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44-586: Ottawa Mayor Charlotte Whitton initially opposed the plans of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to build the bridge to ease east–west traffic in the city. In 1961, Diefenbaker's government threatened to reduce the amount of federal grants to Ottawa by the cost of the bridge if the city did not agree to build it. After further negotiations, an agreement on building the bridge was signed by the municipal, provincial, and federal governments in 1964. The original construction plan included two three-lane, 300-metre-long (980 ft) bridges, one eastbound and one westbound, and

88-483: A mandatory provincial building code for falsework and bridge construction. The recommendations of the inquest prompted a rewrite of the Construction Safety Act to increase workplace safety standards. Widows of those killed in the accident received a lump sum payout of $ 300 to cover the cost of a funeral, an allowance of $ 75 per month, and $ 40-$ 50 per month for each child still in school. The bridge

132-460: A red background,' a symbol of cowardice. 'It is a poor observance of our first century as a nation if we run up a flag of surrender with three dying maple leaves on it,' she said. For Whitton, the Red Ensign, with its Union Jack and coat of arms containing symbols of England , Scotland , Ireland and France (or a similar flag with traditional symbols on it) would be a stronger embodiment of

176-414: A third. The inquest jury also made a series of recommendations to prevent future accidents of this type. These included clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of construction firms and engineering consultants, stricter training and reporting requirements for inspectors, and requirements that falsework designs be stamped by a qualified engineer and use appropriate lumber. It also recommended creating

220-425: Is in fact held by Barbara Hanley , who became mayor of the small Northern Ontario town of Webbwood in 1936. Whitton is the first woman to serve as mayor of a large Canadian city. Whitton was elected Ottawa mayor in the general municipal election in her own right in 1953, serving until 1956. She turned it into a full-time job. She ran again for mayor of Ottawa in 1960, and was elected, serving until 1964, when she

264-679: The Canadian Jewish Congress : "Certainly in the course of the Second World War and the Holocaust, she was instrumental in keeping Jewish orphans out of Canada because of her belief that Jews would not make good immigrants and were basically inferior." As Mayor in 1964, she declined Bertram Loeb 's $ 500,000 donation to the City's Ottawa Civic Hospital . The official rationale was that the city could not afford to keep

308-744: The Canadian Council on Child Welfare, and worked there until 1941. It became the Canadian Welfare Council, now the Canadian Council on Social Development, and helped bring about a wide array of new legislation to help children and immigrants. In 1934, Whitton was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the 1934 New Year Honours . She served on the League of Nations Social Questions Committee. Whitton

352-514: The Canadian achievement in peace and war. She became well-known for her assertiveness, and for her vicious wit with which many male colleagues, and once the Lord Mayor of London , were attacked. She is noted for the quotation: "Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult." On October 23, 1955, while mayor, Whitton appeared on

396-470: The Canadian media about whether the relationship between Whitton and Grier could be characterized as lesbian , or merely as an emotionally intimate friendship between two unmarried women, with the debate hinging in part on the question of whether or not it was necessary to prove that Whitton and Grier had ever had sexual intercourse with each other. However, Whitton never publicly identified as lesbian during her political career, and Grier died before Whitton

440-666: The Jewish War Orphans in Canada by Fraidie Martz) In 1938, she attended a conference in Ottawa to launch the Canadian National Committee on Refugees (CNCR). She showed opposition to some of the other attendees' arguments. A common belief is that she was directly opposed to Jews and in particular Jewish children. Oscar Cohen of the Canadian Jewish Congress is reported to have said she "almost broke up

484-532: The Sunday evening American game show What's My Line . In the 1958 federal election, Whitton made her only attempt to run for Parliament, in the riding of Ottawa West , as the Progressive Conservative nominee. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Ontario Premier Leslie Frost campaigned for her. However, she lost to Liberal Party incumbent George McIlraith by 1,425 votes. McIlraith held

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528-430: The bridge fell between fifteen and twenty metres to the ground, while rebars , cement , wood, concrete, and other building materials fell on them. The collapse created a loud impact noise and a cloud of dust. It also triggered the nearby Dominion Observatory 's seismometer , which prompted officials to issue a statement that the collapse had not been caused by an earthquake. Many workers panicked and ran or swam away from

