BC Ferries president David Hahn says he pleaded unsuccessfully with the RCMP to conduct drug tests on the bridge crew immediately following last year's ferry sinking.
RCMP officials refused, claiming that the crew on the Queen of the North had been interviewed and that there was no evidence of intoxication, reports CTV Vancouver.
Last week, the Transportation Safety Board said there was no suggestion that crew members were under the influence of marijuana when the ship slammed into an island and sank on March 22, 2006.
However, the TSB issued a formal notice of concern, as part of its ongoing investigation, claiming it had "learned that several crew members of the Queen of the North regularly smoked cannabis between shifts, both on board and off the vessel."
In Tuesday's edition of The Globe and Mail, Hahn says he repeatedly told the company's lawyers to ask the RCMP to test the bridge crew in the hours following the crash.
"I started saying, talk to the RCMP, I want drug and alcohol testing done on these people, if nothing else just to know that there wasn't anything like that involved," Hahn recalled.
Hahn told the newspaper that he was in a state of shock when RCMP officials refused.
"I said, 'Go back into the room and tell them this is what we want to have done and that it's important to have it done.' It was again rebuffed, they felt there wasn't any indication, based on their interviews with the individuals, that there was any impairment."
Hahn, who at the time said publicly that alcohol was not a factor, said he decided to keep his concerns to himself.
The RCMP refused to comment on the decision, telling The Globe that the "matter is still under investigation."
Mandatory testing
Last week, following the TSB revelations, Hahn said the corporation has a zero-tolerance policy toward drug and alcohol use.
While not going into as much detail, Hahn said then that he wanted testing done on the evening of the accident.
"I was quite adamant that evening trying to get the testing done," said Hahn.
"The request was turned down because people felt it wasn't necessary. I still don't understand that answer to this day."
Hahn added in a statement last week that he wanted the TSB to recommend to federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon that ferry operators be given the power to conduct mandatory drug and alcohol testing on employees in safety-sensitive positions.
Hahn said management can create and enforce tolerance policies. But mandatory testing of employees is the only proven way to protect the travelling public.
The TSB has the power to ask for such testing but did not following the incident. John Cottreau, a spokesman for the TSB, said there was no explanation as to why, except that "it just wasn't done."
Legal experts say mandatory testing enters murky waters. Recent rulings by Canadian courts have deemed mandatory drug tests discriminatory and ineffective. Union officials for ferry workers also say they want to protect their workers' rights, so they're against drug testing.
Two people aboard the Queen of the North were never found when it sank. Ninety-nine passengers and crew were rescued.
With a report from CTV British Columbia
