CARBERRY — On the same day RCMP announced no charges would be laid in connection with the 2023 fatal crash near Carberry, Grady Stephenson, the town’s deputy fire chief, and one of 13 volunteer firefighters who responded to the crash, was helping to plan the installation of a memorial in the town.
A tree will be planted for each of the 17 victims and a monument will be erected to honour the 17 seniors who were killed at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5 in June 2023.
“We have the design of what the memorial is going to look like, and we’re going to work with families on the wording and how things are laid out on there,” said Stephenson, who is also the town’s chief administrative officer.
“It’s very much a co-ordinated effort with the families of those that were involved.”
In January, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew promised his government would provide funding for memorials in Dauphin and at the intersection near Carberry.
Dauphin’s monument was unveiled on June 15, and the plan is to have a ceremony and unveiling in Carberry on Aug. 11.
The look of the memorial is being kept under wraps so that when it’s presented, everyone will see it at the same time, Stephenson said.
He said first responders will also be recognized.
While the memory of the Carberry crash will never go away, he said, seeing the memorial won’t cause any additional turmoil.
“There are things that you’re never going to release from your mind, but to see something permanent that memorializes it — that’s something that people will see well into the future, and they’ll know what we experienced and that people are appreciated for what they did that day.”
The memorial will be set up in the Day Lily Garden at Carberry’s northern entrance, just off the Trans-Canada Highway by the “Welcome to Carberry” sign.
The park has picnic tables, an area for dogs to run, and a pergola surrounded by daylilies, irises and shrubs.
Ray Muirhead, the town’s mayor, said he met with a group of three women who each lost a family member in the crash, and they helped select the location for the memorial.
“It’s going to be nice,” Muirhead said.
Most of the items for the memorial have been pledged by the community, he said.
“We have 17 trees that have been donated. We also have three granite benches that were donated, and the memorial is going to be illuminated — lit up — at night,” Muirhead said.
The mancana ash trees have arrived, but they haven’t been planted yet, Stephenson said.
“I think they’re probably six- or eight-footers,” he said.
“We’re trying to make it tranquil, a bit private, and a sheltered type of area where people can go and reflect if they choose to — and trying to make it look like it’s well-established.”
Muirhead also shared how he had just met with the province and other stakeholders online, to discuss options to improve safety at the deadly intersection.
It was the first of three sessions hosted by a consultant hired by Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure, with representatives from the Manitoba Trucking Association and the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford, among others, said Muirhead.
The consultation process was announced by Kinew in January after the release of an independent safety report that presented three intersection improvement options.
They included a roundabout, widening the median at the intersection, and a new “RCUT” intersection design that is widely used in the U.S. in which drivers turn onto a main road and make a U-turn at a one-way median.
Kinew said $12 million has been earmarked on improvements.
The provincial government intends to complete public engagement on the project by 2025, a spokesperson said.
— Brandon Sun
