Judge rules B.C. government and a corporation they contracted to fuel their helicopters will be charged with dumping gas into creekBenjamin Jordan/The Canadian Press
Marilyn Burgoon couldn't believe it when the government failed to charge a company that spilled 30,000 litres of fuel in a British Columbia creek, killing fish, birds and aquatic insects.
So she went to court, seeking judicial approval to lay charges herself.
In a decision handed down last week, Provincial Court Justice Mayland McKimm agreed with Ms. Burgoon's arguments, and ordered summons be issued to the provincial government and Executive Flight Centre Fuel Services Ltd.
The two parties are to be charged for violating a section of the Fisheries Act that forbids the deposit of any deleterious substance into fish-bearing waters.
"I think they need to be held accountable," Ms. Burgoon said Monday. "I want some admission of guilt here and recognition that when you come into a small community and violate the Fisheries Act, there's a consequence."
Ms. Burgoon said her case shows the government is failing to enforce laws meant to protect the environment.
"There's pollution happening in our waterways and basically neither the [provincial] Ministry of Environment nor Federal Fisheries are doing their job," she said.
The spill happened in July, 2013, when a fuel-truck driver from Executive Flight Centre got lost looking for a staging area in the Slocan Valley, in southeast B.C. The driver was taking fuel in for helicopters under contract to the province as they fought a forest fire.
The truck went off the road and tumbled into Lemon Creek, a tributary of the Slocan River.
Two days after the spill, environmental consultants hired by the company reported more than 260 dead fish, a dozen dead water birds and a "vast numbers of deceased benthic invertebrates" in the stream. The report said more fish may have died and been swept away by the stream's fast current, but the damage was not thought extensive because jet fuel evaporates quickly.
The province took the lead in the case, but did not bring charges.
However, Ms. Burgoon argued both the company that owned the truck and the province, which provided directions to the driver, were responsible for the spill and should be charged.
Justice McKimm agreed.
"It was conceded by counsel for the Minister of Justice that there was evidence of a prima facie case against Executive Flight Centre. They clearly had control over the operation of the tanker truck which deposited deleterious substances into a waterway populated with fish," he states in his ruling.
"On the other hand, counsel for the Minister of Justice submitted that process should not issue against the Province of British Columbia, because there was no direct evidence that the Province deposited the deleterious substance into the waterway. I disagree," he states.
Justice McKimm said the B.C. government chose the staging area to which fuel was to be delivered and was responsible for having the jet fuel "brought to the wilderness."
Lilina Lysenko, a lawyer hired by Ms. Burgoon with support from the West Coast Environmental Law Dispute Resolution Fund, said the provincial or federal government could step in to take over the prosecution.
"Because the province has been charged, if they chose to exercise their jurisdiction they would have to appoint a special prosecutor," Ms. Lysenko said. "But the federal Department of Justice also has jurisdiction to take over the file if they wanted to."
If the government doesn't take over the case, Ms. Burgoon plans to prosecute it herself.
The Department of Justice referred questions to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, but officials there did not return calls. A spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Environment declined to comment on a matter before the courts. Executive Flight Centre could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mark Hume