Family wants answers after charges in bear-mauling case stayed

The mother of a man killed by a grizzly bear in the Yukon bush said she doesn't understand why the Yukon government stopped court proceedings against the man's employer last week.

On June 2, lawyers for the government and the Yukon Workers' Compensation, Health and Safety Board said they were staying negligence charges they had filed against Aurora Geosciences Ltd., in connection to the April 2006 bear-mauling death of Jean-François Pagé.

"When we first learned about the stay of the charges, we were very angry," Ginette Chamberland, Pagé's mother, told CBC News in French from her home in Quebec.

In an interview, Chamberland said further reflection on the case has left the family disappointed and mostly confused.

"We never wanted to incriminate the company," she said. "But if it had a responsibility in the death of Jean-François, we didn't want the company to be absolved that easily."

Pagé, 28, had been doing prospecting work for Aurora Geosciences in the bush near Ross River when he was attacked by a grizzly sow.

The compensation board had charged Yellowknife-based Aurora Geosciences with a number of safety regulation violations, claiming the company did not properly train or equip Pagé for his job.

The company has denied the board's allegations.

But just as a five-day trial was set to begin on the case, government lawyers said they were staying the charges because of "new information." They did not give further details.

Chamberland said the Crown called her to explain what happened, but told her the new information was confidential.

"We don't understand how a technical irregularity, which is what they called it, can cancel a trial," she said.

Now that the court proceedings aren't moving ahead, Chamberland said she's been told that the family will finally gain access to the official reports of Pagé's accident.

Chamberland said the family will start by reading the documents before deciding if they will proceed with any further action.