Worker Protection Through the Westray Act

WHEREAS it has been more than two decades since the Westray mine disaster in Nova Scotia and a decade since amendments were made to the Criminal Code of Canada to hold corporations, their directors and executives criminally accountable for the health and safety of workers; AND WHEREAS police and prosecutors are not utilizing the Westray amendments, and not investigating workplace fatalities through the lens of criminal accountability; AND WHEREAS more than 1,000 workers a year are killed at work: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM urge the federal and provincial governments to ensure that: - Crown attorneys are educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments; - dedicated prosecutors are given the responsibility for health and safety fatalities; - police are educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments; and - there is greater coordination among regulators, police and Crown attorneys so that health and safety regulators are trained to reach out to police when there is a possibility that Westray amendment charges are warranted.