New Crown takes over prosecution of Ministry of Labour in Sudbury mining death

Prosecution change in case against labour ministry A new Crown attorney has been appointed to prosecute the criminal case against the Ministry of Labour and others in Sudbury mining fatality.

Because of the potential of bias, a new Crown has been appointed to handle the criminal prosecution of the Ministry of Labour and others in the 2006 death of a miner in Sudbury.

Lorne Goldstein is taking over the case from Sudbury Crown attorney Kara Vakiparta. The move is to prevent the appearance of bias of having a Sudbury Crown decide whether to proceed with criminal charges against another provincial organization in Sudbury, the local Ministry of Labour.

Goldstein, however, did not appear Wednesday in a Sudbury court when the parties were supposed to set a date for trial in the case.

In addition to the labour ministry, charged in the case are Dan Beaulieu, an inspector for the ministry at the time, the former Dynatec Corp. and its former employees, Chris Stewart, Terry Jibbs and Stylianos Kontonikolas.

All are charged with criminal negligence causing death in the May 25, 2006, death of Ray Campeau at Podolsky Mine in Capreol, while he was working as a mechanic for Dynatec.

He was killed when a winch he was working on exploded. An earlier Ministry of Labour safety inspection identified the winch as a significant safety hazard and ordered that the problem be rectified.

Campeau's widow, Faye Smith, successfully sued the province in 2018 for not following through on those orders, leading to her husband's death.

She initiated criminal charges in this case as a private prosecution and received approval from a Sudbury justice of the peace this spring to proceed.

Asked for more time

But the Crown elected to take over the case in June, when Vakiparta asked for more time to review the case files.

The case was again delayed at Wednesday's hearing, with defence lawyers expressing frustration at yet more delays for a matter that dates back 18 years.

Ontario Court Justice Ann Alder agreed.

"It's unfortunate" that such a complicated case is dragging on, Alder told Vakiparta.

She agreed to Vakiparta's request to delay the case for another month so she could bring Goldstein up to speed.

Alder also asked that Goldstein contact defence counsel before the next hearing so everyone is prepared to proceed.

The matter returns to court Sept. 18 at 10 a.m.