The crash of the team bus for the Humboldt Broncos was a horrific event, killing 16 people, and it has had a worldwide impact in ways that no one could have predicted, including some positive responses that will be beneficial to a lot of people in various ways.
There has been moments of silence observed at NHL games across Canada and the U.S., as well as in other sports venues, and at the IIHF World Hockey Championship in Denmark, there was a moment of silence just prior to the Canada-U.S. game on the weekend.
The impact of the tragedy has been felt, literally, in nearly every corner of the planet — and the response isn’t just the grief and sorrow that most people have felt upon hearing the news of this event, but there has been responses in a positive way on various fronts. For example, organ donors have increased exponentially since the news came out a month ago, with close to 100,000 Canadians signing up as organ donors.
This is incredibly good news, as often organ donations are desperately wanted and needed for people facing life-and-death situations, so this will hopefully translate into many positive outcomes for people who are waiting for a heart or a lung or a liver or kidney. Will this be a sustainable interest that will continue? Only time will tell, but the hope is that it isn’t just a one-time response to a major tragedy, but will be a real, ongoing level of interest in helping people with a desperate need.
Another response from the accident has been renewed interest in improving the standards for training transport truck drivers in getting their Class 1 licenses. Up until now, while it is recommended that new drivers get training before getting their licence, it hasn’t been a mandatory requirement. There is an effort underway to make training mandatory, and actually the work to put this in place began last July, and should be in place by next year.
The plan initially was for drivers to have 70 hours of training, while Ontario has a requirement for 103.5 hours of training to get their licence. The last word from SGI is that they are considering the level of training required, and the 70-hour level isn’t set in stone.
Another response has been to a request for quilts for the 29 families who had someone killed or injured in the bus crash. The response so far has seen over 600 quilts sent to Humboldt, including from Weyburn’s Crocus Quilters, and most recently, from Qatar in the Middle East, where Canadian quilters took up the challenge and have sent quilts. All of this shows many people from all walks of life care about what happened, and are responding.
