Lac-Mgantic gathers to remember fatal train derailment 1 year ago

Mayor ColetteRoy-Larochesaid her councilhad to make a hard choice when it decided to continue to allow trains to run throughLac-Megantic, which one year ago this weekendwas devastated by a derailment that killed 47 people.

"The municipal council juggled between reason and emotion butchose the survival of the local and regional community," Roy-Laroche told a news conference on the eve of ceremonies marking theone-year anniversary of the July 6, 2013, tragedy.

Lac-Megantic, which was built around the railroad, grabbedworldwide attention when a train loaded with volatile fuel oilcareened off its tracks as it barrelled through town and exploded.

A large section of the town was destroyed in a series ofexplosions and fireballs that were picked up in satellite imagesfrom space.

While the tragedy is still keenly felt in the community of about6,000, Roy-Laroche said she feels the weekend's events are importantto help people move forward.

"The commemoration events . . . are an important step, animportant step to make peace with this tragedy, to also find ourserenity," she said Friday. "There will be difficult moments, Iknow, but also moments where we come together as a community."

Included in the events will be the planting of flowers by Roy-Laroche and a group of local children as well as the release of aflock of butterflies.

A number of musical and social events will also be held.

A midnight mass followed by the vigil will complete Saturday'sactivities.

On Sunday, dignitaries including Quebec Premier PhilippeCouillard will join families and Lac-Megantic residents for acommemorative mass followed by the dedication of a monument and aprocession.

Rev. Steve Lemay, the parish priest, said the Ste-Agnes Churchand its statue of Jesus had become icons ofdetermination in thecommunity. A photo of the statue, its arms outstretched amid thefireballs of the July 6 explosions, had circulated around the worldwhen the tragedy happened.

"Because of its location, the church became a powerful symbol ofresilience," Lemay told a news conference. "It stood up before thetragedy and it is for us an an example of people living through thisordeal, of standing up in front of the difficulties."

The day will wrap up with a concert.

Many people say they will skip the events as they continue tocope with the trauma.

The clinical co-ordinator for psychosocial assistance in theregion has said her team treated 423 people in the Lac-Megantic areaduring the last 10 months.

Those interventions included 188 group and 2,035 individualtherapy sessions.

Among the complaints were anxiety, flashbacks and a "terriblefear" of the area's train tracks.

• Lac-Mgantic: before and after photos
• TIMELINE: Lac-Mgantic rail disaster

The disaster sparked a hard look at rail safety by the government.

The federal government pledged to pull all old tank cars, knownasDOT-111s, off Canada's rails during the next few years. Thepledge involves removing up to 5,000 of the rupture-prone tankers from the tracks within a month.

The Transportation Safety Board also recommended that dangerousgoods should not be left unattended on a main track and also thatrail equipment be properly secured.

The Railway Association of Canada, a group that represents railcompanies, says the industry is committed to do what is required inthe areas of safety, training and emergency preparedness to prevent another disaster like the one that occurred in LacMegantic.

It says the rail industry in North America is spending $2.5billion this year to ensure the safety of its infrastructure.

The town is slowly rebuilding, although business people have saidthat government cash is slow in coming.

The federal and provincial government had pledged millions ofdollars each to help in the recovery effort.

As well, Quebec prosecutors have laid 47 charges of criminalnegligence causing death against the rail company and three of itsemployees. Train engineer Thomas Harding, railway traffic controller RichardLabrieand manager of train operations JeanDemaitrewereall charged.

Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, which had filed forbankruptcy protection, was sold in a closed-door auction in Januaryfor $15.85 million. The buyer was later revealed to be RailroadAcquisition Holdings, an affiliate of New York-based FortressInvestment Group.