For Immediate Release

Aug. 17, 2010

OPPOSITION LABOUR CRITIC CALLS FOR FULL INVESTIGATION INTO TREEPLANTER’S DEATH

BURNABY — Opposition labour critic Raj Chouhan is calling for a fuller investigation into how the squalid conditions of a discredited silviculture company’s camp factored into the death of a 46-year-old treeplanter earlier this summer.

Chouhan, the New Democrat MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds, said the revelations of the substandard conditions in the camp are justification for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Santokh Kooner, who died while at a camp operated by Khaira Enterprises.

“The chief coroner may reopen an investigation into a death if new information comes to light,” said Chouhan. “The atrocious working conditions – which were not widely known when Mr. Kooner’s death was originally investigated – certainly constitute new information.

“The family deserves a full accounting of what led to this death,” said Chouhan. “They should know if the working conditions Mr. Kooner was subjected to were a factor.”

Last week, former workers at a Khaira Enterprises camp came forward with their stories of substandard – and in some cases dangerous – working and living conditions. Workers, primarily immigrants, said they had a lack of drinking water, poor and inadequate food and substandard living conditions.

“We don’t know the full truth of what led to Mr. Kooner’s death,” said Chouhan. “The complete investigation that would come from a coroner’s inquest would go a long way in getting the answers the family is seeking.”

The B.C. Liberals cut the budget for the Employment Standards Department by 18.3 per cent after the election. This comes on top of the Liberals’ gutting of employment standards, which increased vulnerability for at-risk workers by limiting employment protections and undermining the ability of workers to negotiate a fair wage.

The Carole James New Democrats are working with British Columbians from all walks of life, all corners of B.C., and all sectors of our economy to build a better British Columbia for the people of this province.

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