A decade after the Rideau sinkhole, one man's van is still gone

Paul Charette had just finished a locksmithing job at the Rideau Centre on the morning of June 8, 2016, when he walked back to the dark blue Dodge Caravan he'd parked on Rideau Street just east of Sussex Avenue. Between him and the vehicle was a massive sinkhole that had opened up on the street.

Within minutes, the gap swallowed his van whole — and the life he'd built inside it. Charette had spent 13 years working out of that vehicle and its predecessor. It was his transportation and his mobile workshop. "My whole life was in there," he says.

The sinkhole that day stretched 25 metres across the street's full width and about 20 metres in length, eventually spanning from 45 Rideau Street to 50 Rideau Street. It made headlines around the world. But for Charette, the headlines faded and the rebuilding began.

Ten years later, the incident remains one of Ottawa's most dramatic civic moments — a sudden collapse that could have killed someone. Charette was stopped by police and fire marshals before he could reach the van's edge. His former boss had urged him to retrieve it quickly, but the authorities held him back.

Today, as the city marks the anniversary, Charette's story is a reminder of how quickly life can change on an Ottawa street — and how long it can take to recover.