Court hears boat deaths case

A federal court in Winnipeg heard a case this week filed by the families of three Avataq crew members who died when their boat sank on Aug. 26, 2000.

The families are suing 16 individuals and organizations, including the Northern Transportation Company Ltd., the Government of Nunavut, the estate of Louis Pilakapsi and 12 other parties for lost wages, pain and suffering, funeral costs and other damages.

Also named in the suit are the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Hudson Bay Port Company, the Attorney General of Canada, and two unidentified Kivalliq contracting businesses.

The 12-metre lobster boat Avataq, which Pilakapsi owned and operated, sank 10 nautical miles south of Arviat after being badly overloaded with steel construction materials ordered by a contractor for use in the construction of social housing units.

The statements of claim, filed in Nunavut, Manitoba and with the federal court, allege that the boat was not seaworthy, lacked proper safety equipment and was operated by inadequately trained people.

In a report issued in July 2003, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada found that the Avataq had been improperly loaded, that it had never been inspected as a cargo boat, and that Pilakapsi was not qualified to operate as a master of a cargo vessel.