The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
If the overflow crowd jammed into a small, hot room Thursday in the basement of the main branch of Greater Sudbury Public Library was an indication, Sudburians are heavily invested improving mine safety. But they haven’t finished having their say about how they believe that should be accomplished. Not by a long shot.
About 40 people attended the last of three consultations held in the city by the advisory group for the Ontario Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review. It was a tight squeeze when you added six group members, chair George Gritziotis and four Ministry of Labour employees.
There was some question about whether the crowd was violating the fire code, which allows for a maximum 39 people in the meeting room.
Wednesday there was room to spare at two public consultations held in Georgian Room B at the Holiday Inn, which could have held 100 people easily. About two dozen attended the afternoon session and a dozen the 6 p.m. session.
Perhaps it was all that empty space that gave the consultations a somewhat clinical air as several representatives from United Steelworkers Local 6500 and a retired mining engineer presented to the committee.
But when Faye Campeau made an emotional presentation to start the evening session, the tone of the consultations changed. Talk about the internal responsibility system and joint health and safety gave way to Campeau’s heart-wrenching recalling of the May 25, 2006 death of her husband, Ray, while he was operating a jumbo drill underground at Podolsky Mine near Capreol. Tears flowed and they weren’t just Campeau’s.
Earlier that day, Myles Sullivan, USW Northeast area, seemed to catch Gritziotis and some advisory group members by surprise when he chided them for not better publicizing the consultations.
Sullivan complained there was little media coverage and what there was didn’t give people enough time to register to make presentations.
Some Steelworkers wanted to speak and were denied a spot, he said. Sullivan and other Steelworkers who made presentations, as well as two representatives from Mine Mill Local 598/Unifor, made no bones about the fact they wanted a full-blown inquiry into mining, not a review.
But both unions said they are looking for improvements to come from this year-long process.
Gritziotis bristled Wednesday and rightly pointed out unions and other stakeholders in the review had been notified and have a duty to inform members or employees about the public consultations.
But Sullivan and others want do-overs in Kirkland Lake, Timmins and Sudbury, arguing not enough people knew about them.
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