Finally

Air Canada Flight 621 crashed on July 5, 1970 killing all 109 people on board. The cause: Pilot error

Though the Air Canada crash that shaped my life and that of so many others took place exactly forty years ago, the pain is still raw.

My voice continues to tremble when I talk about losing my mother and two little sisters in this tragic Air Canada plane crash. Faced with a tragedy of this magnitude at the tender age of 13, teetering between childhood and adolescence, it’s nothing short of a miracle that I am where I am today. There were no grief counsellors, no crisis intervention, no professionals whatsoever, to help any of the family members and friends who were shattered and wounded and frail.

I did it myself. I made the right choices. I readily accepted the love and support from relatives and friends, I stayed excessively busy and distracted, I searched for positivity, and I grasped onto hope. Yet still close to the surface … that broken little girl inside the woman has not been buried deep but continues to be a vital part of who I am.

Sunday’s private event has been sponsored and organized by the new landowners of the fields where the crash occurred. Our gratitude is endless to the landowners for having the sensitivity and generosity for taking full financial responsibility for the memorial event and future memorial garden.

This emotional memorial event will not dampen the pain. Rather, the event will give even sharper focus to the collective grief for all of us who lost loved ones in the Air Canada crash, caused by pilot error.

Sorry, he said – then 109 on jet died – Montreal Star

Pilot tried to correct error; it was too late – Montreal Gazette

Split-second ‘spoiler’ mistake caused air crash – Montreal Star

‘Huge error’ charged – Montreal Gazette

The Memorial event will serve to honour the memories of those who perished in the Air Canada disaster. Finally.

Prior to my knowledge of or involvement in the planning of the memorial, I was told that Air Canada blatantly refused to help with the clean-up of the debris and bones still evident at the crash site. Furthermore, they declined any interest or involvement in the memorial garden at the actual crash site. The actual burial site. This is disappointingly consistent with Air Canada’s historical approach to this tragedy – callousness and complete neglect. Keeping in character, and having done only what they were legally required to do, they have stayed away. Need they be reminded that 109 people died because of their pilot error? Our lives were never the same. The tragedy has affected the children and grandchildren of the victims. The effects continue to trickle like a leaky faucet – drip drop, drip drop. Upsetting, annoying, deafening.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, we heard only last week that an executive from Air Canada was asking for permission from the families and the landowners to attend this private memorial on Sunday, July 4th. After speaking with my immediate and extended family as well as with several family members of other victims, it was confirmed that there is a high level of discomfort regarding Air Canada’s sudden interest in the memorial. They just don’t seem to get it –  part of the tragedy for me and other family members has been Air Canada’s heartlessness and insensitivity for 40 years. None of the surviving family members are in any mood to experience any of that at the memorial. In fact, Air Canada may feel it met its responsibilities – but as far as the families are concerned, it didn’t. Far from it. And now, a public relations spin on Air Canada’s part, is the last thing any of us want a part of.