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Trudeau lauds responders, community a year after bus crash

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Sunday, April 8, 2018, file photo, Humboldt Broncos' Nick Shumlanski, who was released from the hospital earlier in the day, is comforted by a mourner during a vigil at the Elgar Petersen Arena, home of the Humboldt Broncos, to honor the victims of a fatal bus accident, in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. Shumlanski sustained a fractured bone behind his ear and a lumbar avulsion fracture, but walked away from the crash. He has been told his ear may never heal but he doesn't expect that will have a significant effect. His back seems to have healed, but he continues to deal with emotional issues. Shumlanski is playing hockey for the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers in Charlottetown. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018, file photo, Ryan Straschnitzki, left, and Jacob Wassermann, victims of the Humboldt, Saskatchewan bus crash in 2017, are introduced in the first period of an NHL hockey game, in Denver. Straschnitzki suffered a concussion, brain bleeding, an injured right shoulder blade and a collapsed right lung. He was paralyzed from the chest down and the injury is expected to be permanent. Wasserman suffered a brain injury, a broken shoulder blade, fractured ribs and nasal bone fractures. Both of his lungs collapsed and a spinal cord injury resulted in paralysis from the navel down. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is lauding the "courage and professionalism" of first responders and the resilience of the community a year after the fatal bus crash of a junior hockey team.

The prime minister says in a statement Saturday that while "we cannot forget pictures of the wreckage" that shook all of Canada "what will stay in our hearts forever are images of compassion and strength."

Trudeau notes the examples of "young men learning to stand, walk and take to the ice again," and "hockey sticks leaned up against thousands of Canadian front doors."

A memorial service is to be held in the Humboldt arena to remember the 16 people killed and 13 injured. The Humboldt Broncos bus collided with a semi driven by a novice trucker who ran a stop sign at a rural intersection.