[Sudbury union] Campaign calls for inquiry – by Carol Mulligan (Sudbury Star – June 7, 2012)

  The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Nothing will ease the suffering of two families who will mark the painful first anniversary of the deaths of loved ones in a mining accident on Friday. But an inquiry into mining practices in Ontario might provide comfort to those left to mourn for Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26.

Chenier and Fram were killed when 350 tons of muck overcame them on the 3,000- foot level of Vale Ltd.’s Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011. After a nearly year-long investigation, the Ministry of Labour laid nine charges last week against Vale and six against one of its supervisors under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Results of a Greater Sudbury Police Service investigation are in the hands of officials in the Crown attorney office in Sudbury and there is a possibility criminal charges could be laid.

But thousands of citizens in Sudbury and beyond are pressing for an inquiry that would prevent mining deaths from occurring in the first place. The mining industry hasn’t been put under a microscope and examined in more than 30 years, and many Sudburians say it is time it was.

More than 10,000 postcards calling for an inquiry have landed in the office of Ontario Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey.

The campaign was launched by Sudbury community leader Gerry Lougheed Jr. at the Day of Mourning held by United Steelworkers on April 28.

In the year since the previous Day of Mourning, four Steelworkers were killed at Vale operations in Canada. As well as Chenier and Fram, development miner Stephen Perry, 47, died on the job at Coleman Mine in late January. Last year, a miner was killed when the scoop tram he was operating at Vale’s Thompson operations plunged down a shaft.

Lougheed launched a postcard campaign demanding Jeffrey call a public inquiry and both he and the president of United Steelworkers Local 6500, Rick Bertrand, believe the Labour minister will do just that.

Both are convinced Jeffrey will announce a decision about the inquiry some time soon after the first anniversary of the deaths of Chenier and Fram.

For the rest of this article, please go to the Sudbury Star website: http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3579937