Labour minister meets with Chenier and Fram families

For now, Gerry Lougheed Jr. said he's still encouraging members of the community to push for an inquiry into mining practices in the province.

However, taking into consideration recent statements by Premier Dalton McGuinty, as well as an outcome of a private meeting between Minister of Labour Linda Jeffrey and the families of Jordan Fram and Jason Chenier, other options may have to be considered, he said.

Lougheed, the managing director of Lougheed Funeral Homes, launched a campaign earlier this year to send thousands of postcards to Jeffrey, requesting a mining inquiry.

But during a visit to Sudbury June 22, McGuinty told reporters the province is not contemplating a mining inquiry “at this time.”

That same day, Jeffrey met with the families of Fram and Chenier — the two miners killed at Vale's Stobie Mine last year — to speak with them on the subject of a mining inquiry, according to Lougheed.

The minister told them there won't be an inquiry for now, Lougheed, who was not present at the meeting, but has since spoken to the families, said.

That's because she's concerned an inquiry could compromise charges laid against Vale and one of its supervisors under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in relation to the miners' deaths, as well as an upcoming coroner's inquest, he said.

Jeffrey reportedly told the families there's a possibility they could sit on what's known as a “Section 21 committee” — a standing committee to advise the minister on various aspects of health and safety in the province. Perhaps they could affect change in this way instead, Lougheed said.

“We're actually investigating that right now to see exactly what that committee is all about,” he said.

“I understand it's made up of both company and union ... If it's a committee that never meets, it's going to be useless. If it's a committee that doesn't have any ability to investigate, it's going to be kind of useless.

“But if it's a committee that can actually talk about the things we're actually talking about, maybe it's good we find out about it, because maybe it's something we want to pursue.”

Greg Dennis, Jeffrey's communications director, confirmed that the minister is not looking at having a mining inquiry at this time.

“The possibility of an inquiry is not being discussed right now because clearly there is a process that's going to take place over the next little while involving the charges and involving the inquest that we're quite sure will be satisfactory in determining what happened here, and even better, learning how to avoid such things next time around,” he said.

“An inquiry would just complicate things. You certainly do not want to have people stepping on each other's toes with an inquest and an inquiry and charges going through. Let's let the process proceed, and through that, we're all going to be, in effect, collectively be making sure that mining is safer going down the road.”

Lougheed said he thinks the statements McGuinty made to the media June 22 left open the possibility of an inquiry being held in the future.

“The premier said (an inquiry isn't being contemplated) 'at this time,'” he said. “We're never sure that doesn't mean at a future time it couldn't be revisited.”

McGuinty's statements were “reasonable,” Lougheed said, given the recent Occupational Health and Safety charges and the upcoming inquest.

Despite these recent developments, he said he plans to continue with the postcard campaign.

“We're still encouraging cards,” Lougheed said. “As recently as this weekend there's been another 50 cards from the flower shop sent in, and I know Mr. and Mrs. Fram gave me a bunch of cards on Friday to put in the mail.

“So again, the community voice is articulated about the request for an inquiry. But if there can be vehicle that is designed to address the requirements of an inquiry, and we weren't aware of it until the meeting with the family members, we'll be taking a look at that as well.”

Steelworkers Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand also told Northern Life June 23 the union plans to continue to push for a mining inquiry, even as the province's position on the issue becomes clear.

“I'm going to continue to focus on getting the cards signed and sending them out, and pushing for the mining inquiry,” he said. “We're not going to stop here.

Posted by Arron Pickard