The Ontario Provincial Police is being tight-lipped about the information it received that led to it launching a criminal investigation into the Algo Centre Mall roof collapse, but it will “get to the bottom of what happened,” a spokesperson said.

OPP Sgt. Pierre Chamberland said criminal investigation officers are collecting information from all sources, including the public.

“As a result of the totality of that information, it was prudent that we commence a criminal investigation,” Chamberland told reporters in Elliot Lake.

No charges have been laid yet, he said.

“We will look at (all sources of) information with a criminal lens attached to it, and, based on where that information leads us, we will follow it to its logical conclusion,” he said.

That could very well result in charges against more than one person, because “there's always potential for more than one person to be charged through a criminal investigation, and that all depends on where the evidence will bring us.”

Through the investigation, officers will be looking at the state of the mall, from both its past and present state, as well as various reports and investigations that might have been filed in the past.

“(This investigation is) just getting underway, and there's a lot of information to sift through,” he said. “It would be unwise for us to draw any conclusions at this point, because of the fact it's such a fluid investigation.

“We aren't going to exclude anything, and we want to get all the information we possibly can. We don't want to limit our options, so we will take a wide scope in this investigation. Our investigators know what they're doing; this is what they do for a living, and they'll look at absolutely everything.”

The OPP wouldn't even provide any details as to how many officers are working on the investigation, but assured media and residents that information will be shared as it becomes available, “as legislation permits.”

“These types of investigations can be quite lengthy; they have to be very thorough, because we have to be able to present information that will stand up in court,” he said.

The criminal investigation supersedes the investigations being undertaken by the Chief Coroner's Office and the Ministry of Labour, he said, although everyone is working together in all three investigations.

Posted by Arron Pickard