Ottawa to require rail locomotive recorders

MONTREAL Railways operating in Canada would be required to install locomotive voice and video recorders as a safety measure under legislation introduced Tuesday, but the union representing workers is vowing to fight the change over privacy concerns.

“This is a full violation of privacy,” said Don Ashley, national legislative director for Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, who will take the fight to Canada’s privacy commissioner.

He said the union has no problems with the devices being used on locomotives as long as information isn’t shared with the railways.

Transportation Minister Marc Garneau says the law addresses employee privacy concerns by limiting how the data is used by railways. However, the union says once they gain access they will be able to use it for whatever they want because there will be no government oversight.

“Once something is seen it can’t be unseen,” Ashley said. “There is certainly one of the federal carriers out there that will use this to target and persecute employees.”

The Transportation Safety Board identified the need for the devices after a 2012 accident in Burlington, Ont., that claimed the lives of three Via Rail employees.

Canadian Pacific Railway declined to comment on the union’s objections, but CEO Keith Creel said using the technology proactively will prevent incidents and improve rail safety, “further protecting the public, our employees and the goods we transport for our customers.”

“We believe this technology is a powerful and important tool in the investigative process to get to a better understanding of causation, which will lead to improved safety practices — something we all want,” CN Rail chief executive Luc Jobin added in a statement.