determination and assistance you. We anticipation that everyone who comes successful present knows that," helium said.

At the unveiling, her member said the household doesn't privation radical to retrieve D'Amico with sadness oregon anger, which is wherefore they're naming the day of her decease the Anne Marie D'Amico Day of Kindness and Love. The Toronto Catholic School Board marked the day with an assembly astatine St. Francis Xavier Catholic School. 

WATCH | Toronto Catholic schoolhouse committee honours Anne Marie D'Amico:

Carol Latchford, the shelter's enforcement director, told CBC Toronto that a ample portion of the donation went toward building the Anne Marie D'Amico Community Collective, which provides trauma-informed enactment services to women, transgender, and non-binary people, who person experienced violence. It's besides wherever the plaque is hung.

The remainder of the donation volition let the structure to proceed supporting survivors of gender-based violence.

"It's the families similar the D'Amico's, who enactment truthful generously our ngo and our values, that allows america to proceed the much-needed work–life-saving enactment [we do,]" she said.