Sylvie and Robert Lacas pay their respects at the site of the fire where their granddaughter Charlie Lacroix was killed three years ago along with six others.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
The owner of a Montreal apartment building that burned down in March, 2023, killing seven people and injuring several more, has been charged with 15 counts of manslaughter and criminal negligence, a surprise development in a case that shocked Quebeckers and led to a suite of government reforms.
Émile Benamor, 63, was arrested Wednesday and appeared in court by video link from a Montreal police station. He did not enter a plea and was released on bail with conditions.
The three-storey property in Place D’Youville, at the heart of the city’s historic Old Port district, housed several illegal Airbnbs and had been flagged for numerous fire safety violations leading up to the blaze. Families of the victims have assailed Mr. Benamor for the structure’s lack of fire escapes and even windows in some units, while also criticizing the city and Airbnb for a lack of oversight.
A parallel criminal investigation into the deliberate setting of the fire remains open, Montreal police said Wednesday, as the force continues to untangle a series of alleged arsons and other acts of violence related to Mr. Benamor’s properties in recent years.
Government authorities had displayed a questionable commitment to the Place D’Youville building’s safety at times. A Globe investigation found that the city had placed a moratorium on inspecting building evacuation routes years before the deadly fire, in part because of a lack of staff training.
Mr. Benamor appeared in court on Wednesday wearing a plaid shirt, with a tanned face and white hair. The landlord faces seven counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
The prosecution did not object to his release on bail but imposed a series of conditions that he accepted, including a $10,000 deposit and a requirement that he maintain compliance with fire safety regulations in all of the remaining buildings he owns.
Alexandre Bergevin, Mr. Benamor’s lawyer, said outside the courtroom that the charges were unexpected so long after the fire happened.
“It’s a surprise, three years later,” he said.
Montreal Police Chief Inspector David Shane holds a press conference about the case on Wednesday.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Lucas Bastien, spokesperson for the Quebec prosecutor’s office, said the delay before laying charges was the result of a complex police investigation.
Montreal police paid homage to the victims of the fire and their families in a press conference on Wednesday. Of the 22 people in the building that night, only six escaped unharmed.
The dead have been identified as Camille Maheux, 76; An Wu, 31; Dania Zafar, 31; Saniya Khan, 31; Nathan Sears, 35; Charlie Lacroix and Walid Belkahla, both 18.
“The night of March 16, 2023, will forever remain in our collective memory,” police spokesperson Chief Inspector David Shane said.
Montreal building that burned in deadly fire had repeated safety violations, documents show
Trouble at the Place D’Youville building began almost as soon as Mr. Benamor bought it in 2009. Municipal court records show that he was charged with three infractions relating to evacuation routes in 2010, among other alleged safety violations. He was found guilty of having non-compliant firewall protections and not displaying evacuation plans on every floor, and was fined a total of $714.
The tragedy also shed light on the proliferation of Airbnbs in Montreal and their lax regulation. Most of the nearly two dozen people in the building that night were staying in short-term rentals fraught with safety hazards, including Charlie Lacroix, who died in the fire while staying in a windowless Airbnb apartment.
“If my daughter was in a room with a window, she would still be alive,” her father Louis-Philippe said in a 2023 interview. “Regardless of the source of the fire, if the building was adequate, many more people would be alive.”
The city and province attempted to crack down on short-term rentals in the wake of the blaze, while the fire department quietly ended its moratorium on evacuation route inspections.
A firefighter at the scene of the fire on March 16, 2023.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Later that year, Mr. Benamor, a lawyer by training, sued the city for more than $7-million, alleging the fire department had been insufficiently involved in protecting the building leading up to the fire and on the night of the blaze.
As the tragedy prompted reforms and legal battles, the investigation grew thornier. In August, 2023, police began treating the fire as an arson after discovering traces of accelerant at the scene. Mr. Benamor is not accused of involvement in setting the fire, police said Wednesday.
Another of Mr. Benamor’s properties was allegedly targeted by arsonists in October, 2024, causing the deaths of Léonar Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie, who were visiting from France and staying in a short-term rental above a restaurant.
Justin Fortier-Trahan, 20, and Juventino Hernandez Pelaez, 18, were arrested and charged with second-degree murder and arson, a case still making its way through the courts.
In the following weeks, Mr. Benamor’s law office was shot at, leading to three more arrests, and a car outside Mr. Benamor’s home in Dorval, Que., was set on fire.
With reports from Frédérik-Xavier D. Plante and The Canadian Press