Here is the text of the resolution city councils are passing
Enforce the Westray Amendments to Canada’s Criminal Code
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 this Council support a campaign to urge our provincial/territorial government, specifically the Attorney General and Labour Minister, 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;
- There is greater coordination among regulators, police and Crowns so that health and safety regulators are trained to reach out to police when there is a possibility that Westray amendment charges are warranted.
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