Dresden 1957 anniversary event

On Wednesday, August 14 we held a special event at the Old Czech Hall in Dresden, honouring the memories of the men who lost their lives on that day in 1957. This is the second time that the tragedy has been discussed in this venue; the Coroner's Inquest was held here, too, on September 12, 1957

This was different: for the first time, members of the Dresden community joined family members of the six victims to mark the occasion together. The event was opened by Rhonda Jubenville, one of the councillors for Ward 4 in Chatham Kent, which includes the town of Dresden. After that, I spoke about the tragedy, and the hard work of turning this into a film.

Journalist Trevor Terfloth from the Chatham Daily News was in attendance. He has been following this documentary project closely since speaking with me last fall. He wrote this article about the event.

Attendees stand together with family members of the victims for a moment of silence at 7pm, the time of the cave-in.

Two guests joined virtually: Anne van Arragon, a journalist and historian, spoke about the Dutch migration to Canada in the postwar years, and the challenges they faced starting out in this new country. Michael Chappell, a retired professor of workplace safety at TMU spoke about the dangers facing immigrant workers, how inspections were carried out in the 1950's, and explained why the soil in the Dresden excavation was so unstable.

As we approached 7pm, the time of the cave-in in 1957, we paused. As I read the names of each of the six men, their family members stood up. Then all the other attendees stood as well for a moment of silence for the victims. Following the momment of silence, Andy Cornell, pastor at the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Dresden spoke a few words of comfort for the families to conclude the event.

Anne van Arragon spoke about the Dutch immigration experience in Canada in the postware years.

If you missed this event, you can watch the livestream recording here.