Much still 'unresolved' 10 years after the Elliot Lake mall collapse

Most in Elliot Lake will never forget June 23, 2012.

"I remember it like I was yesterday," said Luc Cyr, who managed the grocery store in the Algo Centre mall in the small northern Ontario city. 

He had worked in the morning and went back that afternoon as he often did to get his daughter, who lives with a disability, some exercise.

For some reason, they parked in a different part of the lot. Their usual spot on the rooftop parkade would end up two stories down when the roof collapsed a few minutes later. 

"All I see is a giant puffy cloud of smoke coming up from the store I worked at," said Cyr, who at first thought it was an explosion. 

"People were running out of the mall screaming."

After getting his wife and daughter back to the car, he ran toward the grocery store, was "stunned" for a few minutes by the sight of "boulders the size of cars" and "water gushing from pipes" inside the mall, before helping to evacuate employees and shoppers.

About 20 people were injured and two women— 37-year-old Lucie Aylwin and 74-year-old Doloris Perizzolo— were killed. 

Ten years later, there is a large empty lot in the midst of downtown Elliot Lake where the mall once stood.

"It's a constant reminder that it's unresolved. There's a healing that needs to happen," said Cyr.

There was a multi-million dollar public inquiry held into how the building fell into such disrepair and the rescue efforts in the days following the collapse.

A class action lawsuit against the former mall owners and others, remains before the courts.

Cyr says he was so "disgusted" to see the mall owners, government officials and others "shrug their responsibilities" and not be held accountable, that he ran for Elliot Lake city council. 

"Myself and a lot of people in the community lost a lot of faith and respect for the people at the time. I think the community is healing together somewhat, but until there's proper resolution and proper accountability, I don't think it'll be complete," said the two-term councillor, who is not seeking re-election this fall. 

"We won't have real closure until that happens."

Cyr and the rest of city council have spent years trying to get a new sports complex built on the former mall site, which the city purchased in 2019.

But after a long wait for provincial funding, he says he wonders if those plans and the proposed arts hub are "in danger" and may need a "look at revising and scaling down."

A ceremony will be held in Elliot Lake Thursday morning at 11 a.m. at the mall collapse memorial built  on the shore of Horne Lake.

Cyr says some of the survivors will be gathering at the exact time of the collapse, 2:23 p.m.