‘Amazing young woman’: Manitoba father mourns daughter lost in multi-vehicle crash

WINNIPEG – The father of a Manitoba teen who died in a car crash that claimed the lives of three others says he remembers her as someone who lived life to the fullest.

Steph Delaine identified one of the victims as his daughter Chloe Vermette. 

He described Vermette as a best friend who always looked out for him. 

“She (was) such an amazing young woman,” Delaine said in a series of Facebook messages with The Canadian Press. 

“Smart, sometimes hard-headed, she would always make sure I was OK. Always said ‘Love you, Papa.'” 

“She loved quadding and camping, was an outdoors girl. I miss her so much.”

The 18-year-old was with three other teens Sunday when police say the vehicle they were in was hit at an intersection near the town of Winnipeg Beach, about 80 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Police say the group, heading west on Highway 229, was crossing Highway 8 when hit by a southbound van. Both vehicles went into a ditch, with one of them rolling over onto its roof. 

The four teens — three 18-year-olds from Manitoba and a 17-year-old from Ontario — died at the scene. 

Four people from Winnipeg were in the van. They were taken to hospital with minor injuries. 

Delaine said he last spoke with his daughter the night of the crash. He said she was headed to the Winnipeg Beach area and he asked her to text him when she arrived. 

“Her last text back to me was ‘Love you too,'” said Delaine. 

Vermette’s interests lay in cars, something she picked up from Delaine. The teen loved working on cars, going to car shows and driving on cruise nights, her father said.

The tragedy has garnered calls for more safety measures at the intersection. In July, an 86-year-old man from Teulon died after he was driving west on Highway 229 and collided with a pickup truck travelling south on Highway 8. 

Premier Wab Kinew told reporters at an unrelated event on Wednesday that he spoke with the families of victims from the weekend crash earlier in the day and committed to taking immediate and long-term measures to address safety at the intersection. 

“When you see the loss of these beautiful young lives, any parent, any Manitoban feels a sense of loss, and on behalf of the whole province I send my condolences to these families,” Kinew said.

Winnipeg Beach Mayor Terry Calof said he spoke with Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor on Tuesday and believes the province is taking safety concerns seriously. 

He said the rumble strips, a mechanism used to alert drivers when they drift from their lane, nearest the intersection have nearly disappeared into the asphalt.

He recommended the province fix those up and said he also told the minister that flashing red lights atop the stop signs would also help.

“If we can mitigate and make the chances of something like this happening again as low as possible, then that’s a win, I believe, for everybody,” said Calof. 

The Crown corporation that oversees public auto insurance in the province has documented two other fatalities at the intersection in the past 10 years. Both the incident from July and one from 2021 were the result of a failure to yield the right of way, Manitoba Public Insurance said. 

The public insurer said there have been 24 incidents at the intersection since 2017 – with the major factor being wildlife. Other issues have been failure to yield the right of way and distracted driving. 

Manitoba RCMP continue to investigate the collision. 

A significant thunderstorm was passing through the area at the time, but police could not say whether that was a contributing factor. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2026.