HONOURING THE BRONCOS
Crash site donated for memorial
The rural municipality encompassing the Humboldt Broncos crash site has offered the team a place to build a permanent roadside memorial at the intersection where a lasting heartbreak began last spring.
Sixteen people died and another 13 were injured when the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team’s bus collided with a tractor-trailer north of Tisdale around 5 p.m.on April 6.
Two months later, the RM of Connaught made the offer in a letter to the team, and its council subsequently resolved that a maintenance agreement would be implemented should the team choose to accept.
In an interview this week, the RM’S deputy reeve said it made sense for the municipality to offer the site at the corner of Highway 335 and Highway 35, which was formerly occupied by a gas station.
“I don’t know if that’s where the memorial will be. That’s up to the Broncos and the families that were involved. All the RM has done is offered if they choose to put it there, there’s a place,” Ian Boxall said.
Earlier this week, a consulting firm hired by the provincial government to conduct a safety review of the intersection noted that the makeshift memorial at the site will likely draw visitors for decades.
As a result, Mcelhanney Consulting Services Ltd. engineer Cory Wilson recommended that “a more permanent installation be considered at a safer location,” set back far enough to protect pedestrians.
Broncos president Jamie Brockman told The Canadian Press that a committee of family members, team representatives and local residents is “ready to start regular meetings” on the subject.
It is not clear how long that process is expected to take, but Boxall, who lives a few miles from the site, said the RM’S offer was never intended to pressure the team or the families of the victims.
“Where they want it is where I want it,” he said.
A request to interview Brockman was directed to the City of Humboldt, which did not provide a comment by deadline.
The father of 18-year-old Evan Thomas, who died in the crash, said the parents of players and team personnel have been talking about memorials for some time and he has a preference.
The roadside memorial “took on a life of its own” and should not be moved far from its current location, Scott Thomas said. If necessary, the speed limit should be reduced to ensure pedestrians are safe. “That spot to me is hallowed ground,” he said.