When the EllisDon team working on the construction of a new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex found a memorial near the site, they knew it had to be protected.
Christian Correa, senior project superintendent, said he and one of the supers were scoping out the site when they saw the monument.
“We said, ‘You know what, we should probably protect that because it looks like someone’s been taking care of it for a long time. Let’s put some fence around that, make sure it doesn’t get knocked over,’” Correa recalled.
The memorial, a white steel cross, is located directly off the side of Highway 61 on the north side adjacent to an existing MTO turnaround. EllisDon took over the entrance, which is now the main entrance to the site, until the permanent access is built. It is located near the site offices.
“It’s a steel cross painted white, but it’s been there so long that it’s started to weather a little bit and you can see the rust coming through it,” said Correa, adding they noticed flowers had been put there.
To protect it, EllisDon erected a six-by-six-foot fence to ensure it isn’t disturbed while construction is underway.
One day when Correa was pulling up to the site, he saw a woman at the memorial who he learned was Shirley Karasiewicz, a local mother who had lost her only child Robert in a snowmobiling collision 22 years ago.
“She was leaning up against the fence looking at it,” said Correa. “The local news was there as well. I pulled in and started talking to her a little bit and she was telling me the whole story, how it happened.”
She was happy to see the monument had been protected, Correa said.
“She said she wanted to give me a big hug. She was very happy to know that we had done that for her,” he explained.
“She was kind of in shock that we would go to that extent.
“When she told me she had taken care of that for 22 years that’s when I knew we made the right decision to protect it. I can’t imagine if it went the other way, if we didn’t protect it and it got damaged.”
While it meant a lot to the family, Correa said it’s also an important part of the EllisDon culture.
“As a company we’re not just here to build a building and a new facility for the area, we’re not just here to build relationships with our clients and subcontractors. When we come into town for these kinds of things, building a relationship with the community is just as important,” said Correa. “It’s the little things like this that make a big difference.
“This is our culture and I couldn’t see us doing anything different. I don’t consider myself doing anything special other than kind of operating under our values as a company. We genuinely care about the communities that we come into.”
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