NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — Family members who lost loved ones in the Westray coal mining disaster in Nova Scotia marked the 30th anniversary Monday, while continuing their calls for more criminal prosecutions of workplace deaths.
Genesta Halloran-Peters, who was scheduled to speak at a memorial gathering Monday evening, says the loss of her husband, John Halloran, had a huge impact on the direction of her life and the lives of their two children.
“My daughter was 11 weeks old and my son was 22 months old at the time,” she said in a recent interview from Antigonish, N.S. “My children were so deprived of John’s wisdom, his love and support. Every special occasion his absence was felt.
“I think it would have been easier to deal with if it wasn’t preventable,” she said. “It was production at all costs; it was pure intimidation (of the workers).”
Halloran was one of 26 miners who died on May 9, 1992, when a methane and coal-dust explosion ripped through the shafts in Plymouth, N.S. Eleven miners’ bodies were never recovered from a shaft, located near the memorial site in New Glasgow, N.S.
Halloran-Peters and Debbie Martin, the sister-in-law of miner Glenn Martin, who died in the blast, said the Criminal Code amendments brought in through Bill C-45 — referred to as the Westray law — should be applied more often. They say more training is required for police officers on how to investigate and provide evidence for potential prosecutions.
The amendments allow for criminal negligence convictions when the Crown can demonstrate that an employer was responsible for directing a worker and also showed “wanton or reckless” disregard for that worker’s safety.
However, Martin said the amendments haven’t resulted in many successful cases since the legislation was adopted in 2004. “It (the Westray law) is not being pushed enough. There’s not enough enforcement. There’s not enough training,” she said in a recent interview.
The United Steelworkers recently published a legal brief saying that to date, there have only been nine convictions or guilty pleas across the country — and no convictions in Nova Scotia.
Meanwhile, the Steelworkers note that about 900 to 1,000 workers die of work-related causes each year in Canada, across all sectors of the economy. Thousands of other deaths from occupational disease go unrecognized, the Steelworkers said.
The union’s national campaign, “Stop the Killing, Enforce the Law,” is calling for increased training for law enforcement and Crown prosecutors in using the Westray law. The union is also calling for the appointment of dedicated police officers and prosecutors to investigate and prosecute workplace fatalities when gross negligence is involved.
Alex Keaveny, the workplace safety prosecutor in Nova Scotia, prosecuted the province’s first charges under the Westray law, against the owner of an auto shop where a worker died in 2013 while using a welding torch to remove a gas tank.
However, the owner — who was later fined for workplace safety violations — was acquitted of criminal negligence charges in 2019.
Keaveny said in a recent interview that the test of “wanton and reckless” disregard for the safety of workers is a difficult one to meet.
“The test for criminal negligence is quite a stringent one and often the evidence to show that higher degree of negligence is hard to marshal … as in many of these circumstances the main witness is deceased,” he said.
Steven Bittle, a professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, said a federal government review and redrafting of the Westray law is needed to ensure it achieves its original aims of holding company officers accountable for worker deaths.
“It was promised as something that would fundamentally change corporate criminal liability and would hold people accountable, and by any standards it just hasn’t come close to achieving those goals,” said Bittle, who also is the author of “Still Dying for a Living,” published in 2012.
In most cases where companies were either convicted or pleaded guilty as a result of the Westray amendments, large fines have been imposed, rather than “flesh and blood” executives and owners being held accountable, Bittle said.
“It’s not achieving much in terms of deterrent, except in cases where it’s a small company that is owner-operated,” he said. “For large companies, it’s merely the cost of business to pay a fine and go on doing business afterwards.”
According to the United Steelworkers, of the nine successful prosecutions to date, there have been seven convictions of corporations, with fines imposed. Two individuals were convicted: a construction project manager in Ontario was sentenced to three and a half years, and the owner of a Quebec landscape company was sentenced to two years served in the community.
Halloran-Peters also said she’s come to believe the law has to be rewritten to make it easier to prosecute companies for criminal negligence. “Is it well worded? Is there a loophole that allows people to get out of it (prosecution)? I don’t want any ambiguity in that law,” she said.
Meanwhile, Halloran-Peters said she still finds great comfort in attending the memorial services alongside other family members of victims.
