The United Steelworkers union (USW) “welcomes” criminal charges against Detour Gold for the June 2015 death of a worker at its mine in northeastern Ontario.
USW Ontario director Marty Warren wants the charges to be “prosecuted as soon as possible.”
“These charges validate our union's campaign for better enforcement of the Westray amendments to the Criminal Code," said Warren, in an April 21 release. "We lobbied to have the law enacted more than a decade ago, with the intent that corporate directors and executives would ultimately be held criminally accountable for workplace death and injury."
An Ontario Provincial Police investigation was opened last year following the death of millwright Denis Millette, 52, of Matheson who went into “medical distress” while he was repairing equipment at the mine site on June 3, 2015.
The investigation determined the cause of death to be acute cyanide intoxication.
The Centre of Forensic Sciences, the Northeast Region Coroner’s Office and the Ministry of Labour were involved in the investigation.
The Detour Gold open-pit operation, located 185 kilometres northeast of the town of Cochrane, is not unionized.
"Without a union at this mine, the USW is missing crucial details on the circumstances in this tragedy,” said USW national director Ken Neumann. “We want to know whether corporate directors and executives will be included in any prosecution.”
He added many police officers are still not directed or trained to properly enforce the Westray Law.
The Steelworkers’ national campaign; Stop the Killing, Enforce the Law; calls on attorneys generals, labour ministers and police forces to be properly trained to apply the Westray Law when warranted.
The federal Westray Law was enacted on March 31, 2004, following the deaths of 26 miners at the Westray coal mine in Plymouth, N.S. in May, 1992.
The law imposed new legal standards on organizations and companies for workplace health and safety, resulting in criminal liability for violations. Upon conviction, a person may receive a lifetime imprisonment and a corporation may receive an unlimited fine.
