On Wednesday, the Transportation Safety Board released its conclusions after a two-year study of the tragic sinking of the Queen of the North.
Among other things, the board report looked into what went on 14 minutes before the crash, when the crew, which it described as distracted, failed to make a course correction off Gil Island in Wright Sound.
The report said the system failed because there were not enough qualified people on the ferry's bridge. It called for the installation of voyage data recorders for large passenger vessels, saying that had there been one, "there would be no talk of what crew were doing for those 14 minutes."
The ferry slammed into Gil Island at full speed in the early hours of March 22, 2006, as the vessel made its scheduled run from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, B.C.
Of the 101 crew and passengers aboard, only 99 made it to safety. Two passengers, Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette have not been seen since the accident and have been declared dead. Each left two children.
TSB officials, including chair Wendy Tadros and Captain Pierre Murray and Captain Yvette Myers, were online earlier today to take your questions.
Wendy Tadros is a lawyer with extensive experience in the transportation sector. She held a variety of management and legal positions with the National Transportation Agency (NTA) of Canada and its predecessor, the Canadian Transport Commission. In the late 1980s, as lead counsel, she represented the Canadian Transport Commission before the Commission of Inquiry into the Hinton Train Collision. In the early 1990s, as Assistant General Counsel for the NTA, she worked on the Agency's input into a national review of transportation.
Captain Pierre Murray has been a Senior Marine Investigator at the Transportation Safety Board.of Canada since 1993. He has since participated in more than 100 investigations involving various types of ships and vessels. Prior to joining the TSB, Captain Murray was assistant manager operation for a major Canadian shipping company. He has 13 years sailing experience on several types of foreign going ships and coastal trading vessels.
Captain Yvette Myers was appointed Director of Marine Investigations for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) in December 2006. Prior to joining the TSB, Captain Myers was with the Vancouver Port Authority where she was Director of Marine Operations and Harbour Master of Canada's busiest Port. Before that she spent 20 years with the Canadian Coast Guard during which she worked as Director, Marine Programs (Pacific Region), Superintendent Navigable Waters Protection Division, and spent 10 years at sea as a Ship's Deck Officer.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Christine Diemert, globeandmail.com: Thanks for joining us today.
Wendy Tadros, Captain Yvette Myers, Captain Pierre Murray: Thank you. It is nice to be answering questions with you online again. We at the TSB believe that it is important to explain the work we do so that Canadians will understand the processes we follow to advance transportation safety. We encourage you to visit our web site for the entire report and other documents related to the investigation.
Christine Diemert, globeandmail.com: Circumstances around the sinking of the Queen of the North have become the fodder for a lot of gossip and speculation. How difficult is it to conduct a review under such circumstances?
