The Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission met at Haydon Hall, Regional Headquarters, 111 Lisgar Street, Ottawa, on Wednesday, 28 April 1999.

The meeting was called to order at 6:32 p.m. with Commission Chair Al Loney presiding.

ALL MEMBERS WERE PRESENT EXCEPT COMMISSIONERS BYRNE AND STEWART.

The minutes of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission meeting of

10 March 1999 were confirmed.

No declarations of interest were filed.

The following members of the Commission advised that they will be absent from Commission and Committee meetings during the dates indicated:

Commissioner W. Byrne 28 April 1999

Moved by Commissioner A. Munter

Seconded by Commissioner G. Hunter

RESOLVED THAT Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Services Committee Report No. 99-12 be received and considered and that the Rules of Procedure be suspended in order that the Commission receive and consider Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Services Committee Report No. 99-13; the report of the Interim General Manager dated 22 April 1999 entitled "Contribution to the OC Transpo Families’ Trust Fund" and the report of the Chief Administrative Officer dated 23 April 1999 entitled "Recruitment Plan for the Position of General Manager, OC Transpo".

1. POLICY ON ANIMALS ON BUSES

2. 1999 FARES

3. AGENCY OF RECORD FOR ADVERTISING SERVICES

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

1. CONTRIBUTION TO THE OC TRANSPO FAMILIES’ TRUST FUND

RECOMMENDATION

Moved by Commissioner L. Davis

Seconded by Commissioner D. Holmes

RESOLVED THAT the Commission approve for the "OC Transpo Families’ Trust Fund for the Tragedy of April 6, 1999" the contribution amount of $40,000.

RECOMMENDATION

Moved by Commissioner M. Meilleur

Seconded by Commissioner B. Hill

RESOLVED THAT Commissioner L. Davis be added as a member of the Selection Committee for the recruitment of the General Manager, OC Transpo.

Moved by Commissioner J. Legendre

Seconded by Commissioner M. Bellemare

RESOLVED THAT this Commission receive a report from the Chief Administrative Officer regarding the criteria to be set for the search firm for the new General Manager of OC Transpo.

Moved by Commissioner H. Kreling

Seconded by Commissioner R. van den Ham

RESOLVED THAT Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Services Committee Report Nos. 99-12 and 99-13; the report of the Interim General Manager dated 22 April 1999 entitled "Contribution to the OC Transpo Families’ Trust Fund" and the report of the Chief Administrative Officer dated 23 April 1999 entitled "Recruitment Plan for the Position of General Manager, OC Transpo" be received and adopted as amended by Motion Nos. TC-17, TC-18 and TC-19.

The Interim General Manager, OC Transpo, was then given the opportunity to say a few words with respect to coping with the aftermath of the tragic events of 6 April 1999.

"Twenty-two days ago, when I was called from Corporate Services Committee to OC Transpo headquarters, I had no idea of the extent of the crisis which was unfolding at 1500 St. Laurent Blvd.

It was not until later in the evening that the shock really took hold. Families and colleagues of Clare, Brian, Dave and Harry would never see them again. When Pierre Lebrun, an ex-employee, turned his gun on himself, he had left behind four dead men, two injured employees and countless workers and family members in trauma and shock.

Words will never describe the pain and grief these families, and the OC Transpo family, have been living through.

On that same afternoon, 130 buses never made it out of the garage. Some 500 trips were missed, and residents were asked to be patient and understanding. And they were. And on behalf of all of us at OC Transpo, I thank them for this.

Employees who left the building went home without their purses, briefcases, vehicles or coats – all buildings at 1500 St. Laurent had been cordoned off by the police. No one could enter the grounds until very late into the night. And even then, the entire garage area remained sealed off and would continue to be sealed off for a week.

Due to the extraordinary efforts of our workforce, the next day, we were able to provide almost full service to our customers. Employees came to work an hour before their shifts – employee assistance specialists were on hand from 4 in the morning to help employees get through this unbelievable shock.

We must congratulate our team who worked tirelessly all night to ensure that we could have service for our customers, and we want to thank our employees for coming to work and providing service, albeit with very heavy hearts.

Trauma counsellors were made available around the clock to all who needed them. Counsellors were also on hand for those who were in the immediate area of the shootings and those who worked very closely with our felled colleagues. We appreciate the invaluable service provided by this team of professionals who were recruited by our Employee Assistance group.

What followed were visitations, funeral services, counselling sessions and the memorial service preparations.

It took a while for the workers in the immediate area to be ready to return to the worksite. The reintegration was done gradually, in small groups, with the help of trauma counsellors.

The tragedy and aftermath resulted in two weeks delay in bus repair and maintenance work. This is significant – since at St. Laurent alone, we perform repair and/or maintenance work on some 60 buses in one day alone.

Furthermore, we permanently lost four valued and experienced employees, and other employees, including the two wounded, could not resume work. The Region seconded two qualified stock room people, and we moved staff who had previous experience in this area to help out. This stock room is vital because it is the central parts dispensing area for all garages. We also had delays in receiving parts for maintenance purposes – suppliers jut couldn’t access the building.

The catch-up is happening – but it will take time. The stock area continues to be under renovation which further disrupts normal activities. This disruption is very necessary because we made a commitment before this event that we would change the work area and improve working conditions.

Some of the renovations were underway at the time the shootings took place. What we needed to do after this event, was to rearrange the office areas in consultation with employees who work in the immediate area. Moreover, the parts distribution and maintenance area had been sealed as a result of the tragic event. Re-integration also took a while.

People still have the lingering effects of the tragedy…delayed reactions and trauma grief.

The memorial service at the Corel Centre was an important and healing event for us all.

Everybody worked hard to pull it together, and I want to publicly thank our OC Transpo family and our entire community for their generous and strong support.

We have doubled up our efforts to move forward. We want you to know that it won’t be easy. But you have our commitment that we will do our best to get the reliability of our fleet back to where it should be.

We thank our customers and this community for their patience and forbearance and ask that they bear with us for a little while longer as we get close to normal operations.

Finally, please join us in saluting our unions and employee representatives as well as our management team and all employees for having come this far together in a supportive way. We will forge ahead. We can do it – but we will never forget our friends and colleagues!"

Moved by Commissioner R. Cantin

Seconded by Commissioner M. McGoldrick-Larsen

RESOLVED THAT By-law 5 of 1999 to confirm the proceedings of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission be enacted and passed.