Mining deaths criminal trial a 'first' in Canada, expert says
The fatal accident at Métanor Resources's Bachelor Lake mine seven years ago was the worst in Quebec in the last 35 years.
And the prosecution of the company on criminal charges is a first in Canadian history, according to an expert in criminal negligence and liability.
Métanor is facing charges in the deaths of miners Domenico Bollini, Bruno Goulet and Marc Guay, who drowned to death on the lowest level of the mine shaft in 2009.
"It's extremely rare" to see companies face criminal charges because of workplace accidents, said Jennifer Quaid, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa's Law faculty.
Quaid said the case is unique, and a first, because the company has chosen to go to trial instead of pleading guilty.
Crown prosecutor Marc-André Roy has called more than 20 witnesses since the trial began in September.
Métanor Resources did not present any witnesses, or its own evidence. Closing arguments are scheduled for next year.
Criminal liability for corporations
The mining company, which was operating in Desmaraisville, about 600 kilometres north of Montreal, was charged with criminal negligence causing death last March.
Quaid told CBC News the case is important "symbolically" but that it could also lead to raising safety awareness in the industry.
"We call this kind of conduct out because we think there's something wrong with it," said Quaid. "But making people pay money or firing a few symbolic people may not be a solution to the problem."
Quaid said the most useful aspect of a criminal prosecution is the ability for a judge to lay out rules and demands on companies to avoid any future accidents, if a company is found guilty.
'Serious and multiple' gaps in work site safety
Bollini, Goulet and Guay were experienced miners when they descended on the elevator to the lowest level of the mine shaft in October 2009.
Both the miners and Métanor had no idea it had been filling with water for nine days already because of a missing bolt in the pumping system or that the alarm system which was supposed to warn them was unplugged.
Mario St-Pierre, the engineer who prepared the province's Workplace, Health and Safety Board report, said "there were three main causes" of the accident. One of the causes was human error, but St-Pierre says Quebec's workplace law can find an employer responsible for the behaviour of its employees.
Métanor Resources contested the board's fine of $15,000.
In 2013, Court of Quebec judge Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré found the company guilty of violating workplace laws, citing "serious and multiple" gaps in the safety system at the Bachelor Lake mine.
The Westray Bill
Métanor Resources is being prosecuted under a fairly new section of the Criminal Code often referred to as the "Westray Bill."
The 2004 amendment to extend liability for criminal negligence in the workplace stemmed from the deadly Westray Mine explosion in Plymouth, N.S., which killed 26 miners in 1992.
Quaid said taking a corporation to criminal court requires a completely different approach when it comes to analyzing evidence.
"If you're going to bring a serious case against a company, you have to look at what was the decision-making process, how much knowledge there is about the failure rate of the technology, and if there should be a redundant safety system in place," said Quaid.
Quaid said to establish guilt, a judge has to find a company has acted, or failed to act in a way that's consistent with safety norms of similar companies.
"It's a comparison between what the accused did, and what a reasonable person in the circumstances would have done," said Quaid.
