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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The widow of a Tli Cho Logistics worker who drowned earlier this month is calling on the federal government for more stringent safety measures at remote work sites.

David LeGros, during Christmas in 2005. The Tli Cho Logistics worker died March 1 after falling through ice at a tailings pond at Colomac Mine. - photo courtesy of Shirley LeGros

"I want some changes, safety-wise," Shirley LeGros told Yellowknifer on Friday.

"I don't think workers should be left on their own. If someone had been with David, I think he would still be alive."

David LeGros, a safety officer with Tli Cho Logistics, drowned March 1 in an icy tailings pond at the site of the former Colomac mine, 220 km northwest of Yellowknife. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Crystal, 23, who is studying at Augustana University College in Camrose, Alta.

LeGros said her 49-year-old husband, a photo enthusiast, was taking pictures of caribou when he apparently stepped through a weak spot on the ice. Searchers found his vehicle parked near the pond and his camera at the edge of a patch of open water.

Contaminated with cyanide, ammonia, arsenic, copper, lead, nickel and zinc, the pond and tailings area were enclosed by eight kilometres of fence erected in 2003 to keep wildlife away from the salt-rich minerals.

Colomac closed in 1997 and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada took over management of the site. A spokesperson for INAC said the mishap is being jointly investigated with the federal department of Public Works. A report is expected in mid-April.

The drowning was not the first incident at the site. In 2004, a grizzly bear attacked three men and injured two of them.