Lac-Mégantic documentary collection factors to negligence as reason for tragedy

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Oscar-nominated Montreal filmmaker Philippe Falardeau doesn’t make any pretence of being impartial in his new documentary collection in regards to the Lac-Mégantic rail tragedy.

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Falardeau’s standpoint is true there within the title: Lac-Mégantic – Ceci n’est pas un accident, or in English, Lac-Mégantic: This Is Not an Accident. Talking to journalists in regards to the documentary collection after a press screening Monday morning on the Imperial Cinema, Falardeau caught himself calling the occasion an accident on a few events and shortly corrected himself. He directed the collection and co-wrote it with Nancy Guerin.

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The four-part collection makes the case in compelling style that the negligence of the railroad trade and the federal authorities led on to the horrifying derailment in July 2013 when an unattended practice carrying 72 vehicles of Bakken shale oil rolled down a steep slope and careened proper into the centre of the city of Lac-Mégantic. Forty-seven folks have been killed and greater than 7 million litres of crude oil spilled. The ensuing hearth incinerated many of the city’s centre.

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“The hazard nonetheless exists,” mentioned Falardeau, who was nominated on the Academy Awards within the class of finest foreign-language movie for his 2011 drama Monsieur Lazhar.

Falardeau mentioned he believes not all that a lot has modified within the railroad trade for the reason that tragedy.

“So the ticking time bomb remains to be energetic,” Falardeau mentioned. “And in some unspecified time in the future it’s going to occur in downtown Calgary or in Magog, the place the residents maintain writing me since I’ve been selling the collection, saying ‘M. Falardeau, it’s important to do one other documentary about Magog.’ Sadly, I gained’t be making a documentary about Magog. However all over the place on this nation, the potential (of one other comparable accident) exists.”

The collection premièred Tuesday on Vrai, Videotron’s actuality streaming service that’s obtainable on illico TV and Helix TV. Should you’re not a Videotron shopper, you’ll be able to subscribe to Vrai on-line at videotron.com. It had its Canadian première this previous weekend on the Scorching Docs Pageant in Toronto.

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The thesis of the collection is that cost-cutting at Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, the U.S.-based firm that operated the practice, led partially to the derailment and that Transport Canada allowed the corporate to function the practice with only one worker onboard.

“All the pieces that we demanded from Transport Canada, to make sure our security, has already been forgotten,” says former Lac-Mégantic mayor Colette Roy-Laroche in Episode 3.

Roy-Laroche options prominently within the collection, each in interviews and in footage from the time of the incident. Falardeau and his group additionally managed to persuade Edward Burkhardt, the previous CEO of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic, to take a seat down for an interview, and it’s fascinating — and form of disturbing — to take heed to this railway boss form of jovially give his tackle what occurred.

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“He seems to not care about what occurred, however he does care,” Falardeau mentioned. “However he’s a cowboy. He lives in a world the place they at all times need much less guidelines, no more guidelines. I fully disagree together with his standpoint, however I can’t not give him credit score for speaking to us. He wished to speak.”

Falardeau mentioned each the federal minister of transport on the time, Denis Lebel, and the following minister, Marc Garneau, refused to talk with the filmmakers.

“The attention-grabbing query is, who pulled the plug on the thought of a public inquiry?” Falardeau mentioned. “It was determined when there was nonetheless burning rubble in Lac-Mégantic. The extent of cynicism is so excessive that you just virtually have to face again in admiration. All of the politicians arrived there and, after all, they mentioned it was tragic. Their empathy is obvious … however they’d been briefed and so they name it an accident. They repeat the phrase ‘accident’.”

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Falardeau mentioned Transport Canada has a contradictory mandate.

“Transport Canada has two jobs,” Falardeau mentioned. “To make sure security for all modes of transport and to advertise the financial system by way of transportation. It’s troublesome to reconcile these two issues. I not too long ago used the metaphor that I like lots — a hockey referee has to verify the foundations are revered, however he’s not there to ensure that probably the most targets potential are scored. These are contradictory issues, and that’s form of what they’re asking Transport Canada to do.”

The guts and soul of the documentary are the folks from Lac-Mégantic who describe the horror they lived by, the lack of family members, the destruction of a giant chunk of their hometown. He mentioned most have been prepared to be interviewed for the challenge, even when it introduced again painful reminiscences.

“Once we began the analysis, it was seven years after the tragedy, so the mud had settled,” Falardeau mentioned. “They’ve been in a position to lastly form of make some sense out of the occasion. They’re not considering suicide, as a result of I’ll inform you the general public you see on the display thought of that, in a technique or one other. In order that helped. Additionally, we didn’t arrive with cameras the primary time and even the second or third time. We received to know them. So by the point we filmed the interviews, there was a sense of confidence between us.”

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