Company directors less liable for cleanups under North of 60 laws

In southern Canada, governments have gone after directors and senior officials of companies that have left behind environmental messesand won, but the laws in the Northare different, says an Ontario lawyer.

At the N.W.T.Geoscience Forum Tuesday in Yellowknife, CharlesBirchall gave a few examples of directors and senior officials of companies who've had to pay for clean-upsout of their own pockets.

It's something taxpayers in N.W.T. have talked about, aftercompanies such as Snowfield Developments and Royal Oak ran out of money and left their messes behind. But the territorial government has never gone after any officials from those companies.

Birchall talked about Northstar, an aerospace company that contaminated soil and groundwater around its plant in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.When the Ontario government went after its former officers anddirectorsto pay up, they appealed the decision.

"They paid, personally, $800,000to comply with the order pending the appeal, and finally they decided to just settle," he said. "So the officers on a personal basis agreed to pay out $4.75 million, not including costs already spent."

The presentation on environmental security and liability at the Geoscience Forum was introduced by Pamela Strand.

Strand was president and founder of Shear Diamonds and resigned just before Shear went bankrupt, leaving taxpayers to cover the $2 millionshortfall inclean-up money for its Jericho Mine in Nunavut.

Strand is now a director in the mineral resources division of the N.W.T.'s Department of industry, Tourism and Investment.

She refused to speak with CBC News about whether she feels any responsibilityfor the mess her company left behind.

Birchall says the laws in the North make it more difficult but not impossible to make company officials like Strand pay for cleanups out of their own pockets.

"South of 60 there's an extra duty to take all reasonable care to ensure that your company meets its environmental obligations," he said.

"North of 60 that duty of care is couched differently. You have to knowingly acquiesced or caused a problem to be held responsible."

Birchall says the N.W.T. government seems to be focusing on making sure enough environmental security is posted for minesso it doesn't have to go after company directors.