Nearly 100 cyclists gathered outside City Hall in Ottawa, one week after a 13-year-old Orléans boy, Simon Khoury, died when he was struck by a vehicle on Jeanne D'Arc Boulevard.

Cycling advocates and residents of Ottawa heard speeches calling for change to infrastructure following Khouri's death; the city's third cycling death in 2019. One man was killed in what Ottawa Police called a hit-and-run along Laurier Avenue in May. Another person was killed aboard in e-bike in June at Hunt Club Road West of Merivale Road.

Simon Khouri died when he was riding his bike at the Highway 174 on-ramp on July 23. Bike Ottawa and Ecology Ottawa have organized a vigil to remember Simon and to also urge the City of Ottawa to improve bike safety. The group also wants the City to implement, "Vision Zero", a road safety program aiming to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

"They have lost their lives on our roads, and they won't get the chance to ask for safer streets," said Heather Shearer of Bike Ottawa. "People make mistakes, people make bad decisions. That's where the city has the responsibility to design infrastructure where the consequences of those mistakes are minimal."

Elizabeth Robson Gordon was one of the cyclists penning handwritten pleas to Ottawa's mayor.

"I would love to bike everywhere but i don't feel safe," said Robson Gordon. "We cant live up to our goals of active transportation if all the bike paths are disjointed; they're deadly."

Ottawa's mayor, Jim Watson, expressed sadness over the loss of lives on city streets but cautioned against rushing to find road safety solutions. 

"We also all need to look at in a wholistic approach so we get it right and we dont go and start doing things in the heat of the moment that may not be the right things to do for public safety.

According to Ottawa Police, there were 1400 crashes involving cyclists between 2014 and 2018, resulting in 7 deaths.

"There's roads that are not safe for cyclists, absolutely. In my ward alone, there are some," said Councillor Shawn Menard. "Now putting paint up there is obviously too little, too late for that young boy's life and we should have done more, earlier."

Ottawa Police said there were five cyclists hit Wednesday morning. There were no serious injuries reported.