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A low-income seniors apartment building in Scarborough, Ont., after a fire claimed the lives of four people, on Feb. 5.Chris Young/The Globe and Mail

After his parents were caught in a deadly fire at their seniors' home last year, Melford Roberts spent hours frantically looking for them inside Scarborough hospitals. It wasn't until the next morning that his sister was told by police that both their mother and father had died after being trapped in a hallway inside the burning building.

"The way their lives were lost, it wasn't easy. I thought they would be in a hospital because of minor smoke inhalation or something," Mr. Roberts said. "There were many times when we were rough, poor and never had anything but they always did their best and I couldn't have asked for better parents."

Charles and Hyacinth Roberts were two of the four people who died in a fire at a building belonging to Toronto Community Housing Corporation on Feb. 5, 2016. The corporation pleaded guilty on Thursday at a hearing to one of three charges relating to the incident on 1315 Neilson Rd. and accepted the maximum fine of $100,000.

Related: Woman dies after TCHC fire

"It's all a well-planned strategy, for something so major they had to admit they were at fault, it was their building and in a way they've figured out the easy way out," Mr. Roberts said. "I still feel very shocked, I still hear my sister calling and telling me the news, it's fresh in my memory."

The fire started in three combustible chairs located on the top floor of the five-storey building, filling the corridors with thick and toxic black smoke and trapping residents inside.

TCHC admitted on Thursday that it failed to implement an approved fire-safety plan at the home but its lawyer, Graeme Hamilton, said the agency was not at fault for causing the fire.

"Neither the specific charge nor the agreed statements of facts alleged that the deficiencies in the implementation of the fire-safety plan caused or contributed to the fire or a loss of life, injuries or damage to the building sustained as part of that fire," he told reporters after the hearing.

In the aftermath of the fire, three charges were laid against the corporation for violating the fire code. The three charges included: failing to ensure combustible material was not accumulated in areas where people exit, failing to train staff in fire safety and failing to implement a fire safety plan.

In a settlement with the prosecution, TCHC pleaded guilty to one charge, which was failing to implement a fire-safety plan. The two other charges were dropped.

"By failing to implement the approved fire-safety plan, the other two violations that we noted were part of that charge," deputy fire chief Jim Jessop said, adding that the fire was intentionally set and is currently under investigation by Toronto Police as arson. Mr. Jessop, who fully supported Thursday's outcome, also said that the "fuel for the fire" was the three polyurethane chairs that were combustible on the fifth floor. So far no one has been charged in connection with the suspected arson yet.

Ward 42 Councillor Neethan Shan said that many questions remain unanswered. The fact that the building mostly serves low-income and many racialized elderly residents – who face cultural and language barriers – needs to be considered when trying to understand what went wrong, he said.

"Why did this happen at this seniors home still needs to be answered," he said. "[In regards to the] combustible material there, does that happen everywhere or in some areas? Is it standard across all areas where TCHC is or only certain parts? I would like to see evidence showing that this is accidental and not systemic."

Toward the end of the hearing, families who lost relatives in the fire accused TCHC's lawyer of laughing in the courtroom before the hearing, saying that the issue was all about furniture.

One man, who did not share his name, stood up in court with the judge's approval and said he was deeply offended by the laughter and that because of the fire his entire life has been put on hold.

Mr. Hamilton denied laughing or speaking about furniture. "There was no conversation between me and the prosecution, they must have misheard," he said.

Narry Moussavi, whose 86-year-old mother, Azeem Safraj, died in the fire, said that she too heard the laughter and that the incident is reflective of the entire case. She said the fine was "nothing," compared with the harm caused by the incident, adding that the residents were neglected due to their age and economic status.

"TCHC never reached out to any one of us, people are still suffering," she said. "People in the building are still dealing with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and trauma and there's no help for them."

TCHC is implementing a new fire-safety plan for the building and has also promised to inspect all residential high-rises annually.

$5-million a year is spent in Toronto to hand-sort recycling and remove non-recyclable items. The City is embarking on a door-to-door pilot project to tag blue bins improperly filled.

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