THUNDER BAY – It has been more than a year since Melanie Beaulieu Goulet’s life changed forever when her husband was killed while working at the Lac des Iles mine.
Now, still awaiting answers into what caused his death, she is calling on the provincial Ministry of Labour to release reports outlining the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Pascal Goulet, 38, was killed on July 10, 2014 while on shift underground at the mine when he was struck by a piece of ore outside his loader, Lac des Iles parent company North American Palladium said last year.
“For 15 months we’ve been waiting for our questions to be answered, particularly where this rock came from,” she said. “In this day and age it’s unacceptable for the families of a worker, my husband, killed in a mine don’t have the final investigation report.”
Along with his wife, Goulet is survived by his two daughters, now 14 and nine.
Beaulieu Goulet said a joint investigation report conducted by the company and Ministry of Labour was completed in July 2015 but has not been released to her. She said the ministry has only provided limited details about its own findings, which completed its review last month.
USW staff representative Herb Daniher said neither the ministry nor the company have revealed its final report nor any potential charges the employer is facing as a result of the incident.
“It’s a travesty of justice. It’s insanity. It doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “There is not a transparent process. Think about it. You’re grieving for a fallen husband, father, family member who has passed away and you can’t get any information in writing about the particular issues…There is a moral and ethical responsibility here to give us the documents.”
At the time, the Ministry of Labour announced they had issued two stop work orders against the mine during the initial investigation. The ministry also issued an order to examine the grounds for dangers and hazards and to establish procedures to ensure workers and operators are in safe locations when equipment is moved.
Daniher claims follow up reports on the investigation have been completed since the end of 2014 and is unsure whether the union or family of Goulet will ever see them.
“There’s no reason, unless you have something to hide, why you shouldn’t be releasing those reports,” he said. “We’ve made every overture possible to the employer to get those damn reports and they’ve done nothing to this date.”
He added it could take a coroner's inquest, which would likely be years away, to finally reveal some answers.
Ministry of Labour spokesman William Lin responded via email later Thursday to Dougall Media and listed the charges filed against both North American Palladium and the mine under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
He said the investigation report could not be provided as the case is before the courts.
The following charge was filed against North American Palladium Ltd.
- Count 1: failure to notify a director in writing of an unexpected and uncontrolled run of material in excess of one cubic metre that could have endangered a worker.
The following charges were laid against Lac Des Iles Mines Ltd.
- Count 2: defendant failed to ensure that written safety precautions and procedures were established and followed to prevent a worker from being outside of a scoop tram while ahead of the safe limit line.
- Count 3: defendant failed to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed by section 64 of Ontario regulation 854, R.R.O. 1990, as amended, were carried out respecting a potential or actual danger to the health or safety of a worker, specifically continuous draw point hang ups of material and the uncontrolled and unexpected runs and collapse of material.
- Count 4: failure to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to prevent the worker from being endangered by the collapse, shifting or movement of rock, ore or other material in a stope.
- Counts 5 and 6: failure to ensure that a written program to provide for the timely communication of information between workers and supervisors in the mine respecting dangerous conditions was established and followed and/or failure of the defendant to communicate the existence of a dangerous condition or stope to a worker.
