Thanks to a community fundraising effort organized through United Way British Columbia, five men who were killed when a crane collapsed two years ago in Kelowna will not be forgotten.
At a memorial event on the two-year anniversary of the collapse hosted by the City of Kelowna, Kelly Hutchinson, vice-president with the North Okanagan Labour Council, announced the planned creation of a permanent physical memorial.
Community members are trying to raise $300,000 to build The RISE Memorial to “immortalize the memories of the five men lost,” the fundraising page reads.
The memorial is intended to “evolve over time as a key anchor point in the downtown Kelowna landscape, giving everyone a space to grieve, remember, reminisce and be truly present in the power of community.”
The memorial will be constructed at Knowles Heritage Park in Kelowna and feature five trees for each life lost and four dedicated areas for each family to grieve. It was designed by Kelowna-based Ecora Engineering & Resource Group Ltd.
On July 12, 2021, Cailen Vilness, Eric and Patrick Stemmer and Jared Zook were killed when a crane they were dismantling collapsed at a Kelowna highrise. Part of the crane crashed through a neighbouring building, killing Brad Zawislak as well.
Hutchinson said the memorial has been planned since 2021.
“Back then, we were doing our best just to organize a spot for some candles, some chairs, some wreaths ― similar to what you see today ― and just have a moment to reflect and digest what had happened,” Hutchinson said at the event on July 12.
“But what I was matched with in the community and seeing the potential for rising above the pain in that way told me there was more to come.”
Hutchinson recalled the makeshift memorials that were being organized by the community and family members of the victims over the past two years.
“Probably one of the most striking symbols we saw, and we see today, was the safety vests hung up from businesses, on people’s doorsteps and right around the crash site,” he said.
The image of fencing panels around the crash side adorned with flowers and safety vests are “burned into my mind,” he added.
Vilness’ mother Danielle Pritchett said the pain of losing her son has not gotten any easier to handle in the past two years and having nowhere to go to grieve his death was difficult.
“We had a temporary memorial set up at the construction site that was equally difficult. It was dirty, it was loud,” Pritchett said.
“This place, this space that the city has given to us, what an honour. I just want to commend the city and I know we’ve done that already, but I need to from my family because it’s important for us to have a place to go to remember our loved ones,” a visibly emotional Pritchett told onlookers.
She shared a story that demonstrated the altruistic nature of her son. She said one day when Vilness was at a grocery store he saw a woman begging for a bag of potatoes. Vilness told his mother the woman said she had three children to feed and wanted potatoes since they can store for a long period of time.
“He said to the woman, ‘I’m not going to buy you potatoes, come inside,’ and he bought her all her groceries and he came home to my house after and he was crying,” she said.
“He said, ‘Mom, I can’t believe that people are at Christmas time like that with children and nothing to feed them in this day and age.’”
Pritchett ended her time in front of the microphone with a call for increased safety on worksites. She said her son had been bullied at several companies for refusing unsafe work.
“It’s a culture in the workplace where money and timeline become more important than tying off, tying on, wearing safety glasses, hard hats, work boots, all those little things,” she said.
“If you’re in a position of foreman or supervisor, please remember to take that extra time because an extra hour isn’t going to make a difference on your bottom line. It’s about safe work first.”
Recently, a series of lawsuits was filed in B.C. Supreme Court against developer Mission Group and crane manufacturer Liebherr-Components Biberach GmbH in relation to the collapse.
Hutchinson said the North Okanagan Labour Council will comb through the report when it is available to search for any actions it can take to improve safety.
You can make a donation to the memorial fund at https://uwbc.ca/campaign/crane-memorial/.
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