Leaving It A Better Place

"A shopping centre mall should not just fall down. We thought someone would do something before it was too late."
Doug Elliott, lawyer, Elliot Lake, Ontario

Perhaps sometimes, when it comes to the precarious situation of a community shopping complex utilized by the public and having trust, despite obvious concerns that nothing would necessarily occur to endanger themselves, it would have been far better if suspicions of awry conditions had been expressed vocally and frequently to provincial inspectors. Rather than, say, rely on the mall's owners to do the responsible thing themselves.

In this case the Algo Centre Mall's owners simply seemed to believe that no responsibility for public safety attached to them. That the brief and incomplete inspections they had ordered were sufficient unto the day. But the parking garage, located over the mall, had suffered too grievous damage over time and the incidents of decay noticed but not overly concerning were true indications of the depth of concern they should have had.

As far as design and planning are concerned why, in a place like Elliot Lake, where there is more than ample space to have a parking lot alongside the mall rather than atop it, would it have been constructed in this manner transcends the belief in human intelligence.  The constant winter conditions whereby vehicles parking over the mall bringing in salt to erode and corrode steel and concrete seemed inevitable in its conclusion.

Everyone, said lawyer Elliot, missed an obvious solution, which would have been to close off the garage to traffic. Band aid solutions, he said, were applied to the situation instead, and predictably "none of them ever worked". The leaky roof was a legacy adopted by a succession of mall owners. The last of whom, Bob Nazarian, claims to be blameless in the unfortunate collapse and death of two women.

It seems as though there is more than enough blame to go around and be generously shared among those who should have known better - including previous mall owners who seemed to wash their hands of insider knowledge and social responsibility with the change of ownership. What of commitment to the public weal of their community?

"It was the heartbeat of the community", said Roland Aube, Mr. Elliott's co-counsel. The catastrophic collapse of the roof-deck and consequent deaths of Lucie Aylwin, 37 and Doloris Perizzolo, 74, represented a dreadful loss of innocence to the one-time uranium boom town of about 13,000 residents. Once touted as a potential retirement capital of Ontario, for its natural geographic beauty and living style.

Houses were plentiful, as a result of the vanished industry, and inexpensive - and people were attracted to the possibilities of the town. The blameless owner of the mall, Bob Nazarian, appeared to ignore the leaky roof of his asset, which further deteriorated.  The enquiry currently ongoing into the tragedy may conclude that fault in addressing the possibility of just such a collapse as had occurred, is too difficult to ascribe and in so doing bypass conferring blame.

"I realize that come September, the rest of you will all be gone, and we'll be left here. I hope that you will keep mindful of the fact that Elliot Lake does need to be a better place when you leave", commented Doug Kearns meaningfully, to the inquiry. An anticipated 75 witnesses will be scheduled to address the inquiry.

And perhaps, in the final analysis, taking that admonishment seriously, no one will be held to account. Other, that is, than the outsiders whose delayed rescue effort had been aborted precipitously serving to impose a trauma of their own on the suffering town.