Charged in connection with the 2006 death of a Sudbury miner, the Ministry of Labour, the former Dynatec Corp. and several individuals will now face provincial Crown attorney Lorne Goldstein in Sudbury court.
In Sudbury assignment court on Aug. 21, Sudbury crown attorney Kara Vakiparta told Justice Ann Alder that Goldstein would be replacing her, as “this is a conflict for the local Sudbury crown attorney's office.”
The court appearance was to set a date for trial, but the action was adjourned to Sept. 18 for another try, as Goldstein did not appear.
Ted Ofiara, deputy director of litigation for the Department of Labour (acting on behalf of the Ministry), was not pleased.
“This is the second time we've been here without any word from Mr. Goldstein, Your Honor,” said Ofiara. “I'm not quite sure what he's up to or whether he's able to communicate with people, but he doesn't seem to be doing a particularly good job at that.”
Vakiparta said she would pass the message to Goldstein.
Alder, an Ottawa-based judge sitting in as substitute, declined to make a comment, “other than it's unfortunate when you have a file that seems to be this complex, with this number of individuals all in different information, dragging for some time,” she said.
She asked if there had been any pre-trials yet, of which there have been none, and Ofiara noted there had not yet been disclosure.
Alder adjourned the matter to Sept. 18 to set a date for trial, noting, “I'm just going to echo the request that he show up on the next occasion, and more importantly, that he's in contact with all counsel between now and then.”
It was in March that Faye Campeau, who now goes by Fay Smith, successfully began a private prosecution against Ontario’s Ministry of Labour; Dan Beaulieu, an inspector for the ministry at the time; the former Dynatec Corp.; and its former employees: Chris Stewart, Terry Jibbs and Stylianos Kontonikolas for their alleged role in the May 25, 2006, death of Ray Campeau.
He was killed while he was working as a mechanic at Podolsky Mine in Capreol.
A coroner’s inquest was held in 2008, and the coroner determined that Campeau’s death was caused by equipment failure: the winch failed because required engineered tie-offs had not been installed to secure it.
An earlier safety inspection identified the winch as a significant safety hazard and ordered that it be fixed.
The private prosecution was given the go-ahead by Justice Leonard Kim and resulted in all parties being charged with criminal negligence causing Campeau’s death.
Then on June 26, when the accused as well as their attorneys made their first appearance on the charges, Sudbury Crown attorney, Kara Vakiparta, moved to take over the criminal prosecution.
Smith was also present, with her lawyer, well-known Toronto-based criminal lawyer, Michael Lacy.
You can read the full history of the case in Sudbury.com’s coverage found here.
Jenny Lamothe covers court for Sudbury.com.