More than 150 people participated in a "march for justice" on Wednesday afternoon, calling for a public inquiry into the Lakeland Mills and Babine Forest Products explosions.
Carrying signs that bared such phrases as "WorkSafe not WorkFail," "I Smell Corruption," and "Injured Workers Deserve Justice," they made their way from Parkwood Mall to the Prince George courthouse.
And along the way, they made stops at the WorkSafeBC office on 10th Avenue and Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond's office on Fifth Avenue, while chanting such slogans as "we demand a public inquiry" and "we want justice."
The emotion continued upon arrival at the courthouse as wives and, in one case, the father of one of the four men who died in the two disasters took to a podium.
John Little, the father of Alan Little, the 43-year-old supervisor who died from injuries in the Jan. 20, 2012 explosion at Lakeland, said that for two years he stayed out of the public eye in a naive hope that justice would be served.
"Now two years later, I find that justice has not only been denied but fault has been shared with the agency that has the mandate to protect workers from the very corporations that make millions of dollars from the labour and sacrifice of those workers," Little said.
As had happened with the Babine explosion near Burns Lake, provincial Crown counsel decided not to pursue charges against Lakeland's owners and, in the process, criticized WorkSafeBC for failing to follow proper procedure for a criminal investigation.
Bond, the Labour Minister, has since appointed former Deputy Minister of Health Gord Macatee as the head of WorkSafeBC on a temporary basis to reportedly split the organization's enforcement authority from its prevention and regulation duties.
Babine's owners - Portland, Ore.-based Hampton Lumber Mills holds an 89-per-cent stake in Babine and the other 11-per-cent is held by First Nations in Burns Lake - were assessed a $97,500 administrative penalty and a $914,000 claims cost levy.
Similar penalties are anticipated for Lakeland's owner, Prince George-based Sinclar Group.
The provincial government has favoured a coroners' inquest and B.C.'s Chief Coroner, Lisa Lapointe has said she remains confident an inquest is the "best venue to address the many important questions and concerns raised about the explosion and resulting deaths."
However, that was not good enough for the marchers and those who spoke at the courthouse.
"These inquests will not be enough," said Ronda Roche, the widow of Glenn Roche, the 46-year-old headrig operator also killed in the Lakeland disaster. "All the evidence should be seen. We need to know the events leading up to the explosions, the events on the night of the explosions and the investigation details after the explosions.
"The system has failed us - from the employers, our local agencies, WorkSafeBC, the Criminal Justice Branch and now (Premier) Christy Clark by not holding a public inquiry. There are obvious flaws that have allowed employers to not be accountable for workplace death or injury."
B.C. New Democratic Party Leader Adrian Dix and NDP labour critic Harry Bains participated in the march.
"If the Liberal government changes its mind and does the right thing, I'll be the first in line to praise them because this isn't about myself or politicians, this is about justice," Dix said.
In a statement, Bond apologized for not being at her office to greet the marchers in person.
"Unfortunately, it was late Monday that my office received notice of the event, and regrettably at that point I was unable to change my out of town work schedule in order to attend," Bond said.
She went on to say the government has launched an aggressive plan to make sure similar disasters do not happen again and noted Lapointe will head both inquiries.
"An inquest is a fact-finding, open and transparent process," Bond said. "As well, an inquest tends to get a fuller accounting of the facts, because witnesses are obliged to answer all questions put to them; however, they are protected from future liability in that their testimony cannot be used against them in any later proceeding.
"And the inquest jury has the opportunity to make recommendations - not only to prevent future deaths in similar circumstances but on any matter arising out of the inquest.
"In the end, our actions will not change the tragic loss for these families. However, we will do everything we can to ensure that families and British Columbians have the answers they deserve."