“I find peace going to the memorial because I realize I never was alone in my grief,” she said. “I never was alone in my fight for justice. I never was alone in dealing with the circumstances that came with this.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2022.
Vancouver Canucks winger Dakota Joshua has announced he’ll miss the start of training camp following surgery for testicular cancer.
Joshua said in a statement posted to social media by the team Tuesday that he felt a lump on one of his testicles this summer and later had surgery to successfully remove the tumour.
The 28-year-old from Dearborn, Mich., said he plans on returning to play “as soon as possible” and is “working hard every day” to rejoin his teammates.
Joshua said the last several weeks have been “extremely challenging” and encouraged men to get checked regularly for testicular cancer.
The six-foot-three, 206-pound forward had a career-high 18 goals and 14 assists in 63 games for the Canucks last season and signed a new four-year, US$13-million deal with Vancouver at the end of June.
The Canucks are set to open their training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
TORONTO – Coach John Herdman isn’t putting too much stock in the fact that Toronto FC, since losing 4-0 in Columbus on July 6, has posted a better league record than the defending MLS champion.
Toronto, which beat visiting Austin 2-1 on Saturday, has won four of six league outings (4-2-0) since that setback at Lower.com Field while the Crew are 3-2-2.
“I don’t put any credence (in that),” said Herdman. “I just look at their squad and I salivate.”
Its easy to see why.
Columbus provided a league-high five players to the MLS all-star game on its home field in July in defenders Rudy Camacho and Steven Moreira, midfielder/captain Darlington Nagbe and forwards Cucho Hernandez and Diego Rossi.
Herdman sees layers of talent behind those all-stars.
“You see the way that they’re able to almost carbon-copy players. One comes in, another goes out … and they feel like they have a very similar profile. So to be able to take (Christian) Ramirez out and then bring (Canadian forward Jacen) Russell-Rowe in as a power forward, you look and go ‘Whoa, that’s good to have.'”
Federico Bernardeschi was Toronto’s lone all-star.
Columbus (14-5-8) comes to BMO Field on Wednesday in third place in the Eastern Conference, five places and 14 points ahead of Toronto (11-15-3). A playoff position already clinched, the Crew are hoping to leapfrog Cincinnati into second spot.
Coach Wilfried Nancy is looking forward to matching wits against Herdman.
“John is going to cook (up) something,” the Frenchman said with a belly laugh. “I know John. When we played a game in (the) pre-season, it wasn’t a pre-season game. It was a real game. But this is John. That’s why I like him, because he’s intense all the time.”
“They’re going to try to go all-in. They’re going to try to press us, they’re going to try to match us,” he added. “They know exactly the way we want to play so we’ll have to be clever and creative also.”
Herdman, meanwhile, says TFC will have to play error-free football.
While the Crew have failed to score in their last two outings (a 4-0 loss to visiting Seattle and 0-0 draw at rival FC Cincinnati), Toronto is hurting in its backline.
Nicksoen Gomis and Henry Wingo both left the Austin game early with hamstring injuries with Herdman estimating that Gomis will be out three to four weeks and Wingo 10-12 days. Veteran Kevin Long missed the Austin game after tweaking his hamstring in training and will undergo a fitness test ahead of the game.
Shane O’Neill, meanwhile, is suspended for yellow-card accumulation.
“A tricky situation,” said Herdman.
The Crew are a formidable opponent.
Columbus is tied with Real Salt Lake for fifth in the league in averaging 1.93 goals a game. Only Inter Miami (2.32), Portland Timbers (2.00), Los Angeles Galaxy (1.97) and Colorado Rapids (1.96) score more.
And Columbus boasts the league’s stingiest defence, conceding 1.04 goals a game. In contrast, the Toronto defence is tied for 22nd at 1.76 goals a game.
Toronto has conceded 51 goals, 23 more than Columbus, which has collected more points (7-3-4, 25 points) on the road in league play this season than Toronto has at home (7-7-0, 21 points).
Columbus’ roster also includes Canadian wingback Mo Farsi, who scored in the July win over Toronto.
