Why this matters: a tragic reminder

Help us tell this story because workers are still dying in trench collapses.

Eric Philpott

11/28/20242 min read

An inspector from the Ministry of Labour photographing the site of a fatal pit collapse in North York.

Just a few weeks ago there was a pit collapse in North York. One worker lost his life and two others were seriously injured. The fire crew dug the workers out by hand, just like they did in Dresden in 1957. The fire crew chief was quoted in the press: "In my 38 years, I have never seen a danger like this." Like most of us, he may have never even heard of trench collapses like this before.

I visited the site the next day. I wanted to see what it was like after something like this happens. It was very quiet. There was police tape around the parking lot where the accident had occurred, and police keeping an eye on it. I met a team of inspectors from the Ministry of Labour and told them about our film project. None of them had heard of the Dresden cave-in, even though it remains one of Ontario’s worst workplace tragedies and inspectors from their own ministry (then called the Department of Labour) had been in Dresden.

Unfortunately, what happened in North York was not an isolated case. In Ontario, there were at least three other trench collapses between July and November, 2024. Together these incidents cost the lives of three workers and nearly took the lives of five others.

These tragedies remind us why it’s so important that the story of DRESDEN 1957 is told. It’s not only about honouring those who lost their lives (although that is the least we can do), it’s about remembering a piece of our shared history. We can’t learn from our past if we don’t even know it. Imagine if this story saved even one person’s life…

Aerial view of a 2022 pit collapse in Ajax, Ontario in which killed two workers.. Image from The 4K Guy on YouTube

That's why I am writing this blog post. You can help us tell this story simply by making more people aware of this documentary project.

Thanks to your support, we are around the halfway point in our work on DRESDEN 1957. We’re nearly finished sorting, organizing, and cleaning up all of our footage and interviews. The most exciting part of the process, when we start editing the film itself, is just around the corner. We’ll be sharing that with you in the coming months, but for now our focus is on growing the community around this project.

How you can help us tell this story

We have completely updated www.Dresden1957.com, including more information about the tragedy, our documentary project, and how people who want to help can get involved. Let us know what you think, and please, share the link with anyone who you think would be interested!

Follow us on Social

It’s especially important to spread the word on social media. If you haven’t done so already, you can help us grow by subscribing to our YouTube channel or following us on Facebook:

f you are on Instagram or Twitter/X, you can follow us there, too:

Share our posts

You can share our latest video with friends, or post it on your own Facebook page: https://youtu.be/I4_X64YbYKg?si=4nXqIHZy6YI2Fher

Please help us grow this community. Together, we can make sure the story of DRESDEN 1957 is finally told.

Thank you for your support.

Eric Philpott