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'Working Alone' Safeguards Slide

Outraged father of 'gas and dash' victim says officials eroded 'Grant's Law.'

By Tom Sandborn, 9 Mar 2009, TheTyee.ca

Grant Depatie

Grant DePatie: Inspired push for better worker safety.

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*Story updated at 4 p.m., Mar. 9, 2009.

Doug DePatie is angry. In 2005, a drunken teenager in a stolen car killed his son, Grant, dragging the young man seven kilometres beneath a speeding vehicle after Grant tried to stop a "gas and dash" fuel theft at the station where he was working.

Now, says the still-grieving father, the provincial government and WorkSafeBC are stalling and weakening promised worker safety reforms inspired by Grant's death.

"The government is just catering to businessmen," DePatie said. "Employers weren't doing anything to prevent gas-and-dash crime, or the dangers it posed to people like Grant working alone overnight. We need even stronger laws, not weaker."

For two years after his violent death, Grant's father and grandfather campaigned with their unions and the B.C. Federation of Labour to get new WorkSafeBC regulations adopted. Doug DePatie belongs to local 170 of the Plumbers and Pipefitters and Grant's grandfather, Chet Crellin, is a retired member of Teamsters local 213.

'Grant's Law' was hailed by labour minister

The hope was that the regulations would help protect other young workers from dying the way Grant did. In 2007, regulations were announced as "Grant's Law," and hailed as a victory for the family and for worker safety in B.C.

The province's then labour minister, Olga Ilich, told her Canadian colleagues at a cross-country meeting of labour ministers that the new regulations demonstrated how governments could make workplaces safer.

"This is something I would like to see all provinces consider along with more and better safety training for young workers," said Ilich. "Grant's Law will help to protect gas station workers and give them a sense of security."

Ilich, now a backbench MLA who has indicated she will not run in the next election, told The Tyee that she had asked WorkSafeBC to look into implementing the pre-payment system for gas that eventually became known as Grant's Law.

Ilich said that additional regulations calling for physical barriers between night workers and customers grew out of a public hearing process conducted by WorkSafeBC and that these additional regulations were often viewed as part of the Grant's Law package, both by those who approved and by those who criticized the changes.

But now, two years later, the timeline for implementing regulations has been extended until 2010. And the time during the night shift that workers are to be protected by the regulations has been reduced, DePatie told The Tyee.

'Grant's Law remains unchanged': WorkSafeBC

Donna Freeman, who speaks for WorkSafeBC, told The Tyee that DePatie is wrong if he thinks Grant's Law is being weakened. She said that the only part of the new working alone regulations that was called Grant's Law in government releases, the requirement that customers pre-pay for gas on round the clock basis, remains unchanged.

Freeman acknowledged that other planned safety requirements for workers alone at night had been changed or deferred. The span of time defined as night work has been shortened by an hour. And the deadline is being extended for employers to provide either a barrier between clerks and customers or a team of two or more workers for night work.

Freeman insisted that these changes could not be viewed as changes to Grant's Law itself.

"Grant's Law remains unchanged. We did change some other provisions but we consider this minor. It is not unusual for WorkSafe to amend proposed regulations as we get feedback from stakeholders. This is just business at usual. There was no connection between the requirement for physical barriers and Grant's Law," she said.

"I am appalled she would say such a thing," Doug DePatie told The Tyee. "The new rules on working alone and physical barriers were part of the response to Grant's death. They might not technically be called Grant's Law, but they were related."

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair agrees.

"It is disingenuous to suggest the DePatie's were only fighting for pay at the pump," he told The Tyee. "They wanted safety for night workers, and Doug DePatie is right in what he is saying."

'Companies hijacked process': BCFed's Sinclair

Sinclair said rollbacks in protection for workers alone at night reflect the power of big business.

"The companies have hijacked the process," he said, "and the WorkSafe board let them."

Representatives of the companies that operate private liquor stores in B.C. were among the stakeholders who objected to the definition of night hours and the regulatory requirement that they provide a physical barrier between clerks working alone late at night and customers.

A delegation from the Alliance of Beverage Licensees, the lobby group for the province's private liquor store owners, met with WorkSafeBC head David Anderson in early 2008 to argue that their stores, which are allowed to open until 11 p.m., should not be covered by the new safety regulations, which defined night work as beginning at 10 p.m.

After that meeting, WorkSafeBC changed the hours covered by the new safety rules so that the starting time for the regulatory protection fell after the liquor stores close at 11 p.m.

