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Mother, grandmother of Driftpile crash victims relieved charges have been laid

Eight months after Gail Bellerose's daughter and two grandchildren died in a fiery crash near Driftpile First Nation, she expressed relief to learn the driver of the vehicle that hit them is finally facing charges.

"I'm OK now that charges are being laid. At least I know there's some justice getting done," Bellerose told CBC News Friday evening.

On May 1, 2016, Bellerose's 36-year-old daughter, Bertha Giroux, was taking three of her children — Keegan, 11, Kira, then 4, and Grace, eight months — to watch a baseball game at the Driftpile Diamond.

The family was travelling eastbound across the bridge on Highway 2 when a westbound SUV smashed into the car in front of them. Then it hit their van, which flipped over and erupted in flames.

"She just had a few more wheels to turn and she would have been at the ball diamond," Bellerose said.

Giroux, Keegan and Grace were pronounced dead at the scene, but a man who had been at a filling station near the crash site pulled Kira from the burning wreckage.

The two 17-year-olds in the car were treated for minor injuries. The driver of the SUV was airlifted to Edmonton with serious injuries.

The driver of the SUV, a 58-year-old Grande Prairie woman, is charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, police said in media release Friday morning.

'She reminds me of Bertha'

That Kira survived gives her grieving grandmother some solace.

"She reminds me of Bertha when she was a little girl," Bellerose said.

Kira's facial features — her dark eyes and button nose — resemble her mother's.

When the little girl is sitting quietly by herself playing on her tablet, Bellerose can't help but see the similarities to her daughter.

"Bertha was a girl who played by herself. You didn't even know where she was sometimes, you had to look for her she was so quiet," Bellerose said.

Kira suffered a broken leg and severe burns during the crash, but her cast is off and her physical scars are starting to heal.

Now five years old, she's started kindergarten at Swan River School.

Kira and her 15-year-old brother, Trey, who wasn't in the van, are living with family in Kinuso, Alta.

Moving forward

Bellerose never got the chance to meet or thank Alex Gouchey, the man who saved her granddaughter. Giroux's sister tried to reach out to him on social media, but didn't get a response.

Bellerose said she's taking things day by day — and embracing the moments when she feels her daughter with her.

"I have pictures of her in the room and I just look up and say prayers," Bellerose said. "Those things help me through."

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Keegan was attending Kinuso School, which has named a basketball court in his honour.

"He used to go play on there all the time," said Bellerose, who hasn't been able to go by and look at it since.

She said her daughter wouldn't want her to dwell on the negatives, but focus on the positives.

"Remember her for who she was and how beautiful she was, her positivity and how she watched her kids," Bellerose said. "She was a good mom and tried hard in life. It didn't matter if she was low on something, she always had a spirit and tried to keep up."

roberta.bell@cbc.ca

@roberta__bell