10th anniversary of Lac-Megantic rail disaster commemorated at Quebec legislature

Home expropriated for Lac-Megantic rail bypass The federal government will go ahead with plans to expropriate land to build a rail bypass, ten years after the Lac-Megantic rail disaster.

On Friday, Quebec's national assembly commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, which claimed 47 lives on the night of July 5 in 2013.

The member of the national assembly (MNA) for Mégantic, François Jacques, tabled a motion in memory of the victims in the presence of former mayor Colette Roy-Laroche.

He was visibly moved and trembled throughout his speech.

"I'd like to tell you that time makes things better, that we get used to mourning, to grief and sadness," he said. "I knew 43 of the victims personally. In reality, 10 years later, I see open wounds around me every day."

He said he's often asked how the municipality feels 10 years on.

"We'd like to rebuild as it was before, to be what we used to be, but it'll never be the same again."

For her part, the Québec solidaire MNA for Sherbrooke, Christine Labrie, said that "the force of the explosion has left its mark on people all over the world."

She said she could still see "the distress" in the faces of those who had lost family.

She also recalled the debate surrounding rail safety and the Montreal Maine and Atlantic (MMA) company.

"This is the result of a company's negligence," she concluded.

The elected officials then observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims.

On July 6, 2013, the entire downtown area of Lac-Mégantic was destroyed by this catastrophe.

A 72-car MMA train carrying crude oil was parked in nearby Nantes when its brake system failed after a locomotive fire. The train hurtled down the track in the middle of the night, derailing in the centre of downtown Lac-Mégantic, close to restaurants and bars, killing 47 people.

The flow of burning oil from the cars devastated everything in its path.

In 2018, three MMA employees were found not guilty of 47 charges of criminal negligence causing death.

Conductor Thomas Harding, who pleaded guilty to a criminal charge for failing to activate all of the train's brakes, served a six-month sentence at home.

In 2016, $450 million was secured to settle civil claims against MMA under the Creditors Arrangement Act.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 2, 2023.