First Anniversary of Deaths
of Three Rail Workers in Field, BC Derailment
Growing Demand for Independent Investigation
Left to right: Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, Andrew Dockrell and Dylan
Paradis. Photos are from a fundraising page set up by the Teamsters
Canada Rail Conference to assist workers' families.
On February 4, 2019, conductor Dylan Paradis,
engineer Andrew Dockrell and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer,
Canadian Pacific Railway crew members, were killed when their runaway
train derailed and plunged 60 metres from a bridge into the Kicking
Horse River in BC, near the town of Field, after its air brake system
failed. The workers had just taken over the train consisting of three
locomotives and 112 cars. All three workers were based in Calgary and
were members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.
On the occasion of the first anniversary of the
death of the workers, the demand is growing for an independent police
investigation into the Field derailment in which they lost their lives.
On January 26, CBC TV's the Fifth Estate
aired its documentary about the tragedy, Runaway Train.
In it, the victims' loved ones expressed their anger at the fact that
the CP Rail Police Service shut down its investigation after just a
month and that the investigation was limited to only the actions of the
crew members prior to the crash. This is the only police investigation
into the tragedy.
 The documentary
features the allegations of a former investigator with CP Rail's police
force that the company prevented him from obtaining key witness
accounts, withheld evidence, and ordered officers to keep the
investigation narrowly focused on the crew. CP Rail denies any cover-up
and calls this former investigator a "disgruntled employee" and says it
is going to wait for the investigation report from the Transportation
Safety Board (TSB) before making any comments on the cause of the
tragedy. The TSB report is not expected to be completed for another
year.
Dylan Paradis' mother is demanding a
criminal investigation into the deaths. On January 26, Teamsters Canada
joined in, calling for an independent RCMP investigation into the
deadly incident. The union is also reiterating its call for the federal
government to abolish corporate police forces. Two days later, on
January 28, the Alberta Federation of Labour also demanded independent
investigation into the deaths of the three workers.
"Three of our brothers died in that derailment.
If CP has nothing to hide, they should welcome an outside investigation
for the sake of the families and all those affected by this disaster,"
said François Laporte, President of Teamsters Canada.
"Moreover, corporate police forces have no place
in the modern world. It is absurd that a company should be able to
criminally investigate itself. They'll never find themselves guilty of
anything," added Laporte. "We once again call on the government of
Canada to abolish all forms of private policing."
There are many reasons that justify an
independent criminal investigation into the tragedy.
The CP Police Service's Website states:
"As defined by Section 2 of the Canadian Criminal Code,
members have exactly the same powers as every other police officer in
Canada. Members can detain, arrest, use force, search and compel people
to court and although they are employed by the railway company they are
deemed to [be] public servants the same as city police who are employed
by the municipality but are agents of the Crown.
"In the United States our members are fully
commissioned police officers within the State in which they operate,
empowered by that State to enforce the law. The extent to which railway
police officers may exercise law enforcement authority and definition
of jurisdiction varies by State."
According to the Railway Association of Canada,
the CP Police Service was founded in 1913, making it the oldest
operation of its kind in Canada. Canada's other Class 1 and passenger
railways -- including CN, VIA Rail, GO Transit and more -- all have
private police services with the same powers as the CP Police Service.
Under the current neo-liberal state arrangements,
the rail monopolies are already self-regulating when it comes to
enforcement of safety and other standards. The perpetuation of the CP
Police Service under such conditions is an extreme form of
self-regulation. The CP Police Service can declare that it has
conducted a satisfactory investigation, that it saw no purpose in
investigating anything other than the actions of the crew, and this is
considered to pass for state authority. No findings have to be
published according to the culture of monopoly secrecy that is part of
self-regulation. According to CP Rail's response to the Fifth
Estate, "As a matter of law, the RCMP has jurisdiction
throughout Canada, including on CP's property." That is precisely the
language of self-regulation, that the RCMP, or Transport Canada and the
federal government, have "jurisdiction." The actual exercise of
jurisdiction falls to CP and its police force, with the Canadian state
providing CP's decisions with impunity by turning a blind eye. The TSB
report is expected to come out in a year, but the TSB has no power to
lay charges and can only publish findings and make recommendations.
 CP's decision to
not investigate anything other than the actions of the crew prior to
the crash, with even that part not made public, and only referred to as
showing no need for further investigation, leaves in the shade why the
train started to move on its own, once it had stopped on that steep
hill for an "emergency." It is said that the train was kept immobilized
with air brakes only once stopped. CP's manuals are quoted saying how
in winter "cold weather increases air leakage in a train's air brake
system," and that is a "major challenge." Why were hand brakes not
ordered to be applied by CP, in this extreme cold weather, once the
train was stopped for an alleged "emergency"? When the takeover crew
went into action, it was already too late, the train started to move on
its own, out of control. This area is considered to be one of the most
dangerous in North America for trains, especially in extreme cold
weather. All of this remains unclear, while urgent answers are needed.
The demand for an independent police
investigation is not to give carte blanche to the
RCMP. It is a demand to break this wall of secrecy and power
to act with impunity. It is a rejection of the refusal to render
account to the workers and the public because private monopolies are
considered the creators of social wealth, while the workers and people
are treated as an impediment to these monopolies increasing their
narrow private profit at all costs. People want to play an active role
in finding out what has happened and want to have a say in remediation
and redress which may include charges of criminal negligence against
the company. Otherwise, to speak of preventing future tragedies is
hollow.
This article was published in
Number 4 - February 4, 2020
Article Link:
First Anniversary of Deaths
of Three Rail Workers in Field, BC Derailment: Growing Demand for Independent Investigation
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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