572-404: The centre operating. The sentiment exists that she "simply didn't want the name of a Jewish family on an Ottawa hospital building.". According to Patricia Rooke (co-author of a 1987 biography of Whitton), Whitton was a "complete anglophile" who opposed all non-British immigration to Canada. "Charlotte Whitton was a racist," according to Rooke. "Her anti-Semitism, I think, was the least of it. She

616-698: The city's Ottawa on the Move infrastructure plan — that improved its bearings , expansion joints , and pavement , among other changes. In July 2016, after a campaign by the Ottawa and District Labour Council , the Ottawa City Council voted to rename the bridge the Heron Road Workers Memorial Bridge to honour the victims of the collapse. A rededication ceremony was held at the aforementioned plaque on August 10, 2016,

660-474: The collapse was completed in November 1966 after a week of testimony from over seventy witnesses. The total cost for the inquest was $ 100,000. It was led by Ontario coroner H.B. Cotnam, who retained the engineering firm H.G. Acres Ltd to help conduct the investigation. Officially, the inquest was into the causes of death for site foreman Clarence Beattie. The inquest blamed the lack of proper diagonal bracing on

704-400: The collapsed area showed signs of buckling . Secondary contributing factors included the use of green lumber , which was weaker than mature wood, differences between how the footings settled, and temporary overload of some of the posts. The inquest heard testimony that a third design for the falsework, which did not include diagonal bracing, was meant by the consulting engineers to supplement

748-591: The council chambers, Ottawa City Hall, 111 Sussex Drive, Ottawa. "A controversial fighter for social reform, Charlotte Whitton served on the Canadian Council on Child Welfare (later the Canadian Welfare Council) and on the League of Nations Social Questions Committee. In 1951, she was elected mayor of Ottawa." Two biographies of Whitton were published in 1987 and 2010 (see below). Author David Mullington's 2010 work Charlotte: The Last Suffragette won

792-412: The eastern side of the partially completed third span of the southern bridge when it collapsed at 3:27 p.m. According to an eyewitness account from a M.M. Dillon manager, the crew had been pouring concrete eastwards from the centre of the span when the western end of the span was flipped upwards and onto the rest of the bridge, bringing it down. The wooden falsework on the bridge failed and workers on

836-458: The falling wet cement that had just been poured on the bridge when it collapsed. Among the dead were Leonard Baird, the project's resident engineer, and Clarence Beattie, the site foreman; the other seven workers who died were Jean Paul Guerin, Omer Lamadeleine, Edmund Newton, Lucien Regimbald, Dominic Romano, Raymond Tremblay, and Joao Viegas. The accident remains the deadliest construction accident in both Ottawa and Ontario history. An inquest into

880-406: The falsework's design and construction, arguing that the design and method of construction had been approved by M.M Dillon, their design consulting engineering firm. John Bromley, the project engineer at Dillon in charge of approving the falsework design, testified that the fault for not recognizing the fatal lack of diagonal bracing was his alone and said that "My mind must have been a bit confused at

924-529: The fiftieth anniversary of the collapse, and included three workers who survived the collapse, Mayor Jim Watson , local City Councillor Riley Brockington, the president of the Ottawa and District Labour Council, as well as the relatives of the victims. A new plaque was unveiled at the event. 45°22′33″N 75°42′00″W  /  45.37583°N 75.70000°W  / 45.37583; -75.70000 Charlotte Whitton Charlotte Elizabeth Whitton OC CBE (March 8, 1896 – January 25, 1975)

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968-503: The inaugural meeting of the congress on refugees by her insistent opposition and very apparent anti-Semitism ." This sentiment is countered by the official record, which includes notes from her presentation, including "lobby the government to initiate a long-term refugee program ..." and an interest in protecting all at risk, "particularly Hebrews in the Reich and in Italy ." According to

