Gold mine operator, contractors won’t face trial in worker’s death
Companies instead to fund new safety program in agreement reached with Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission, GN
After the death of a worker at a gold mine in 2022, the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission has decided not to proceed with a trial against B2BGold and three other companies initially charged with 10 workplace safety offences in relation to the death. (File photo)
Four companies charged in the 2022 death of a gold mine worker in Nunavut will not face trial after reaching an agreement with the Government of Nunavut and the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission.
On Jan. 17, 2022, Vincent Crowe, a 48-year-old Matrix Kitikmeot Ltd. employee, was working approximately six kilometres south of B2Gold’s Back River port facility near Bathurst Inlet. He was clearing snow from an ice road when his bulldozer went through the sea ice, plunging him and the machine into the water.
Crowe’s widow, Wendi Graham Crowe, called it “a challenging time” in written message to Nunatsiaq News she sent Wednesday.
“However, WSCC has been very forthcoming with information along the way, and I respect the decision they have set forth,” said Crowe, who lives in Halifax.
“We miss Vince every day and will continue to do so.”
She added: “With the education and training agreement put in place, it is my hope that another family doesn’t have to go through the pain that our family has.”
The Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission charged four companies — Sabina Gold & Silver Corp., now owned by B2BGold Corp.; Matrix Aviation Solutions; Matrix Kitikmeot Ltd.; and Gallant Restoration — with multiple counts alleged violations of the Safety Act and the Mine Health and Safety Act related to Crowe’s death.
Rather than go to trial, the commission and the companies reached an alternative measures agreement, which was accepted by the Nunavut Court of Justice on Tuesday.
Under the agreement, the four companies together will fund a $300,000 training initiative for the benefit of all territorial employers, Maggie Collins, communications manager for the commission, said in a news release Tuesday.
Opting for an alternative measures agreement is an unusual step, she said in an email later.
The agreements are “relatively rare, but they are one of the alternatives to prosecution that can be used to emphasize the importance of complying with safety legislation,” Collins said.
Prosecutors, she said, must weigh the reasonable prospect of gaining a conviction and whether a prosecution would serve the public interest.
“The creation of a training initiative for the safe construction, operation and maintenance of ice roads fills a gap in available safety training materials and the cost of making it available is of a dollar value equal to or greater than fines that would likely be imposed,” Collins said.
The companies have contracted a third party to “develop a training initiative which is focused on safe construction, operation and maintenance of ice roads,” Randall Chatwin, a senior vice-president for B2BGold, said in an interview Wednesday.
“And so that’s really what the $300,000 will be used for,” he said.
“B2Gold obviously acquired this project post this tragic incident, but I think we have done everything we can to implement safety,” Chatwin added.
B2BGold Corp. bought Sabina Gold & Silver for $1.1 billion in April 2023.
Sold the company for $1.1 Billion and paid $300,000 for a workers life. This is not a deterrent for companies that ignore safety legislation.
Sadly big corporations almost always just take fines as a basic cost of business. Safety is sacrificed for cost savings, integrity nonexistent for efficiency, There’s just no dollar value reason not to and when all companies care about is their share price and shareholder return we get things like this where risk is balances against cost savings even when human life is involved.