In a related move, WorkSafe will allow retailers another year before they have to erect barriers in outlets where clerks worked alone overnight, or else hire a second worker for the overnight shift. The new deadline is 2010.

Kim Haakstad, the executive director of the Alliance of Beverage Licensees (ABLE) was part of that group's delegation that met with WorkSafeBC president David Anderson in April of 2008 to lobby for changes in the working alone regulations, Donna Freeman said.

Liquor lobby's ties to BC Liberals

Haakstad, before she went to work for ABLE, worked in several provincial ministries under the Campbell government and ran the Vancouver offices of the federal Liberal party. Haakstad told The Tyee her group meets regularly with WorkSafeBC and will continue to do so. She added that she sat as a member of the barrier design working group set up by WorkSafeBC.

On the House

BC Liberals served up changes profitable for private liquor lobby.

The BC Liberal government has made various moves to foster the growth of private liquor stores in B.C since opening the doors to them in 2002.

For example, several times the government has lowered the price private stores must pay to buy their stock from Liquor Control Board warehouses.

In 2007, Victoria Times-Colonist columnist Paul Willcocks estimated that such wholesale cost cutting by government gave the retailers an extra $20-25 million in profit that year, money that would otherwise have flowed into government coffers.

Liquor Barn GP president John Mather reportedly estimated that the changes would represent a 10 per cent improvement in his firm's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Liquor Barn is now owned by Liquor Stores GP, where ex-Liberal cabinet member Collins is a board member.

So, the private liquor stores of B.C. wanted higher discount rates on their wholesale purchases from Liquor Control Board warehouses, and they got them.

And now that the private liquor store lobby wants delay and change on safety regulations that they saw as onerous and over costly, they seem on track to get those wishes fulfilled as well.

– Tom Sandborn

"At these meetings, I expressed concerns on behalf of our members, particularly those operating in small and rural communities, that the new regulation put an unfair burden on the smallest employers and created an advantage for those larger operations that have more than one person closing at night. It would mean one business would be forced to close at 10 p.m., while another in the same community could remain open until 11 p.m. causing, what many fear, a permanent loss of previously loyal customers. We also wrote a letter expressing this concern to the president of WorkSafe and shared that with our members," Haakstad told The Tyee by e-mail.

No representatives of organized labour were included in the barrier design committee Haakstad refers to above. Other members of the committee were the Retail Safety Association, Retail B.C., Retail Council of Canada, the (then) Western Canadian Convenience Store Association, Shell, Esso, PetroCan, 7-11 and Mac's.

WorkSafeBC's Donna Freeman told The Tyee by e-mail that only retailers were represented on the committee because, as employers, they would be responsible for implementing any required changes in their stores.

What role did premier play?

Haakstad's history working with the Campbell Liberals before heading up a retail alcohol business umbrella group is part of a larger pattern of relationships between the province's current governing party and the private liquor stores.

Gary Collins, a former finance minister and cabinet heavyweight in the Campbell government, who resigned late in 2004, took a position in 2006 on the board of Liquor Stores GP, an important player in liquor retailing in B.C. In 2007, his firm donated $11,000 to BC Liberal campaign coffers, while Haakstad's ABLE gave the BC Liberals $18,000 that year.

The Elections BC website does not yet include a report on 2008 political donations, and ABLE's Haakstad did not respond to Tyee questions about how much her group gave the BC Liberals last year.

She also did not answer questions about whether her organization had communicated with the premier's office to ask for help in obtaining changes in WorkSafeBC regulations.

Changes to government regulations that seem to respond to interests close to the governing party often evoke cynical speculation about political influence on decision making. WorkSafe's Freeman, however, told The Tyee by e-mail:

"I have been able to confirm that no one at WorkSafeBC received any direction or request either from the Premier's office or the Ministry of Labour with regard to the proposed change (the one hour issue) to the Regulation which is to be heard at a public hearing in June later this spring." The Premier's press secretary, Bridgette Anderson, also indicated that there had been no communication from the premier's office to WorkSafeBC about the working alone regulation changes.

DePatie vows to keep up fight

While the change in hours on the working-alone regulations are already in effect, a final decision depends upon public hearings on the amended hours set to occur this spring. Doug DePatie told The Tyee that he means to be at those hearings.

"Grant wasn't the first or the last worker to die because of lax safety regulations. We accepted the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. hours because we had nothing before. Now they want to water the protection down even further.

"We shouldn't be backstepping on this stuff. Safety should be the bottom line, not profits," said DePatie. "Our family members are collateral damage, and not enough is being done to protect workers."

