The families of two Elliot Lake women who died in the June 2012 roof-top collapse off the Algo Centre Mall are hoping this isn’t the end of charges. On Friday the engineer who last inspected the mall before the cave-in was charged with several offenses including two counts of criminal negligence causing death. Lawyer Roger Oatley, who represents the victims’ families in an $11.25 million lawsuit, says they want to know if others will also be charged. Oatley says that group includes former Elliot Lake mayor George Farkouh, current mayor Rick Hamilton and the mall’s three separate owners since 1980. Oatley says Farkouh and Hamilton were directors with Retirement Living, which was the second owner of the mall. During last year’s inquiry, Oatley said all the mall owners did nothing to fix the building’s ongoing leaky roof despite knowing about the problem. He says the leaks threatened the structural integrity of the mall but instead of fixing the roof, the owners kept selling the building to the next buyer thereby passing along the mall’s problems.
