Christiane Vadnais, dead after pit bull attack, laid to rest

Christiane Vadnais, the 55-year-old woman who died after being attacked by a pit bull in her backyard, was laid to rest on her family's plot in Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover Saturday afternoon.

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Hundreds gathered at a church in the town, near Drummondville, to pay their respects to a woman many say was full of life and always smiling.

"Christiane enjoyed life and was a little ray of sunshine," her brother Gaston said.

Vadnais' family has been vocal about wanting a ban on pit bulls. In the days after her death on June 9, Brossard and Quebec City have done just that. 

On the day of Vadnais' funeral, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre announced plans to ban new pit bulls. The ban would apply to all 19 boroughs, including Pointe-aux-Trembles, where Vadnais was mauled. 

"Thank you to those who dealt with it." Gaston Vadnais said. "We don't want Christiane to be a statistic."

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"We hope that people have started to become aware of concrete steps that can be taken so that such a thing never happens again. It's an atrocious death," he said.

Vadnais's sister Lyse was visibly grieving as she exited the church to speak to reporters. She could only bring herself to repeat a comforting phrase said during her sister's funeral.

"We have to give ourselves time to make sense of this senseless event."

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