By Keith Lacey
The strike at Falconbridge Ltd. ended almost one year ago to the day, but the effects are still being felt at the Sudbury courthouse.
After several hours of evidence Monday, Justice Guy Mahaffy said he needed time to consider whether a high-ranking union official is guilty of obstructing police during a picket-line incident. He will render his decision April 16.
Donald Lauzon, 49, a service representative and member of the bargaining team for Local 598 of the Mine Mill/CAW, pleaded not guilty to obstructing justice when his trial started last fall.
Lauzon took the stand in his own defence Monday.
Lauzon joined a large group of picketers, estimated at between 200 and 300, in the early morning hours of Nov. 30, 2000, near the intersection of Maley Drive and Falconbridge Road.
The picketers gathered at a marshaling area where company officials were busing in replacement workers four months into the bitter seven-month strike.
Lauzon was charged after police alleged he broke through a police blockade and interfered with the arrest of another union official.
Lauzon testified he and the large group became "very upset" when police arrested CAW national union rep Tom Dattilo when he refused a second police order to disperse the crowd.
Lauzon testified he may have been involved in incidental physical contact between himself and one officer, but his sole intention was to talk to the police sergeant assigned as the liaison between the union and police for the duration of the strike.
He never attempted to halt or delay Dattilo's arrest or prevent officers from doing their job, said Lauzon. He wanted to talk to the liaison officer about the Dattilo situation, said Lauzon.
"I thought you had to do something wrong in this country to get arrested," he said.
Dattilo testified when he told the picketers police ordered they disperse, most "burst out laughing" insisting they weren't going anywhere as you're allowed to protest during labour disputes in this country.
All charges against Dattilo were withdrawn.
Assistant Crown attorney Marc Huneault said police had every right to believe someone might be injured by a moving vehicle considering the large, hostile crowd involved.
Police were doing their job trying to disperse the crowd and Lauzon, contrary to his version of events, was trying to obstruct justice by interfering with Dattilo's arrest, he said.
