A Manitoba judge has denied a request for police to disclose all the evidence they gathered on a fatal trail derailment to the victim’s family, saying further delays aren’t helpful to the inquest into the 2018 death.
In a decision Tuesday, provincial court judge Timothy Killeen rejected a motion brought forward by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union and the family of Kevin Anderson, requesting the disclosure of all information collected by the RCMP during its investigation into the derailment.
Anderson was conducting a Hudson Bay Railway freight train that derailed in a remote area of northern Manitoba on Sept. 15, 2018.
In a report looking into the incident, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) found the train was travelling over an unsupported section of the track that collapsed under the locomotive’s weight, trapping the crew in a remote location.
Due to concerns about potential fuel leaks, a decision was made to clear hazardous material before sending emergency crews in to rescue them.
Anderson died of what experts determined to be survivable injuries almost nine hours after the derailment, still waiting to be freed.
In early 2020, the province’s chief medical examiner called for an inquest that, among other things, would review the co-ordination of multi-agency incident responses in remote areas and what can be done to prevent similar deaths.
The inquest was to begin in December 2021 in The Pas, Man., but has been delayed several times since then, including once in 2022 for a hearing that ended up excluding the issue of whether Anderson’s death could have been prevented from the inquiry.
A previous decision had already determined the inquest would not look into the causes of the derailment.
Under the Manitoba Fatality Inquiries Act, criminal charges would have automatically resulted in the inquest being adjourned until the case concluded, but last June, the Crown determined no criminal charges would be laid as a result of the derailment.
While this appeared to remove the last hurdle for the inquest, “it did not,” Killeen’s decision said.
“The RCMP provided its file on this investigation to its counsel. Its counsel provided it to inquest counsel, who then distributed some of the disclosure to all counsel,” the decision said.
“He declined to disclose information that he determined was not relevant. An inventory was distributed. That has led to this motion.”
‘This is not litigation’
The inquest counsel, Justice Canada, Hudson Bay Railway and its former owner Omnitrax, among other parties, have argued not all materials related to the death are relevant to the inquest, the decision said.
Counsel for both rail operators said the disclosure was another attempt to broaden the inquest so it looks into what caused the derailment, the judge said.
The union, on the other hand, has argued disclosure is required so parties know whether the information is relevant or not.
“They argue that there has been mishandling of medical evidence, conflicting information, last minute delays and frustrating turns of events,” the judge wrote.
“Without adding any further comment, I note that the information that has not been disclosed could either be immaterial to anything or not relevant to the response but related to the cause of the derailment. If it is the latter, it still cannot change the scope of the inquest.”
The inquest counsel has already determined it’s not relevant, Killeen said. While it’s understandable for the family and the union to “want to press to attach blame for actions or inactions that lead to the derailment,” the proceeding isn’t about that, he said.
“An inquest is to consider recommendations to the provincial government or public agencies or institutions. It is not to review federally regulated industries or duplicate the investigation of a federal agency, here the TSB,” the judge wrote.
“The province has no control over regulation of the industry. The TSB is not to assess blame. There are no criminal charges. This is not litigation. The continued delays are not helpful to anyone.