The
Supreme Court of Canada has
sided with the Northwest Territories
Court of Appeal in overturning
a lower court award of $10.7
million to the families of
nine miners murdered in 1992.
In May of 1992, a strike began
at the Giant Mine near Yellowknife,
N.W.T. The gold mine's owner,
Royal Oak Mines, decided to
continue operating and hired
replacement workers.
The strike rapidly degenerated
into violence, so Royal Oak
hired Pinkerton?s for security
services. In mid-June, strikers
rioted, damaging property
and injuring security guards
as well as replacement workers.
Royal Oak fired about 40 strikers
and the police laid criminal
charges.
Later
in June, three strikers entered
the mine, stole explosives
and painted graffiti threatening
replacement workers. In late
July, strikers set an explosion
that blew a hole in a satellite
dish on mine property. In
early September, strikers
set a second explosion that
damaged the mine's ventilation
shaft plant.
On
September 18, fired miner
Roger Warren evaded security,
entered the mine and planted
an explosive device underground.
When a man-car triggered the
trip wire, the nine miners
in the car were all killed
in the explosion. In 1995,
Warren was convicted on nine
counts of second-degree murder
and is serving a life sentence.
The
miners' survivors sued Royal
Oak Mines, Pinkerton's of
Canada Limited and the territorial
government for negligently
failing to prevent the murders.
They also claimed against
members of the Canadian Association
of Smelter and Allied Workers
(CASAW) Local 4, the national
union and some union officials
for failing to control Warren
and for inciting him. In 2004,
Justice Arthur Lutz of the
Supreme Court of the Northwest
Territories ruled that the
negligence of the defendants
inflamed the situation and
failed to prevent the disaster.
He awarded $10.7 million,
plus interest and GST, to
the families.
In
2008, the Court of Appeal
for the Northwest Territories
reversed Lutz?s judgment,
saying that he had erred in
three key areas:
- Finding
that Pinkerton?s and the
government owed a duty of
care in negligence to the
appellants
- Applying
the wrong legal test for
determining whether the
wrongful acts caused the
miners' deaths
- Finding
a national union vicariously
liable for the acts of members
of a local and finding that
it had incited Mr. Warren's
murderous acts.
- The
miners' families appealed
to the Supreme Court of
Canada, but their appeal
was dismissed in February
of 2010.
"Although
I would find that the security
firm and the government owed
a duty of care, my view is
that the trial judge erred
when he found that they had
breached that duty,"
said the Honourable Mr. Justice
Thomas Albert Cromwell, writing
for the top court. "With
respect to the claims against
the union, union officers
and members, I agree with
the Court of Appeal that the
trial judge's findings of
liability cannot be sustained."
The
ruling brings to an end the
long, bitter legal legacy
of the strike, which remains
the bloodiest chapter in Canadian
labour history.
To
read the complete decision,
go to http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2010/2010scc5/2010scc5.html.
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