VANCOUVER—The mining company that is bringing in hundreds of miners from China to work on a northern B.C. coal operation is refusing to release its files on the temporary work permits it obtained from the federal government.
On Dec. 7, a federal court judge ordered HD Mining and the federal Human and Resources and Skills Development ministry to provide two B.C. unions with documentation on how the permits were requested and approved.
But HD Mining now says it has no “legal obligation” to open its files.
“We do not understand why the unions are continuing to press this litigation,” HD Mining chair Penggui Yan said in a statement. “HD Mining believes that all parties need to move beyond this litigation and work toward the constructive development of this project.”
Last Friday, the B.C. Building Trades unions announced that because the company is refusing to release its files and because the federal government says it has no power to force the company to comply with the court order, it is filing a contempt of court application against Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley.
“We will be bringing a motion of contempt against the minister,” said Charles Gordon, lawyer for the unions. “We have no choice.”
Brian Cochrane, business manager International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115, said last Saturday that it’s shocking that a company can refuse a court order.
“I don’t know if shock is the right word to learn that the government says it has no power within its own temporary foreign workers program to force a company to comply with a court order,” Cochrane said.
The company and lawyers for the federal government during argued that it should not be obliged to release the applications and the permits, citing competition and privacy reasons. But Justice Douglas Campbell of the federal court sided with the two unions — whose members currently or have worked in coal mines — ruling that the permits should be released.
The unions also sought an injunction to stop HD Mining from bringing in more Chinese miners. Sixteen workers from China are currently at the Murray River project site near Tumbler Ridge in B.C.’s northern interior and another 60 were scheduled to arrive shortly.
But on Dec. 14 a federal court judge rejected the application for an injunction, saying that to stop Chinese workers from entering the country would result in greater harm for the mining company than the harm to Canadian workers who may have been eligible for those jobs.
The union is in federal court asking for a judicial review of the federal government’s decision to grant 201 temporary work permits to foreign workers from China to develop the coal mine. The union says 300 Canadians applied for those jobs but not one Canadian was hired.
The company says it will pour in $300 million as capital investment into the mine, which will produce six million tonnes of coal per year over a mine life of 40 years and create 1,000 indirect jobs.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Petti Fong
On Dec. 7, a federal court judge ordered HD Mining and the federal Human and Resources and Skills Development ministry to provide two B.C. unions with documentation on how the permits were requested and approved.
But HD Mining now says it has no “legal obligation” to open its files.
“We do not understand why the unions are continuing to press this litigation,” HD Mining chair Penggui Yan said in a statement. “HD Mining believes that all parties need to move beyond this litigation and work toward the constructive development of this project.”
Last Friday, the B.C. Building Trades unions announced that because the company is refusing to release its files and because the federal government says it has no power to force the company to comply with the court order, it is filing a contempt of court application against Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley.
“We will be bringing a motion of contempt against the minister,” said Charles Gordon, lawyer for the unions. “We have no choice.”
Brian Cochrane, business manager International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115, said last Saturday that it’s shocking that a company can refuse a court order.
“I don’t know if shock is the right word to learn that the government says it has no power within its own temporary foreign workers program to force a company to comply with a court order,” Cochrane said.
The company and lawyers for the federal government during argued that it should not be obliged to release the applications and the permits, citing competition and privacy reasons. But Justice Douglas Campbell of the federal court sided with the two unions — whose members currently or have worked in coal mines — ruling that the permits should be released.
The unions also sought an injunction to stop HD Mining from bringing in more Chinese miners. Sixteen workers from China are currently at the Murray River project site near Tumbler Ridge in B.C.’s northern interior and another 60 were scheduled to arrive shortly.
But on Dec. 14 a federal court judge rejected the application for an injunction, saying that to stop Chinese workers from entering the country would result in greater harm for the mining company than the harm to Canadian workers who may have been eligible for those jobs.
The union is in federal court asking for a judicial review of the federal government’s decision to grant 201 temporary work permits to foreign workers from China to develop the coal mine. The union says 300 Canadians applied for those jobs but not one Canadian was hired.
The company says it will pour in $300 million as capital investment into the mine, which will produce six million tonnes of coal per year over a mine life of 40 years and create 1,000 indirect jobs.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Petti Fong
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