By Keith Lacey
A high-ranking union official charged with obstructing police during the bitter Falconbridge strike 18 months ago was found guilty Monday.
Justice Guy Mahaffy ruled he was convinced Donald Lauzon, 49, went out of his way to obstruct police from doing their job during an incident in the early morning hours of Nov. 30, 2000. He fined Lauzon, who has no previous criminal record, $1,000.
Lauzon, a service representative and member of the bargaining team for Local 598 of the Mine Mill/CAW, pleaded not guilty when his trial started last fall.
Lauzon joined a large and vocal group of pickets, estimated at between 200 and 300 near the intersection of Maley Drive and Falconbridge Road.
The pickets gathered at a marshalling area where Falconbridge officials were busing in replacement workers and management to various mine sites four months into the bitter seven-month strike.
Lauzon was charged after police alleged he broke through a police blockade and interfered with their arrest of another union official.
Lauzon testified he and the large group became "very upset" when police arrested CAW national union representative 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 officer between the union and police for the duration of the strike.
He never attempted to halt or delay Dattilo's arrest in any way or prevent officers from doing their job, said Lauzon.
It was his opinion police had no right to arrest Dattilo and he wanted to talk to the liaison officer about the situation, said Lauzon.
"I thought you had to do something wrong in this country to get arrested," he said.
Because there was so much tension, Lauzon wasn't arrrested at the scene as pickets grabbed him, but he was arrested at police headquarters when he went there to check on Dattilo's detention.
Dattilo testified when he told the pickets police ordered them to disperse, most "burst out laughing" insisting they weren't going anywhere as you're allowed to protest during labour disputes in this country, said Dattilo.
Although he was the highest-ranking union official in the large crowd, he has no authority to tell the membership what to do, said Dattilo.
All charges against Dattilo were withdrawn several months ago.
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, said assistant Crown attorney Marc Huneault.
Former Local 598 president Rick Briggs will find out May 2 whether Mahaffy finds him guilty of assault after he was charged with allegedly spitting in the face of a security guard hired by Falconbridge Ltd. during the strike.
