In a joint statement from the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and the Minister of Justice, the federal government has announced that it will make greater efforts to enforce the Westray Law – a provision in the Criminal Code regarding criminal prosecution for negligence after workplace fatalities.
The announcement came on April 27, the day before National Day of Mourning, a memorial day for workers who have lost their lives on the job. It was also intended to commemorate the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Westray Mine disaster, in which 26 miners were killed in an explosion in Plymouth, N.S. on May 9, 1992.
“Millions of Canadians go to work every day, expecting to return home safely, and so they should,” wrote Patricia A. Hajdu and Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s Labour and Justice Ministers respectively, in the announcement. “Sadly, not all workplaces are safe. Thousands of Canadians are killed, injured, or suffer workplace-related illnesses every year on the job.”
Hajdu and Wilson-Raybould stated that the government would work with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), employers and the provincial and territorial governments to apply the Westray Law more effectively and consistently.
“We will do more to ensure that labour inspectors and law-enforcement officials are properly trained… and that they coordinate effectively to ensure that the possibility of a charge for criminal negligence resulting in a serious injury or death is not overlooked,” the Ministers wrote. “We will promote the sharing of best practices in investigating workplace fatalities across federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions.”
Hajdu and Wilson-Raybould also cited the recent federal budget, which included measures to update the Canada Labour Code to support workers more. “The new compliance and enforcement tools include new administrative monetary penalties and the authority to publicly name violators.”
In a subsequent news release, CLC president Hassan Yussuff called the federal government’s pledge “an important victory for all workers in our country and a tribute to the Westray families and families of other fallen workers, whose determination made this possible.”
Yussuff added that the next step would be to ensure coordination between federal, provincial and municipal governments.
“When criminal negligence results in injury or death of a worker – that needs to be treated as a crime, not an accident,” he said. “We are counting on governments at all levels to work together so we can prevent future Westrays.”
Enacted on March 31, 2004, the Westray Law brought in a new punishment scheme to hold employers criminally accountable for workplace fatalities. The CLC and the United Steelworkers have lobbied for years for more consistent application of the law.