Kelowna gathers to remember victims of deadly crane collapse

Over 50 people gathered at Knowles Park to remember the victims of a deadly workplace incident. On July 12, 2021 crane operators Cailen Vilness, Jared Zook, Patrick Stemmer and Eric [...]

Kelowna gathers to remember victims of deadly crane collapse Published 2:57 pm Sunday, July 12, 2026 Over 50 people gathered at Knowles Park to remember the victims of a deadly workplace incident. On July 12, 2021 crane operators Cailen Vilness, Jared Zook, Patrick Stemmer and Eric Stemmer died when a crane collapsed on the worksite and adjacent buildings.

Brad Zawislak, an office worker in a nearby building, also died during the incident. Every year since the collapse, the community has gathered in memory of the five men from Kelowna. The permanent Rise Memorial Gardens was also established at Knowles Heritage Park.

July 12, 2026 marks five years since the tragic incident occurred. Family members and loved ones of the five men came to the Rise Memorial Gardens for an informal gathering. Crane workers from around the province had came to Kelowna to honour the five men.

The group met in Hope at around 6:30 a.m. on July 12 and reached Knowles Park in Kelowna by 10 a.m. Some had felt this year’s gathering was a more personal experience than previously. “This is the first year where everybody’s not coming because there’s an invite or ceremony or program.

I think everybody’s coming truly for their own reasons or attachments to the (memorial). You can see there’s little, just life, groups of people that are meeting with other, groups of people sharing and swapping stories of their loved ones and what this site means to them,” said Kelly Hutchinson, secretary-treasurer with the Rise Memorial Foundation, the board which helped build the memorial. “(The crane collapse) Was a pretty unprecedented event in the Okanagan, and I think that this site became so many different things and it fills a need for a space for remembrance.”

On Sunday, it was unveiled that another mural was completed to one of the four memorial benches at the park. This mural was made for Zook. Hutchinson explained that the mural designs were completely inspired by the families, with each tile having “a unique memory of that individual for the community to absorb and take in.”

Zook’s mural featured art of some of his favourite candies and media. “It’s a snapshot in time of a person,” Hutchinson said. “Everyone’s young at one point, everyone takes different roles in life, and the murals are just a snapshot of who that person was.”

A bench for the Stemmer brothers will likely be completed this year, followed by the last bench for Vilness. There has to be closure In February 2024, the RCMP recommended charges of criminal negligence causing death in relation to the crane collapse, which were sent to the BC Prosecution Services (BCPS). Despite this, the BCPS has still yet to complete the charge assessments.

Investigations of the incident conducted by the RCMP and WorkSafeBC remain sealed according to the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115. “It weighs tremendously heavily,” Hutchinson said. “It can’t be five years for anybody in the public to see reports, to know what happened.

The RCMP can’t recommend charges that just sit on a shelf. There has to be closure one way or another.” Hutchinson added that workplace safety around the province is a top concern of the memorial foundation.

“Even last year, after the National Day of Mourning, we saw 146 worker fatalities in B.C.,” he said. “A lot of it was (from) different things, but it doesn’t have to be that high.” He added that the board of the memorial foundation is in a transition period and is aiming to figure out how they can help next.

“Now that we’ve sort of made this (memorial) we want to figure out what’s the trajectory. Are we trying to inspire other memorials, are we trying to support families that are going through something similar? Is it advocacy, is it safety?” he said.

“I think it’s sort of a call to action to see this many people behind us (at the event). Whatever we do choose, it won’t just be us against the world.” Despite there being work left to do, Hutchinson recognized that safety for crane operators in B.C. has seen some improvements since the incident.

“I think the biggest change was that tower crane operation is now a certified trade. It just changes the threshold of what’s required of operators and how they’re certified,” he said. “Then there’s things like notice of project where if you’re putting up a crane, you have to notify.

Now it’s more public, and there’s more rigour in that.”