Burundian student, father of three, dies in car-pedestrian crash

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This article was published 15/12/2022 (1038 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Isidore Toyi was a week away from completing his English-language studies in Winnipeg when he was struck and killed by a vehicle as he crossed a St. Boniface street early last month.

The 52-year-old husband and father of three young children was walking home on Dumoulin Street on Nov. 6 and was 60 metres from his apartment when he was hit.

The Burundian national was to complete his studies at Riverwood Learning Centre on Nov. 15 before rejoining his family in Ottawa.

“Isidore was already a PhD holder, highly educated, intelligent and accomplished,” said his sister, Mathilde Matwi.

“He was here in Winnipeg taking classes in ESL along with a PhD in economics… from a Belgian university. He was not even a graduate of a school in Africa. He had also worked with the UN for over 10 years.

“He was somebody to us and will always be. We will do all it takes to fight for his honour because he was someone with so much potential.”

Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Jay Murray said the fatal crash is still under investigation; no charges have been laid against the driver. A man in his 20s remained at the scene and spoke with officers.

“The investigation remains ongoing by members of our traffic division,” Murray said. “Typically, these investigations are extensive and complex, often taking months or longer due to the amount of work involved.”

Toyi arrived in Canada from Burundi in September 2019 to join his family who were all here as refugees.

Matwi said her brother was a keen student and writer who took inspiration from nature in many of his academic writings.

“His passion was taking pictures of insects, animals and nature, and then he would come back and write about all that he saw,” she said.

“Even on the day of his death, his laptop was open from something he was writing and we believe he went for a walk to observe nature before coming back home.”

Toyi’s devastated family has set up a GoFundMe effort to raise money to pay for his burial. His brother Alain Nibayubahe, who is administering the fund, says it would mean the world to his young family if they could raise enough to offer him a dignified ceremony to honour his memory.

Toyi’s death is the third tragedy for Winnipeg’s African community this year. International Rwandan student Gad Iradukunda was found dead in a South Pointe field in May, and a six-year-old Nigerian-born boy drowned in July in an east Winnipeg condo swimming pool.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca