Police can keep arena logbooks it got after deaths in Fernie: court
The City of Fernie cannot inspect or copy a pair of logbooks police acquired during the recovery of victims of the ammonia gas leak at its municipal arena last October, a provincial court judge has ruled.
The city had taken the RCMP to court over the books, arguing among other things that police had obtained them improperly or illegally, according to the ruling by Judge Lynal Doerksen.
A firefighter had retrieved the books at the request of RCMP, who had no search warrant for the arena, according to the ruling. Only after the books were in police possession did the RCMP obtain its warrant, the city protested.
The logbooks contain detailed information about the operation and maintenance of the refrigeration system that presumably failed and caused the fatalities, Doerkson said in the ruling.
The city had argued the logbooks could help it determine what went wrong and allow it to fulfil its obligations under the Workers’ Compensation Act. But police argued that there was an overriding public interest in preserving the integrity of the RCMP investigation. The RCMP also argued the manner in which it acquired the books would be relevant if charges were filed, but not at this stage.
Doerkson dismissed the city’s application.
“To put it bluntly: the RCMP investigation is a criminal investigation and there is the possibility of criminal charges such as ”criminal negligence causing death.” As the City owns and operates the arena the City is a possible suspect,” Doerkson wrote, noting that there is now only the mere possibility of charges.
“Given the nature of the incident: multiple fatalities with a possible criminal cause, it is obvious that it would not be in the public interest to jeopardize the RCMP investigation to assist the City with a statutory obligation,” Doerkson added.
On Oct. 17, 2017, the city shut down its arena after an alarm went off around 4 a.m. and called in a specialist for emergency repairs.
That afternoon, emergency crews responding to a 911 call found one person in distress outside the building. He later died. Two more victims were found inside the arena.
The deceased were later identified as city workers Wayne Hornquist, 59, and Lloyd Smith, 52, and contractor Jason Podloski, 46. All were killed by exposure to ammonia, a toxic, colourless gas.