Two Years Sunk & Still Surfacing

The Transportation Safety Board's report into the sinking of the Queen of the North is in, and on first glance, like a lot of investigations, it raises as many questions as it answers. Make no mistake, the sinking of the Queen of the North at Hartley Bay in March of 2006 was tragic and it's only natural that some people feel frustrated by the lack of closure in the TSB report. However, unlike the BC Ferries' internal investigation, the sole purpose of which was to defame the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union for undertaking its legal obligation to protect its dues-paying members, absolve the corporation of any responsibility, and push David Hahn's privatization agenda even further, the purpose of the TSB investigation was to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

All the finger-pointing and union-bashing in the world is not going to raise the Queen or the two passengers who disappeared in the frigid waters of Hartley Bay. The misanthropic, screaming well-to-do reactionaries are firing at the BCFMWU and BC's Labour Movement in general across the discussion boards and call in shows, as if stripping the collective bargaining rights of everyone in the province will alleviate the prospect of further maritime catastrophe. What they're missing is that, despite the militancy generated out of enlightened self-interest during bargaining periods, most people who work in the public service are (sadly) oblivious to their own unions, and are probably more oblivious if they have, in fact, lit up a joint or two while trying to navigate large ocean-going vessels in the middle of the night as it's been insinuated in some quarters.

The prospect of more truth being revealed in a judicial inquiry remains, but if there's one thing this page has learned during his time in British Columbia, justice is glacial (just ask families of the Air India families, Robert Pickton's victims, or David Basi and Rob Virk) and often freezes out those seeking it. This page would like to think that the outcome would be different and BC Ferries and the employees involved would each take their true proportion of responsibility, but I'm not holding my breath. At least I can stop holding my breath so much while riding BC Ferries, thanks to the TSB report.