Mississauga Railway Accident Inquiry (Canada) : The Mississauga Railway Accident Inquiry was established under Order in Council P.C. 3286, 4 December 1979 as amended by Order in Council P.C. 2409, 5 September 1980, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C. 1970, c.I-13) and on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report upon the existing state of railway safety as it relates to the handling and carriage of dangerous goods with particular reference to: (1) the contributing factors and causes of the derailment at Mississauga, Ontario, on November 10, 1979 and the subsequent accident; (2) the steps that can be reasonably taken to reduce the risk of recurrence of such an accident anywhere in Canada; (3) the level and adequacy of existing federal law, regulations, rules and standards and of the practices and procedures governing railway safety with respect to this accident and the prevention of future similar accidents involving the handling and carriage of dangerous goods by rail; (4) the adequacy of the existing practices, procedures and maintenance standards followed by the railways and the frequency of maintenance to ensure that the standards related to the handling and carriage of dangerous goods by rail are complied with; (5) the sufficiency of enforcement of existing railway safety legislation and standards related to the handling and carriage of dangerous goods by rail, including the training, qualification and number of federal inspectors; (6) how best investigative and corrective operations in response to an accident involving dangerous goods can be coordinated between various agencies, governmental and private, bearing in mind the existing jurisdictional and constitutional framework; and (7) the distribution of functions concerning the safety, maintenance and inspection of railway roadbeds, tracks, equipment and signals. The commissioner was Samuel G.M. Grange. The secretary was Thomas B. Millar.
About midnight, on 10 November 1979, train number 54 of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was bound for Toronto from London, derailed at Mavis Road crossing in the City of Mississauga. A number of tank cars, carrying flammable and toxic substances, ended up in a twisted pile of wreckage. The first car to derail was loaded with toulene. It went off the tracks as a result of a "hot box", that is, overheating occurred due to excessive friction between the wheel bearings and the journal causing one of the axles to malfunction. Twenty-three other cars, of which 19 were carrying dangerous goods, went off the tracks as well. Fire spread through most of the derailed cars and three tank cars, which were loaded with propane, exploded and caused considerable property damage.
The seventh car in the derailment was considered the most dangerous because it contained chlorine. The risk that chlorine gas might escape and spread over a heavily populated area was enough to cause the evacuation of almost 250,000 people. Those involved were mainly from Mississauga, although some residents of Oakville and Etobicoke were forced to leave the vicinity of the derailment as well. The evacuation was thought to be the largest in North American history. Some people were not allowed to return to their homes for up to five days following the accident.
On 21 November 1979, the federal Minister of Transport, Don Mazankowski, announced in the House of Commons that a public inquiry would be established to investigate the causes of the Mississauga railway accident and to find ways to prevent the recurrence of such an incident (see Report of the Mississauga Railway Accident Inquiry, December 1980, Hull, Supply and Services, 1981, pp. 1-6).
Hearings of the commission were held in Mississauga from 15 January to 3 October 1980. There were 687 exhibits filed with the commission. RG33-125 General Inventory
