Article content material

Parks Canada was conscious the Athabasca Glacier posed a “critical” security danger to vacationers, together with these injured in a lethal Columbia Icefields crash two years in the past, two lawsuits declare.

Article content material

Statements of declare filed by two Vancouver-area males injured within the accident search near $800,000 usually damages plus unspecified punitive awards for the 2 plaintiffs.

“The (plaintiffs state) that the defendants demonstrated a wanton and reprehensible disregard for the well being and security of the (plaintiffs) and the general public usually, together with in view of prior information that the topic roadway posed a transparent and apparent hazard,” the practically equivalent separate claims state.

Together with Parks Canada, the lawsuits identify Nordegg Adventures Corp., previously often called Pursuit Journey and Journey Inc., as defendants.

It additionally lists a number of different company entities together with Brewster Journey Canada Inc., Brewster Excursions Inc., and Banff Jasper Assortment by Pursuit as “Company Pursuit Defendants.”

Article content material

“For a few years and together with on the time of the topic collisions, a number of of the Company Pursuit Defendants owned and operated a fleet of Ice Explorer Tour Buses together with the tour bus driving vacationers as much as the glacier,” it says.

“On July 18, 2020, the (plaintiffs have been) onboard the tour bus to tour and discover the Athabasca Glacier and Columbia Icefields within the Jasper Nationwide Park when the motive force misplaced management of the tour bus on the roadway, which then rolled down a moraine embankment earlier than coming to a relaxation on its roof, inflicting the (plaintiffs) to maintain critical, grievous, everlasting and catastrophic private accidents.”

The 2 claims say Matthew Jarvie, of Delta, B.C., and Andre Grootendorst, of Richmond, B.C., each have been critically injured within the crash.

Article content material

In Might, authorities filed eight costs in opposition to Brewsters Inc. beneath the provincial Occupational Well being and Security Act associated to the use and upkeep of seatbelts, failing to manage hazards and failing to make sure tools was in protected working situation in reference to the crash.

Three folks have been killed within the rollover of the automobile, which had 25 passengers on board.

The lawsuits, which search normal damages of $392,000 every for Jarvie and Grootendorst, stated the federal physique overseeing the park ought to have been conscious of the risks posed.

“Parks Canada knew or should have recognized primarily based on opinions it acquired from consultants or in any other case within the years previous the topic collision that there have been clear and critical security hazards current for members of the general public touring to the Athabasca Glacier by bus given the (rising) instability and growing steepness of the roadway,” state the claims, copies of which have been obtained Thursday by Postmedia.

It says the federal physique was negligent partially for “failing to take cheap steps to make sure that the premises have been protected for members of the general public and significantly the (plaintiffs), when it was or ought moderately to have been recognized that the general public could be transported by bus on the Columbia Icefields and the place Parks Canada profited from identical.”

Statements of defence disputing the unproven allegations within the two claims haven’t been filed.

KMartin@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @KMartinCourts