Related Tyee stories:

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Tyee contributing editor Tom Sandborn can be reached with feedback or story tips here.

33 Comments:

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  • demotto

    2 years ago

    Collaterall damage

    The safety of workers should be priority one but alas saying a living soul is collateral damage has hit the nail on the head as that is what we have become no more no less than collateral to the powers that be. Why should they care if one of us dies they just right it off their books. If one of us just gets crippled all the better the money train chugs on but not for the injured worker. Time we took back our country folks and show these heartless corporations and governments where they derive their power. It is from us take it back before its too late if it isn't already.

  • notamused

    2 years ago

    Pay-before-you-pump

    I see this as another example of the Liberals' MO throughout their term in office: do as little as possible, at the lowest possible cost, to create the illusion they are doing something positive. Given people's short attention spans for things political, it seems to be a winning strategy.

    As for the pay-before-you-pump law, I hate it. I live in a small town where I've been a member of the local co-op for more than 10 years. Before the law was in place I used to pull up and ask the attendant to fill my tank and, while she or he did so, we'd talk about what was going on in town. Then I'd often go inside and pay and make conversation with another human being.

    Now that I have to pay in advance, I'm more likely to put my card in the pump and do it myself. So, the cost of preventing what at my small town co-op is an event of infinitesimally minuscule probability is the diminution of human contact, which in my opinion is probably one of the root causes of violence in our society.

  • DJT

    2 years ago

    Gee, BC is "open for

    Gee, BC is "open for business" after all, isn't it?

  • jimorsheryl

    2 years ago

    Gas 'n Dash is Stopped

    With the new 'pay before you pump' pain in the neck law; there is no opportunity for people to gas 'n dash.

    I am sorry for the death of Grant, but what he did goes beyond what ANY employer would ask of an employee.

    Any employer I know, tells their employees to give a crook whatever they ask for, and don't be a hero. It is only money, after all.

  • freebear

    2 years ago

    What did you really expect from this government?

    Surprised!

    Just like they have not wanted to raise the minimum wage!

    Worse now when people may be more desperate for work in an unsafe situation.

    A simple solution would be have no staff work alone, but that means another wage so oooooooh not good for business!

  • Rod Smelser

    2 years ago

    Are the BC Liberals and Federal Liberals Connected, ... or not?

    I note in this story that business lobbyist Kim Haakstad "worked in several provincial ministries under the Campbell government and ran the Vancouver offices of the federal Liberal party."

    But it doesn't matter to some people that this person, who is happy to earn an income arguing that business interests take precedence over labour concerns, was involved with the Federal Liberals as well as the Gordon Campbell ones.

    There are still people who will tell you that there is no connection whatever between the two and that in fact the Campbell Liberals are really very closely connected to the Federal Conservatives. These are people who see what they want to see, and nothing else.

    It just doesn't matter to these people how many Dave Basis and Bob Virks worked in ministerial office in Victoria and also worked on Federal Liberal shenanigans in Vancouver. It just doesn't matter that Joyce Murray cut environmental programs for Campbell, she can now run in Point Grey as a environmentalist with the blessings of everyone from David Suzuki to the Georgia Straight.

    It doesn't matter that the Clark-Marissen group of political operatives worked for both the Federal and provincial Liberal parties. It doesn't matter that one of their key players, Bill Cunningham, has run federally three times. It just doesn't matter that the Clark-Marissen group almost all enjoyed some connection with Federal Liberal Regional Minister David Anderson.

    Why doesn't any of this matter? Because the Liberals and their friends in the media say so, that's why.

  • Ernest Black

    2 years ago

    Worker Safety

    Perhaps all the people and groups working to improve the laws will remember the Campbell govt. in May.

    But what happened to personal responsibility in this country? If a place is unsafe then do not work there! If a place is unsafe, then do not buy there!

    We as a society need to stop demanding that government wrap us in a baby blanket of legislation. Government will grudgingly promise anything we want to hear, as long as they keep getting elected, but enforcement will depend on who is making the larger donations to the war chest.

    As people we need to stop thinking that society and business owe us something. We are only due what we make and struggle for. Well perhaps govt. owes us, since we put them in power and we pay the bills. But as long as we act like they are doing US a big favour when they give back some of OUR money, then we are all doomed.

    We constantly forget that we are the bosses and they are the employees. And they are playing with OUR money, not theirs.

  • alive

    2 years ago

    the answer is:

    In response to this quote: "But what happened to personal responsibility in this country? If a place is unsafe then do not work there!" I would like to point out that this is just one of the reasons we should get every worker to join a union!

