Equal rights for snowmobile, ATV accident victims: lawyer

KUUJJUAQ — If a truck or car hits you on a public road in Nunavik and hurts you, you’ll receive get from Quebec, but if a snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle runs you down and causes injuries or death on the same road, you won’t get a penny.

Quebec has a no-fault insurance program, which means victims of accidents that occur on public roads are compensated for their injuries, even if they don’t hold any personal insurance. But this “no-fault insurance” applies only to victims of car or truck accidents on public roads, not to anyone who is injured by a snowmobile or ATV on a public road.

Now, Makivik Corp. is financing a constitutional challenge to Quebec’s automobile insurance act to change this.

The challenge is being made on behalf of a young Nunavik resident who became a quadriplegic following a snowmobile accident. As a result of this accident, the child now requires constant supervision and care.

But this child isn’t eligible for any compensation under the provincial automobile insurance act because Section 10.3 of the act excludes compensation for victims of accidents involving snowmobiles and ATVs.

Montreal lawyer Eric Lépine plans to argue this section should be declared invalid under the Charter of Rights because it’s prejudicial to Nunavimmiut.

He argues that snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles are not used in the region as recreational vehicles, but as transportation for pursuing traditional activities, as well as for regular, daily transportation within towns.

Makivik lawyer Jocelyn Barrett said the way the act makes a distinction between snowmobile and ATV accidents, and automobile accidents, on public roads is “very arbitrary in the Nunavik context.”

“The ‘no fault’ spirit of the Quebec automobile insurance plan should be recognized and applied in Nunavik where off-highway vehicles are the principal means of transportation,” she said. “The act should reinstate eligibility for compensation for victims injured in accidents involving these vehicles on public roads.”

From 1977 to 1989, claims for compensation following accidents involving snowmobiles and ATVs on public roads were accepted, but in 1989, Quebec changed the act by adding Section 10(3).

If Section 10(3) is declared invalid, Quebec will be forced to change the act. Then, residents who are injured in snowmobile or ATV accidents on public roads will be eligible for compensation.

In 1990, Lépine challenged the same Section 10(3) in another case involving a pedestrian in Nunavik who had been hit by a snowmobile. The Quebec Administrative Tribunal refused to declare Section 10(3) invalid, but this case never made it to the Superior Court. This time, the case is likely to go to Quebec’s highest court.

Meanwhile, Makivik is encouraging all victims of accidents or their dependents, who are injured in snowmobile and ATV accidents on public roads, to apply to the provincial automobile insurance bureau, la Société d’Assurance automobile du Québec, within three years of an accident and to inform the Makivik Legal Department in Kuujjuaq or Lépine of their claim.

If the current constitutional challenge is successful, their applications will be reviewed and compensation could be available.

However, even if there are changes in Quebec’s vehicle act, compensation won’t cover damages caused to property, such as damages to a vehicle involved in an accident. It is the responsibility of the owner of any vehicle operating in Quebec to have liability insurance guaranteeing compensation for property damage.

With files from Makivik Corp.