Kamloops mother relieved and proud of six-year-old’s actions during weekend vehicle incident

KAMLOOPS — “I was thinking to get out of the car and ask somebody for help.”

That’s what went through Jane Deelstra’s head when the vehicle she and her grandmother had been driving in crashed over the Family Day long weekend.

And the six-year-old did just that — crossing the road by a busy highway to get to a gas station and asking to use a phone to call 9-1-1.

“I was just looking straight where I (was) going. And I looked both ways and I had to look both ways because my mum had to tell me, ‘Look both ways’, and I did what she said,” Deelstra explains.

After emergency responders arrived on scene, Jane’s mom Macalan Jolicoeur says she got a call from an RCMP officer who told her what had happened. Jane’s grandmother had taken a westbound exit off the Trans Canada Highway in the Kamloops area, and the vehicle had gone off the road.

“And she swerved off and hit trees. But she must’ve been going pretty hard because there is quite a bit of debris and her car is totalled,” Jolicoeur explains. “But no one was hurt. She (Jane) has a bruise on her elbow, and mum is completely fine, so we’re all really grateful.”

In the days that followed, Kamloops RCMP reached out, and Jane and her mom went in to receive a special certificate, and teddy bear from the detachment’s superintendent to recognize Jane’s brave actions.

“It feels amazing honestly,” Jolicoeur says of knowing her daughter can do the right thing. “I mean, you don’t know how long either of them could have been sitting there if she didn’t think as fast as she did. We’re all just very lucky, and grateful.”

Staying clear-headed and calling for help is something Jolicoeur has repeatedly told Jane to do it anything ever happens, and it appears the lesson has stuck.