SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - There is nowhere left to go for the families of the nine miners killed in the bombing of Giant Mine in 1992, after the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed their case for compensation on Thursday.

A police re-enactment depicts the type of mine car the Giant Mine miners would have been riding just before the deadly blast on Sept. 18, 1993. - NNSL file photo

"This is a tremendously sad day for the families," wrote Peter Gilchrist, a lawyer representing eight of the nine widows, in an e-mail to Yellowknifer on Thursday.

"It has always been their view that there were parties other than (Roger Warren, who confessed to planting the bomb), who shared responsibility for the events of September 18, 1992. This case was always about accountability."

On May 23, 1992, a strike and lockout at Giant Mine divided Yellowknife. With replacement workers brought in and some union members crossing the picket line, the dispute heated up and turned violent.

The Supreme Court of Canada's statement of facts said replacement workers were subjected to threats of bodily harm, including gang rape and death from union members, along with the stalking and harassment.

The Giant Mine site was vandalized several times, sometimes with explosives and arson. After the owners of the mine, Royal Oak Ventures Inc. (formerly Royal Oak Mines), hired a 52-member security force from Pinkerton's of Canada Ltd., the violence got even worse.

In mid-June of 1992, a group of strikers rioted. Property was destroyed and both security guards and replacement workers were injured. Royal Oak fired close to 40 strikers after the incident, including Warren. Later that month, strikers, including Timothy Bettger, stole explosives from the mine and painted threatening graffiti on the walls.

Finally, in the early hours of Sept. 18, Warren slipped past security and attached a trip wire to 25-30 sticks of dynamite and a bag of nitrate-based explosives. Hours later, a man car carrying nine miners hit the trip wire, and all nine were killed.

Warren confessed to the murders and was convicted of nine counts of second degree murder in 1995 and is serving a 25-year prison sentence.

The widows have alleged the responsibility of the miners' death lay not only on Warren, but the mine owners who didn't shut down the mine during escalating violence, the territorial government for not intervening and closing the mine - which it did after the murders - Pinkerton's for failing to guard the mine from Warren, and the union that represented the strikers, whom they claimed should take some responsibility for the violence of the strike. Bettger was also named in the suit.

On Dec. 16, 2004, after a lengthy trial, the Supreme Court of the NWT ruled in favour of the widows, awarding them $10.7 million, but on May 22, 2008, the NWT Court of Appeal overturned that decision. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the widow's appeal on the 2008 ruling and reserved their decision until Thursday, when the appeal was dismissed.

"We were right from the outset of this ... it was misguided to try and blame anybody but Roger Warren," said Peter Gibson, lawyer for the GNWT.

Lawyer Jeff Champion, who represented the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court of Canada, said the widows weren't trying to blame other groups for what Warren did, but that other groups had responsibilities to the safety of the workers - responsibilities that weren't upheld.

"We were always arguing that security have a duty to protect the people they're supposed to protect," Champion told Yellowknifer on Thursday. Pinkerton's of Canada security "were arguing they didn't have a duty. The GNWT argued they didn't have a duty. The Supreme Court agreed with our point and said no, they do have a duty.

"Where the case was dismissed was whether or not (the defendants) provided the reasonable standard of care. (The court) could not agree with the findings of the (original trial) that they failed to provide adequate care," said Champion.

He said he was concerned, however, that under Canadian law, unions cannot be found responsible when their members resort to violence.

"We think that's a concern, and Canadian citizens should be concerned," said Champion.

The NWT Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission, which had launched the lawsuit on the widow's behalf, sent out a press release on Thursday expressing disappointment with the decision.