CityNews Rewind 2012: Deadly Elliot Lake mall collapse grips Ontario

A mall-roof collapse in Elliot Lake, Ont. and the controversial response to it put the northern Ontario community in the spotlight, gripping the province and the country.

At roughly 2:30 p.m. on June 23, a portion of the rooftop parking garage at the Algo Centre Mall collapsed, killing Lucie Aylwin, 37, and Doloris Perizzolo, 74. More than 20 other people were injured. The collapse prompted a state of emergency for the former mining town 160 kilometres west of Sudbury.

The collapse also temporarily robbed the city of a key gathering place as the mall represented 60 per cent of the community’s retail space; and housed a library and government offices.

Click here to read other stories in our CityNews Rewind 2012 series.

Ontario Provincial Police launched a criminal investigation into the collapse and a public inquiry is set to start hearing evidence in the New Year.

Premier Dalton McGuinty, who arrived in the city four days after the collapse, faced tough questions in the immediate aftermath about the perceived slow reaction to the crisis and a decision to halt the rescue and recovery effort due to safety concerns.

Toronto’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) team led the recovery effort.

Kevin McSheffrey, a reporter at the Elliot Lake Standard, told CityNews.ca he was in the mall when it happened.

“I was covering a dinner theatre that was in there. We thought it was part of the act at first, that it was thunder that was part of the show,” she said.

“When the floor started shaking, we knew it wasn’t part of the show.”

As officers evacuated the mall, officials shut off the power after a gas leak was triggered. Roads around the mall were closed as crews began to sift through the rubble looking for survivors.

Just two days after the collapse, despite scanning technology finding signs of life amongst the rubble early Monday morning, the search for survivors would be called off as the safety of the rescue workers was in jeopardy due to the excessive structural damage. Slabs of concrete had fallen from the roof and crashed onto an elevator. Beams supporting the unstable elevator and stairs began to bow and separate from the building and the Ministry of Labour deemed the building unsafe. Officials also confirmed reports that one person was dead.

The decision to call off the search was protested by residents, many of whom held vigil in front of the mall, who said it was too soon to call off the effort.

“Rescue missions never end, save our families, save our friends,” chanted the protesters, adding efforts to recover survivors had gone on for days in the wake of more high profile tragedies such as 9-11 or global earthquakes.

Their cries were echoed by McGuinty.

“If my son was in there or my wife or a brother or sister or a close friend, I would want no stone left unturned,” the premier said.

“It may be that there’s only a slim chance of success, but I think we owe it to the families especially that we give it a shot and do the best that we can.”

Shortly after, it was decided that the search would resume and heavy machinery was brought in from Toronto to help with the removal of the escalator and the controlled demolition.

After four days of searching, McGuinty, who had by then made his way to Elliot Lake, announced that the two victims of the mall collapse had been identified as Aylwin and Perizzolo.

“We’ve recovered the bodies of Doloris and Lucie and we all knew we were going to do everything we could to return them to their families where they belong,” he said. “We owed that to the families. We owed that to all the people of Elliot Lake.”

“I conveyed to those families that they’ve been in the thoughts and prayers of Ontarians since this tragedy struck.”

Both bodies had been found under the escalator near a lottery booth.

Following the tragedy, the provincial government offered financial help to the devastated community. A $2 million fund was created for retailers at the mall to get employees back to work. In October, it was decided that the mall would be demolished, providing an environmental assessment showed no hazardous substances would be released into the air. Once demolition begins, it could take up to 40 days to complete the project, including clean up.

McGuinty also promised to look into the history of the mall to see if the collapse could have been prevented.  He was not the only one looking into the cause of the disaster —the OPP launched a probe into the circumstances and a public inquiry is investigating factors that led to the collapse.

Relatives of the deceased were among the 18 people and organizations that applied for standing at the public inquiry held by Commissioner Paul Belanger.

In September, the inquiry ordered the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario to produce documents related to complaints taken against the practices of two engineers whose identities the commission is withholding.

In November, the mall owners, Bob Nazarian and his son Levon Nazarian, asked the public inquiry to keep some of their documents secret. A similar request came from a professional engineering association related to complaints and disciplinary measures taken against two engineers involved with the Algo Centre Mall.

In their application, the Nazarians said they had given the commission sensitive financial statements they want kept out of public view.

They also made an application for taxpayer funds to cover their legal costs for the inquiry. In November, Belanger denied the request.The Nazarians are also facing multi-million dollar civil lawsuits, including a $30-million class action, which include claims long-standing safety concerns, including leaks and crumbling concrete, were ignored before the collapse.

The mall owners say their building passed inspections and they made repairs.

Meanwhile the people of Elliot Lake still feel the loss of not only a mall but a social hub in the community.

“We’ve sense that the community is still traumatized by the event – it’s no doubt diminished, but it’s still there,” said lawyer Bruce Carr Harris.

Click here to read other stories in our CityNews Rewind 2012 series.

With files from the Canadian Press