Guy Archambault still has nightmares about the De la Concorde overpass collapse.
Twenty years since the Laval, Que., overpass collapsed on Highway 19 on Sept. 30, 2006, Archambault can still picture what it was like as one of the first responders to arrive at the scene.
“It was like a bomb explode,” the retired firefighter told Global News.
“They had a car with people trapped in the car. It was really bad to discover that.”
Five people were killed that day, including the parents of an eight-year-old boy and a couple that was expecting a baby. Six others were injured.
There had been warnings from drivers and an inspector who looked at the span just an hour before a 20-metre section of the overpass disintegrated.
But for a tragedy that scarred Quebec, Archambault is one of many who feel it’s not given the respect it deserves.
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“It’s time to have something to commemorate the event,” he said.
The area’s outgoing MNA and Liberal candidate, Virginie Dufour, said the disaster deserves an annual remembrance ceremony like how the province does for other tragedies.
“For the families it’s very important, they need that to complete their grief,” Dufour said.
Dufour and the head of the Laval Historical Society have been in touch with the families of the victims, and even had a plaque made that everyone agrees on.
That plaque will be unveiled Wednesday, but the problem is – they can’t get permission to install it anywhere.
“I wrote to different ministers, and I just never got any reply whatsoever,” Dufour said.
“The advocates hope whoever the next government is they install some sort of monument to the victims, so families can get some closure.”
Transports Quebec told Global News though it’s sensitive to the families’ mourning, it’s not within the ministry’s practice to erect plaques or monuments.
A spokesperson added it’s not a safe place for pedestrians and motorists to stop and look at a plaque.
“History is not just about the grand narrative. It’s also about people,” said Jasmin Miville-Allard of the Laval Historical Society.
“I think they try to forget.”
A year-long inquiry headed by former Quebec premier Pierre-Marc Johnson didn’t lay any specific blame but called the collapse the result of a sequential chain of events.
However, the commission that investigated the accident did blame the Quebec Transport Ministry for failing to take the necessary steps to fix the structure.
The ministry now inspects overpasses and bridges every two or three years, instead of every five to six years.
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