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On Friday, March 6, 2026, the City of Pointe-Claire honoured the memory of Alain Nadeau, a little boy who died tragically in Terra-Cotta Natural Park 52 years ago.

Nadeau was only six years old on March 6, 1974, when he went out to play with a group of friends in the woods near Glanlynn Avenue. With the spring thaw at its peak, the creek had swelled with meltwater from nearby streams and marshland. The boy slipped down an embankment and was swept into the fast-moving current, estimated to be flowing at 40 km/h.

His body was found in Lake Saint-Louis by police divers on March 12, 1974, just over 15 metres away from a sewer pipe outlet at the bottom of Baie-de-Valois Ave. Alain's father, Claude, who was a parks foreman for the city, was present and had been aiding in the search when his son's body was recovered. 

According to Brian R. Matthews in A History of Pointe Claire, the town responded quickly after the accident by installing fences “along both sides of all open ditches” and appointing guards at key locations whenever water levels exceeded 25 centimetres. In the early 1980s, Pointe-Claire acquired additional land from the Canadian National Railway Company, enabling an expansion of Terra-Cotta’s conservation area. The park’s development likely contributed to lower water levels compared to the 1970s, and the area remains protected by fencing today.

A makeshift marker had been erected in September 2024 by then twelve-year-old Benjamin, son of Luc Nadeau, one of Alain's four siblings. A month later, a more formal plaque was erected next to it by a person whose identity remains unknown.

Wanting to establish a permanent and visible memorial, the City of Pointe-Claire held a small ceremony on the 52nd anniversary of Alain’s death, with the unveiling of an official monument commemorating the passing of the young boy and remembering the tragedy that took place. 

In attendance were Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere and former mayor Morris Trudeau, as well as several councillors. Alain's mother, Lucille, along with his surviving siblings Pierre, Luc, and Guylaine were also present to see the monument’s unveiling; Alain’s father, Claude, died in 2005, and Alain's eldest brother, Yves, passed away in 2009.

Also present were witnesses to the tragic event, including Brad Wilson, a childhood friend who had been only four years old and playing with the group of friends at the park when Alain fell into the overflowing creek. Others, who had grown up playing with the Nadeau children, along with rescuers and colleagues of Claude Nadeau, were there to share memories and pay their respects.

No one could have imagined what would befall a little boy who just went out to play on a warm March day in 1974, but now the life of Alain Nadeau will be forever remembered.