Three victims of a farm van crash in March 2007 were honoured on Friday at a vigil in Abbotsford, just one day after the driver was charged under the Motor Vehicle Act.
Sarbjit Kaur Sidhu, 31, Amarjit Kaur Bal, 52, and Sukhwinder Kaur Punia, 46, were killed when the overloaded passenger van crashed into a concrete barrier and flipped on its roof on Highway One.
Only the driver and the front seat passenger were wearing seatbelts, and fourteen others were injured in the incident, which was en route to Rainbow Greenhouse in Chilliwack.
"It was a great loss not only for the families, but to the agricultural community as well," said Moe Gill, Abbotsford City Councillor, at the vigil.
Harwinderpal Kaur Gill, the driver of the van, and her husband's company R.H.A. Enterprises, the owner of the van, have been charged under the Motor Vehicle Act.
If convicted Gill could be sentenced to a maximum of two years in jail and an $8,000 fine. Gill will appear in court on March 27.
Investigators found the van did not have seatbelts for all of its passengers and was in overall poor condition.
A previously released WorkSafe BC report into the incident also found several factors, including a lack of seatbelts, vehicle instability and poor tire maintenance contributed to the crash.
As a result of the incidnet, the provincial government introduced new rules, including mandatory seatbelts for workers in vans, and more inspections of vehicles, and vowed to crack down on labour contractors who violated the rules.
With files from The Canadian Press
