City unveils memorial for workers killed in Eastway Tank explosion

Louise Martel has been visiting the Eastway Tank Pump and Meter property in Ottawa to pray for her partner Rick Bastien after an explosion at the site left Bastien and five of his co-workers dead last January.

But now Martel said she's found a much more peaceful place to reflect on the man she was planning to marry.

"And less graphic," she said of leafy Merivale Gardens Park.

In a quiet ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, Martel and other grieving family members gathered in the park about two kilometres west of Eastway Tank as Mayor Jim Watson, Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Keith Egli and the city unveiled a new and permanent memorial in honour of the six dead. 

A new bench faces a plaque commemorating Bastien and Etienne Mabiala, Danny Beale, Kayla Ferguson and Russell McLellan — who died in the Jan. 13 blast — as well as Matt Kearney, who succumbed to his injuries in hospital the next day. 

It was Ottawa's worst workplace fatality in decades. 

Still waiting for answers

The city has planted six trees in the park, one for "every lost soul," Watson said in brief remarks to the families. 

Martel said she welcomed the opportunity to meet with other people affected by the explosion. That includes an Eastway Tank employee who was hospitalized after the blast but survived. 

"I'm glad he's doing better. Not good, but better," she said.

A number of agencies, including Ontario's Ministry of Labour and the Office of the Fire Marshall, continue to investigate the explosion.

Earlier this month a lead investigator with the fire marshal's office said the agency was down to two scenarios for what may have caused the blast, but it remains unclear when its final findings will be made public. 

"Everybody would like to have answers," said Egli, who pitched the idea of installing a permanent memorial to the victims. 

"But I think we want to have the right answers and we want to make sure that the investigation is done properly, all the avenues are looked at and all the best options for making things better come forward."

After the explosion, people left photos, a work hat and other mementos at the Eastway site.

Many of those items, including now-faded photos, remained in place at the site on Wednesday.

'A real tragedy'

Watson, in his remarks to the families, reflected on the stark contrast between Wednesday's gathering and another event he'd recently attended: a local woman's 100th birthday.

"Most of these individuals had their lives in front of them," he said of the Eastway victims in a post-ceremony interview with CBC News.

"They were relatively young. They will not be able to see their children or grandchildren or their friends graduate, get married, have their own kids.

"So it was a real tragedy."