    That is exactly what union membership stands for: nobody has to tale any risk! if it is unsafe, REFUSE to do it, your union will back you up!

  • frenchy mcswede

    2 years ago

    This typical revisionism of the bc liberals

    must be heartbreaking for the Depatie family, and I feel for them.

    Under this government which seems to be a collaboration of used car salesmen and the worst sort of lawyers, anything is possible. Their favorite trick seems to be trying to APPEAR to actually do something with one hand, while doing everything possible to undermine their efforts with the other. For example, when the liberals were forced to reinstate the position of advocate for children, after at least three deaths, and god knows what other horrors, they counter-balanced appointing Tuppel-lanford (name correct?) with the appointment, of Leslie dutoit, whose REAL job seems to be to block and add confusion, to any progress reccomended by Tuppel-Lanford. In this way they can take one step forward and two steps back at the same time.

    We should remember, especially on May 12, that the liberals are a government that doesn't mind if the children of farm laborers are exposed to pesticides, that gutted workman's compensation access so much that injured workers are often offered and must settle for provicial disability, as they are unable to get livable workman's compensation. I have read recently that the wprkman's compensation case load has fallen by some 80% under the bc liberals...even as safety regulations have been gutted and undermined and the number of injuries, especially in dangerous jobs like logging, as a % of workers employed has skyrocketed...

  • jwlaurie

    2 years ago

    ALIVE . . . . you are so out

    ALIVE . . . . you are so out of touch . .

    Do you think all of these people are unionized so that they have representation if they refuse to work unsafely. Best to check that idea at the door of " a perfect world" where you must live . . .

    The truth of the matter is that these people are by and large immigrants with minimal English language skills and cannot get another job anywhere else but are not fluent enough to understand their rights to form a union.

    Better you put your ideas and support behind Union organizing drives than imagining that everyone already has Union support . .

    As far as "Work Safe BC' goes, forget compassion, pride of ownership or anything else of that nature. They are shills of the business class and cannot react any other way than to support whatever they ask for, no matter the consequences.

  • frenchy mcswede

    2 years ago

    rod smelser

    I agree rod, the ties between the two parties show that the only thing the federal liberal party now stands for is tax cuts for the rich and the self enrichment of its members and its friends. While there may be some progressive liberals left, it hardly matters if the party remains dominated by it's obvious rightwing agenda, where yesterday was not soon enough for a taxcut for the rich, but daycare must be studied for a decade, preferably by an over paid panel composed of the liberals and their friends. As the premier's fond of saying: "I can work with either party..." (Presumably because there's now so little difference between the two parties.) Ignatief SHOULD have said: "...a coalition, just not neccesarily a coalition with the block or the ndp...

    The federal liberals propped up the bc liberals with record equalization payments, shrugged at the disaster capitalism and assault on the most vulnerable employed by campbell to pay for the 25% unannounced till the day after the 2001 election taxcut for the rich, and ran joyce murray as an environmental candidate. Recently, don bell, an ex-liberal mp and perpetual backbencher, whose only claim to credibility was his supposed support for the arts, ran for the bc liberal nomination in north vancouver, despite the provincial liberals just having gutted art funding. Progressive federal liberal supporters should wake up realize that the federal liberals have not since Trudeau, actually stood for anything progressive...

  • Stump

    2 years ago

    Be thankful and eat your gruel

    "As people we need to stop thinking that society and business owe us something."

    Both society and business must provide workers with a reasonably safe place to work. They 'owe' us that (among other things). Working alone in the middle of the night at a gas station is clearly not a safe situation.

  • Fish-counter

    2 years ago

    Someone has to say this...

    The death of Grant DePatie was tragic, but Grant's Law is a massive over-reaction. The young man made an unwise decision to chase a thief. It cost him his life, but punishing every driver in the province, every time they gas up, is not a good move.

    For one thing, the gas stations must be losing money. Motorists like me never go inside the store. We gas up, get our receipt and boot it. The opportunity for instore shopping is lost.

    Given the recent jump in gas prices, it was probably a good thing that prepayment was required, and in the long run, it is inevitable. Thanks to Grant's Law, it was an overnight change. What happened to a business person's right to run their business acording to common sense?

    You can't run a successful business based on the worst case scenario. Mr DePatie's determination is admirable but misplaced.

  • Stump

    2 years ago

    punished?

    "punishing every driver in the province, every time they gas up, is not a good move."

    In what way are you punished? You have to pre-pay for your gas. Oh, the horror.