1012-510: The influx of patients or to travel to the site to provide aid such as administering morphine to trapped workers. The high number of patients forced the hospital to cancel all elective procedures and relocate patients in wings adjacent to the emergency room so the injured construction workers could be kept together. Because many of the injured were recently arrived Europeans who were not fluent in English, were not carrying their identification at

1056-423: The lack of diagonal bracing but were reassured by the engineering student leading the inspection tour that it had been approved by qualified engineers. Because the inspectors were not trained engineers and had been told not to question qualified engineers, the lack of bracing was not reported. Oliver Gaffney, the owner and namesake of the construction firm building the bridge, accepted only partial responsibility for

1100-610: The overwhelmed, but nearby Civic Hospital, when his hospital only received their first patient at 4:30 p.m. despite having its staff on standby in anticipation of a patient influx. Rescue efforts ended at 3:30 a.m. when it became too dark to continue using the required machinery. Nine men died as a result of the collapse: seven were killed on site, one died at the Civic Hospital, and another died from his injuries in September. Over sixty workers were injured, mostly from

1144-489: The previous design, which did have the bracing. However it was interpreted by the construction firm as being a complete and final design. There was conflicting evidence about who was responsible for the change to remove the bracing from the design, with the Gaffney construction firm blaming M.M. Dillon, their engineering consultants, who denied they were responsible. Furthermore, municipal and provincial safety inspectors noticed

1188-420: The project still had two three-lane bridges, but the prestressed concrete bridges would only be 877.5 feet long. In August 1965, the city awarded the bridge construction contract to O.J. Gaffney Ltd and hired M.M. Dillon & Company Ltd as consulting engineers for designing and supervising the project. Each bridge had four spans , for which the concrete was poured in two layers. Work started in fall 1965 on

1232-620: The riding from 1940 to 1968, and Whitton's challenge was the closest he faced during that period. Whitton was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967. She ran for the position of city alderwoman (councillor) in 1967, and was elected, serving until 1972. Whitton had many remarkable achievements, but her story is framed by current controversy over some of her actions. She has been accused in print of espousing, "a 'scientific' racism that viewed groups such as Jews and Armenians as 'undesirable' immigrants." ( Open Your Hearts: The Story of

1276-547: The site right after the collapse, while others ran to the site to help the victims. People picnicking in nearby Vincent Massey Park arrived on the scene to help shortly before emergency services did. Ottawa mayor Don Reid also came to the scene and joined in the rescue efforts with a pair of bolt cutters . Most of the injured were taken to the Civic Hospital , which was in the middle of switching from day to night shifts, allowing many medical staff to stay and deal with

1320-653: The time of the accident, and were covered in concrete, many blood transfusions were done without having a patient name, contrary to standard operating procedure. Over one third of the 183 workers were treated at the Civic Hospital, while the Ottawa General Hospital and the National Defence Medical Centre received just two patients each. The surgeon of the General Hospital criticized the focus on sending patients to

1364-507: The time." The inquest found that O.J. Gaffney Ltd. of Stratford, Ontario , and M.M Dillon Co. were both responsible for the bridge collapse. O.J. Gaffney Ltd. was found guilty on two charges and fined $ 5,000, the maximum allowed penalty under the existing Construction Safety Act . As a result of the findings, the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario suspended two of its members, including Bromley, for one year and reprimanded

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1408-454: The unexpected death of mayor Grenville Goodwin in August of the same year, only some eight months into his term, Whitton was immediately appointed acting mayor, and on 30 September 1951 was confirmed by city council to remain mayor until the end of the normal three-year term. Whitton is sometimes mistakenly credited as the first woman ever to serve as a mayor in Canada, but this distinction

1452-470: The western spans, which were mostly finished by August 1966. Meanwhile, wooden falsework was used to support the less complete eastern spans still being built. The first concrete layer for the third of both bridges' four spans had been poured back in July 1966 without issue. On August 10, 1966, a shift of about sixty to seventy workers were almost finished pouring 2,000 short tons (1,800 t) of concrete on

1496-414: The wooden falsework supporting the concrete. University of Toronto engineering department head Carson Morrison gave expert evidence using wooden models to show flaws in the unbraced falsework's design. The inquest found that the weight of even one layer of concrete being placed to form the bridge deck exceeded the weight that the supports could hold, and that a second collapse was imminent as supports near

