A court has ordered the Ontario government to pay a Sudbury family over $2 million in damages, finding the province liable in the death of a mine worker in 2006.
A court has ordered the Ontario government to pay a Sudbury family over $2 million in damages, finding the province liable in the death of a mine worker in 2006.
Raymond Campeau, 47, died in May of that year working as a mechanic during the sinking of the shaft at Podolsky Mine.
His widow, Faye Campeau, has pushed for accountability from the provincial government ever since. She filed this lawsuit in 2018, claiming that the Ministry of Labour was liable in her husband’s death.
Justice Robert Gordon ruled that ministry inspectors were aware of the dangers with the winch Campeau was working with that day, expressed those concerns to mine operators, but were “negligent” when they did not take further action.
The ruling also states the government failed to respond to the lawsuit or to the court considering the claim.
“Neither the court nor the plaintiffs received anything from Ontario,” Justice Gordon writes in his decision.
He ordered the province to pay over $2 million to the Campeau family, including $1.1 million for loss of future income.