The Columbus game is the first of four in an 11-day stretch that will see TFC club visit Colorado on Saturday, Vancouver on Sept. 25 in the Canadian Championship final and Chicago on Sept. 28. Toronto will then close out the regular season at home to the New York Red Bulls on Oct. 2 and Inter Miami on Oct. 5.
If the playoffs were to start tomorrow, Toronto would face ninth-place D.C. United in a wild-card matchup with the winner advancing to take on the East’s top seed — currently Miami — in the best-of-three first round.
Herdman would like a different scenario, with his eyes set on overtaking seventh-place Charlotte, which has two points and a game in hand over Toronto. The seventh-place side takes on No. 2 — currently Cincinnati — in the first round.
“We’re looking up, not down at the moment,” said Herdman. “It’s a good motivation for the lads to see that next level on the table. And it has been raised. If we’re able to get to that point, it means you’re not headed down to Miami in the heat, which is a tough place to go.”
“We’ll take whatever comes,” he added. “But the critical part is to get into these playoffs. That’s the key mission at the moment.”
Toronto has not made the post-season since 2020 when, after finishing second overall in the Supporters’ Shield standings, it was upset by Nashville after extra time at the first hurdle.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins placed Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve Tuesday after the quarterback was diagnosed with his third concussion in two years.
Tagovailoa will be sidelined for at least four games. He will be eligible to return in Week 8 when the Dolphins host Arizona, but has to complete a series of tests and assessments required by the NFL’s concussion protocol before he can return to the field.
Tagovailoa was hurt last Thursday night when he collided with Buffalo defensive back Damar Hamlin. He ran for a first down and then initiated the contact by lowering his shoulder into Hamlin instead of sliding.
Players from both teams immediately motioned that Tagovailoa was hurt, and as he lay on the turf the quarterback exhibited some signs typically associated with a traumatic brain injury. He remained down on the field for a couple of minutes, got to his feet and walked to the sideline. The Dolphins diagnosed him with a concussion a few minutes later.
Coach Mike McDaniel has since cautioned against speculation on the quarterback’s future, stressing that he’s more focused on Tagovailoa getting healthy than what this latest concussion means for the team or for his career. Tagovailoa this week began the process of consulting neurologists about his health amid reports that he has no plans to retire.
Others around the NFL have offered their opinions on Tagovailoa’s future, including Raiders coach Antonio Pierce, who suggested he should retire.
“As far as Tua’s career is concerned, I think it’s an utmost priority of mine for Tua to speak on Tua’s career,” McDaniel said Monday. “Reports are reports. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just worried about the human being and where that’s at day to day. I’ll let Tua be the champion of his own career.”
McDaniel said Tagovailoa was at the team’s practice facility on Monday, greeting teammates and working with trainers.
“He’s doing good, man. Talked to him, he’s in good spirits,” receiver Jaylen Waddle said Monday. “(He’s) got the team in good spirits and everybody praying for him and hoping (for his) health.”
Head injuries have become a familiar, scary occurrence throughout Tagovailoa’s career.
In a September 2022 game against the Bills, he took a hit from linebacker Matt Milano, which caused him to slam to the ground. He appeared disoriented afterward and stumbled as he tried to get to his feet. He was cleared to return to that game and later said it was a back injury that caused the stumble. He was not diagnosed with a concussion.
Four days later, he got hit again during a Thursday night game at Cincinnati in which he was briefly knocked unconscious and was taken off the field on a stretcher. As he lay on the turf, his fingers appeared to display the “fencing response,” an involuntary motion typically associated with a brain injury. That time, he was placed in the concussion protocol.
The NFL and the players’ union made changes to the concussion protocol after those two incidents with Tagovailoa. Players who have problems with balance or stability are now prohibited from returning to a game.
Tagovailoa briefly considered retirement, but instead returned and studied ways to better protect himself on the field, including taking jiu-jitsu classes ahead of the 2023 season.
Tagovailoa has said he spoke to numerous neurologists who told him they did not believe he would be more susceptible to head injuries than any other player moving forward, nor would he be at a higher risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head. He was also diagnosed with a concussion while in college at Alabama.
With Tagovailoa sidelined, the Dolphins will go with backup Skylar Thompson when play at Seattle on Sunday. Miami also signed Tyler Huntley off the Ravens’ practice squad.
