Montreal's Ukrainian community mourns 7-year-old refugee killed in hit-and-run

The family of Mariia Lehenkovska sat in the front rows of the St. Sophie Orthodox Ukrainian Cathedral on St-Michel Street in Montreal for the seven-year-old girl's funeral.

Her small white casket was half open next to them. A crown of baby's breath had been placed around her head. Bouquets of flowers brought by the 70 or so people in attendance were placed behind her coffin.

Mariia died last week after she was struck by a car on Rouen Street. She and her two siblings were walking to their new school in Montreal's Centre-Sud neighbourhood. A 45-year-old man has been charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

During the service, Mariia's 10-year-old brother often leaned out of the pew he and his family sat in to look inside the casket.

Her mother, Halyna Lehenkovska, and two siblings are refugees of the war in eastern Ukraine and have lived in Canada for two months.

Andrii Lehenkovskyi, their father and husband, stayed behind to join the Territorial Defence Forces. He flew to Canada Tuesday to mourn his youngest daughter's death and plans to stay for two or three months before going back to Ukraine.

Lehenkovskyi read a poem he wrote for Mariia as Rev. Volodymyr Kouchnir translated it into English. He recalled the joy of the moment she was born, said she was radiant and compared her smile to a sunrise.

"Our sweet daughter, you were given love, embraced with love, now and always," he said. "Stay, don't go.… Angel, everything is possible in your hands."

Kouchnir also shared a message from Lehenkovska, who spoke to reporters the night before.

"I hope the soul of little Marika will beseech the Lord to protect all children so that they no longer know the horrors of war and the loss of loved ones," he said.

The ceremony was filled with singing, which at one moment grew louder as Kouchnir blessed Mariia's coffin, swinging an incense thurible around it.

Simon Koklewsky, a member of the church who sang in the funeral, said the chanting and singing "is for the soul of the deceased. It helps the family to pass this difficult time, to pass the grief."

Koklewsky said he was moved by Halyna Lehenkovska's stoicism when he first met her at the funeral home last Wednesday, the day after Mariia was killed.

"I had to keep my own emotions in check. She's a very strong, courageous woman," he said. "It's been a very difficult year."

Kouchnir, the priest, said the family had told him the shows of support they received from people in Montreal and across Quebec and Canada had given them strength.

"I've been a priest for 30 years. I've seen many things in my life, many funerals. This is the first funeral of a child in my life," Kouchnir said.

Priests from other Ukrainian congregations were also invited to the funeral, which Koklewsky said spoke to the significance of the event.

Eugene Czolij, Ukraine's honorary consul in Montreal, also spoke at the funeral and called for more to be done by NATO countries to stop the war.

As the service drew to a close, Mariia's coffin was brought to the church's entrance, followed by her family and a procession of funeral attendants.

They paused and sang before carrying her out into the cold.