A Montreal contractor was sentenced to jail Tuesday for his role in the death of an employee on a construction site six years ago.
When Gilles Levesque went to work on April 3rd 2012, he was already considering leaving his job with the Fournier excavation company because he thought the work was too dangerous.
That day, while working in a ditch in Lachine, the walls collapsed and Levesque was buried alive.
After a lengthy investigation, the company’s owner Sylvain Fournier was tried and convicted for manslaughter.
The prosecution asked for three years, while the defense suggested 90 days.
Fournier was also seriously injured in the accident, but also had a history of health and safety violations that the judge took into account in his ruling.
Justice Pierre Dupras opted for an 18-month sentence for Fournier.
It’s the first time in Quebec that someone goes to jail for failing to protect a worker. But for the victim’s family, the sentence comes nowhere near the pain and suffering they went through.
“My father was buried alive because of a man who exploited him,” Levesque’s daughter said while expressing disappointment with the light sentence.
Had it been a road accident, she added, Fournier would have been handed a stricter punishment.
Labour unions are hailing the verdict as a warning to contractors that heath and safety is a serious issue, especially in construction trades.
Fournier is already appealing the verdict, which means the case will return in front of the courts at a later date.
