Arsenic case to be decided by judge
Former Giant Mine worker wants worker's commission to re-open file
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, February 12, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A judge is to decide by next week whether the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission must revisit the claim of a former Giant Mine employee who says he was left paralyzed after being exposed to arsenic at the mine nearly 30 years ago.
Steve Petersen, 64, told NWT Supreme Court on Wednesday that he was paralyzed when exposed to arsenic after cleaning up a spill at the mine without protective equipment in 1988. Petersen is trying to get the territory's top court to decide whether the Worker's Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC) was wrong to not re-open his injury claim in 2011.
"I was totally paralyzed for two years," he said, adding he feels a "fundamental injustice has been done" to him.
Petersen said he continues to suffer from the symptoms of an undefined condition. No doctors have been able to tell him exactly what his illness is but said he has symptoms of acute transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spine, said Petersen.
"It's basically an orphan illness," replied Justice Andrew Mahar, adding Petersen's illness sounds similar to fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, in that it's difficult to diagnose and medical experts are divided as to what the causes may be. The compensation commission's lawyer Shirley Walsh said Petersen's claim was initially denied because of a lack of evidence linking Petersen's condition to exposure with arsenic. She said the fact that Petersen was able to quickly return to work after making an initial claim showed the financial impact of his illness was minimal.
"He was gainfully employed immediately afterward," she said.
Mahar asked Petersen what he was hoping for in pursuing the case in Supreme Court, since the best he could hope for was to defer the case to a compensation commission appeals tribunal, which has already denied him.
"The best you can hope for is to be referred back to the WSCC," he said.
Petersen said he wants whatever the court decides he is entitled to. He said he wants to bring new evidence to the tribunal, including the endorsement of a new physician, who agrees Petersen's ailment is connected to arsenic poisoning. Walsh said the appeals tribunal is unlikely to be moved by the statements of Petersen's new doctor, however, because his assessment was based on the same information used to bring the first failed appeal.
"The medical opinion is not alleging any new connection," she said. Mahar said he would need some time to consider the evidence and that he would try to have a decision ready for Feb. 19.
