Worker drowned after the tracked vehicle he was driving went through a hole in the ice
Ontario's coroner's office will hold a mandatory inquest into the drowning death of a veteran diamond driller at a mine site near Matheson, Ont., a case in which the site's former owner has already pleaded guilty to charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Dr. Laura Piccinin, Regional Supervising Coroner for the Sudbury Region, announced the inquest into the death of Remi Desjardins, CTV News reported.
No date has been set.
Desjardins, 48, of Timmins, died Feb. 9, 2022, working near Kirkland Lake Gold's Taylor Mine in the Matheson and Val Gagné area, east of Timmins, according to CTV News.
"The inquest will examine the circumstances surrounding Mr. Desjardins' death," the province said. "The jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing further deaths."
Flooded sump hid protective fence
Ministry of Labour investigators determined Desjardins drowned after the tracked vehicle he was driving went through a hole in the ice, Northern Ontario Business reported. A beaver dam had flooded a sump area, making a protective fence difficult to see. The mine had been on care and maintenance since 2020.
In court, the vehicle was described as a crawler carrier Desjardins was driving to check existing drill holes when he fell through an opening of about 2.5 metres square, CBC News reported. Kirkland Lake Gold, which merged with Agnico Eagle Mines shortly after the incident, pleaded guilty and was fined $390,000 plus a victim fine surcharge.
The court found the company failed to ensure the sump was properly fenced or guarded, according to Northern Ontario Business. Agnico Eagle's lawyer, Jeremy Warning, told the court the penalty "is not by any means an attempt to quantify the value of [Desjardins]'s life," CBC News reported.
Colleagues and family remember a mentor
Denis Larocque, CEO of Moncton-based Major Drilling, Desjardins' employer, told CTV News in 2022 that "all I heard were good things over the last day from his colleagues."
"How good a teacher he was, good team leader and a person," Larocque said. "Our focus right now is to help the family and the coworkers deal with this by offering support and counselling while we wait to hear exactly what happened."
Desjardins spent more than 30 years as a driller, rising from helper to foreman, according to his obituary as cited by CTV News. At sentencing, eight family members described the devastating effect of his death and said it was preventable; his sister told the court he had long feared water, CBC News reported.
Mine deaths trigger automatic inquests
Under Ontario's Coroners Act, an inquest is mandatory when a worker dies on the job at a mine, pit or quarry, according to the Ontario government. The same rule applied to the inquest into a 2019 drilling contractor death at a northern Ontario quarry, scheduled to open in April.
Construction deaths, which once also required mandatory inquests, are now examined through an annual coroner-led review, the province says.
There is no time limit between a death and an inquest. The inquest into the 2020 death of Thunder Bay mine worker Edouard Gallant was set more than five years after he died, and the inquest into a Detour Gold Mine worker's cyanide poisoning death came more than seven years after the 2015 fatality.
