Dauphin to grieve as a community for collision victims By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 6:05 PM CDT Tuesday, Jun. 20, 2023 Last Modified: 10:11 AM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 21, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 20/06/2023 (1143 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Residents of Dauphin will come together to honour the 15 victims of last week’s fiery bus collision near Carberry at a memorial on Thursday, after Mounties hold a briefing to publicly identify the seniors who died.

Ten people were injured — including the driver of the minibus — and continue to be treated in hospital.

Dauphin’s ministerial association decided Tuesday to hold a community memorial at the Ukrainian Orthodox Hall in Dauphin Thursday evening and while the public is welcome, the media is not.

Wayne Olson, a community minister for the Church of Christ in Dauphin who is one of the organizers, said that’s because Dauphin is a “community.”

“This is more family time. If we had too much of a media presence it takes away from the families who want to share. The mayor and the reeve will be there, but this is more about the families. We can pray for them and we can pray for the people in hospital. We can remember our neighbours and their contributions to the community.”

Fifteen seniors were killed and 10 others were injured June 15 when their minibus collided with a semi-trailer as it crossed the Trans-Canada Highway at Highway 5 shortly before noon. The group was on its way to a casino south of Carberry. The drivers of both vehicles survived.

A spokesman for Shared Health said on Tuesday there are still 10 people being treated in hospital with five of the patients receiving critical care.

RCMP are continuing to investigate the collision, but have said dash camera footage shows the semi-trailer had the right of way.

Olson said while they haven’t been able to make contact with all of the families, because many of the deceased are still unknown to the community at large, they wanted to hold a public memorial before the funerals begin. The first is scheduled for Saturday.

“We just want to help people,” he said. “We want people to come together and tell stories. They have all impacted people around them.

“This gives people a chance to remember these people.”

The memorial will be held just hours after the names of the deceased will be released to the public.

RCMP announced on Tuesday names of people who died will be made public at a news conference in Dauphin Thursday at 1 p.m.

The RCMP said Supt. Jeff Asmundson, the force’s West District commander will speak at the news conference, which will also be attended by both Premier Heather Stefanson and Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak.

RCMP said first responders who were on the scene June 15 will attend the news conference “to show respect for those who lost their lives that day.”

Bosiak said many community members have said they wanted a memorial so the public could show support for the victims, but plans were on hold until they could determine what the families wanted.

“We are helping the community ministry with the memorial,” he said.

“We just want to help people… This gives people a chance to remember these people.”–Wayne Olson

Bosiak said a support centre, which opened after the collision, has been closed because few people went to it.

“We have since found people have their priest or pastor and they have been meeting with them. So they have been getting the support they need,” he said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason was a general assignment reporter at the Free Press.