On the afternoon of Sunday, October 8, 1989, the members of the McGraw and Léger families were participating in a hayride, travelling in a wagon pulled by a farm tractor, as well as two following pickup trucks, along the shoulder of Route 945.
[1] They were approximately 100 m (330 ft) from the end of the ride at a community hall in Cormier-Village where they had planned a family reunion as part of their celebration of Thanksgiving Weekend.
[2] 13 people were killed and 45 injured[3] with many victims pinned and crushed; five children were among those who died.
Victims were transported to tertiary care hospitals in Moncton, approximately 45 km (28 mi) away.
The horror of this accident, both for survivors and emergency responders, resulted in the Government of New Brunswick forming a provincial Critical Incident Stress Management Team.