1540-508: Was a Canadian feminist and mayor of Ottawa . She was the first woman mayor of a major city in Canada, serving from 1951 to 1956 and again from 1960 to 1964. Whitton was a Canadian social policy pioneer, leader and commentator, as well as a journalist and writer. Charlotte Elizabeth Hazeltyne Whitton was born in Renfrew, Ontario , a small Ottawa Valley town about 100 km northwest of Ottawa. She attended Queen's University where she

1584-430: Was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws by Queen's in 1941. She published two books in 1943. Despite her strong views on women's equality, Whitton was a strong social conservative, and did not support making divorce easier. She was a regular columnist in Ottawa's daily newspapers. Whitton was elected to Ottawa's Board of Control in 1950, leading the city-wide polls, and started her term on January 1, 1951. Upon

1628-618: Was budgeted at two and a half million dollars. The bridge was slightly north of Hog's Back Falls and was to connect Baseline Road and Heron Road over the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal for both motorists and pedestrians. The City of Ottawa awarded the contract to build the footings of the concrete piers supporting the bridge to Beaver Construction in February 1965. This work was completed by June 1965. The final plan for

1672-405: Was defeated on her try for re-election. Whitton was a staunch defender of Canada's traditions, and, as Ottawa mayor, condemned Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson 's proposal in 1964 for new national flag to replace the traditional Canadian Red Ensign . Whitton dismissed Pearson's design as a 'white badge of surrender, waving three dying maple leaves' which might as well be 'three white feathers on

1716-444: Was elected as mayor, so Whitton could not be credited as Canada's first out LGBT mayor regardless of the nature of her relationship with Grier. Grier died in 1947 and she is buried at Thompson Hill Cemetery, Thompson Hill, Horton, Ontario , Canada. In 1975 Whitton was buried alongside her. Whitton's relationship with Grier was dramatized in a 2008 play called Molly's Veil written by Canadian playwright and actor Sharon Bajer. Bajer

1760-447: Was inspired to write the play after reading letters written between Whitton and Grier, and used these as the basis for the play. The play explores Whitton's relationship with her partner Grier, portraying Whitton as a loving partner in a lesbian relationship and deals with the tension between Whitton's private life and her public one. The Ontario Heritage Trust erected a plaque for Charlotte Elizabeth Whitton, O.C., C.B.E. 1896-1975 in

1804-591: Was kept off a new Archives Building in Ottawa due to this controversy. Whitton never married, but lived for years in a Boston marriage living arrangement with Margaret Grier (1892 – December 9, 1947). Her relationship with Grier was not widespread public knowledge until 1999, 24 years after Whitton's death, when the National Archives of Canada publicly released the last of her personal papers, including many intimate personal letters between Whitton and Grier. The release of these papers sparked much debate in

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1848-566: Was quite racist about the Ukrainians , for example. She really didn't like the changing character of Canadian society." In opposition to the anti-Semite argument, Whitton was well received by various Jewish organizations in her lifetime, including B'nai B'rith and various Jewish-centred publications. She was also a supporter of—and the first to sign the nomination papers of—the first Jewish Mayor of Ottawa, Lorry Greenberg , who served as Ottawa mayor from 1975–1978. In 2011 Whitton's name

1892-510: Was rebuilt and opened to the public on June 29, 1967. In November 1987, a plaque honouring the nine workers killed was placed just west of the bridge on Heron Road. In the same year, the Canadian Labour Congress built a monument in nearby Vincent Massey Park to Canadians killed and injured at work. From February 2011 to October 2012, Heron Road Bridge was closed because of a $ 15 million rehabilitation project — part of

1936-698: Was the star of the women's hockey team and was known as the fastest skater in the league. In 1917, the year she earned a Master of Arts degree, she became the first female editor editor of the Queen's Journal newspaper. Upon graduating from Queen's, she became a civil servant as the private secretary for Thomas Low, MP and Minister of Trade in Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King 's first government. When Low lost his parliamentary seat, Whitton then focused on her role as founding director (1922) of

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