  • Fish-counter

    2 years ago

    Punished is the right word, Stump

    Changing the way we do business overnight because of one person's bad judgement is punishment. Keep this up and we will be pre-paying for groceries to thwart shoplifters. Some of those prepayment machines are punishingly slow; like they are running on Windows Vista or a dial-up modem.

    I think the gas stations must have noticed a decline in their food business. They are being punished.

  • Rod Smelser

    2 years ago

    Go back to counting fish

    Fish-counter
    The death of Grant DePatie was tragic, but Grant's Law is a massive over-reaction. The young man made an unwise decision to chase a thief. It cost him his life, but punishing every driver in the province, every time they gas up, is not a good move.

    I live in Maple Ridge where Grant De Patie was murdered, dragged many miles to his death, screaming but not being heard by the thoroughly drunken criminal Darnell Pratt, who was out for what his lawyer had the incredible lack of judgement to label as a "joy ride" that just happened to go bad. Words fail!

    Fish-counter's attitudes and scale of values would appear to be in the same category as some of the self-centred letter-writers to the MR Times and the MR News who expressed similar sentiments. These people all issued the same kind of utterly perfunctory statement of regret as Fish-counter before hollering that it just isn't worth another two minutes of their precious time!

    Can I suggest that Fish-counter's highest and best employment is in counting fish?

  • Rod Smelser

    2 years ago

    alive: Non-union workers have the same right to refuse

    alive
    That is exactly what union membership stands for: nobody has to tale any risk! if it is unsafe, REFUSE to do it, your union will back you up!

    I am sure it will come as an unpleasant shock to you to know that labour statutes grant all workers the right to refuse unsafe work. Union status is irrelevant. If you don't believe me, fine, check it out with our resident legal expert Luke S.

    So, the next time you're representing the company and yelling at someone that they have no choice but to do it or be fired, be advised that they do have the legal right to refuse unsafe work and still keep their jobs, regardless of whether you or the other middle-management suck-ups like it or not.

  • Stump

    2 years ago

    "Changing the way we do

    "Changing the way we do business overnight because of one person's bad judgement is punishment."

    You just broke the gauge on my dumb-ometer FC.

    Businesses change the way they do business all the time. Quit whining and fill up during the day if you're too incovenienced to wait a few seconds for a computer.

  • perseus

    2 years ago

    working alone safeguards slide

    Why should anyone be surprised? The Grant's Law hoopla wasn't to protect workers, it was to make it appear that our benevolent government was "doing something" while just making it easier for the gas companies and owners to be sure they got paid. There was obviously never any intention on the part of the Campbell government to do anything that might cost money for a business owner. It is a real shame that poor Grant's name was used in this way.

  • Van Isle

    2 years ago

    If you refuse to work at

    If you refuse to work at something that the you deem unsafe, the employer will bring in a WCB/worksafe inspector and he/she will deem it safe and thus you have to go back to work. To boot the company will now discipline you cuz you took work- action on something that was safe. Saw it and and experienced it. WCB/Worksafe is a sham, maybe we should get rid of it and if a worker is hurt on the job he would be able to sue his employer. A lot of people don't realize it, but as a worker you can't sue your employer.

  • dorothy

    2 years ago

    What's with the pay-up-front problem??

    For years and years, I have used my plastic in the slot outside, and when done gassing, gone into the store and had a coffee and whatever. Where's the problem? Of course you can do both!

    Wise or unwise is not the issue here. The way we and the school system beat the stuffing out of our youth, they will do almost anything to avoid being 'at fault'. I had one kid who paid dearly for his boss interfering in a sales transaction and the boss then made an error HIMSELF, but tried to get the dough from my kid, because he wrapped the parcel! In the face of the fact that this society runs on bully terms, as in shout louder and be more bitchy and call the other guy names, and issue veiled threats to livelihhod and/or health, and you get it your way - dont't get me started - nobody but nobody had better say a single word about the 'lack of wisdom' in young DePatie. For shame!

  • Levicat

    2 years ago

    Expendable workers

    So called Worksafe BC is the new lable for the former Overseer of old. I feel like I've be transported back in time to the plantation or better yet Dunsmuir's mines.

    We are are the expendable ones and Worksafe BC and Gordo and his @#$%^_)*& Liberal govt will sell workers out every time.

    You have a working committee on workplace safety for workers working alone and only the owners/companys have a say in how that will be done. Bullshit.

    May 12th can't come soon enough for me and all those expendable workers out there, especially Grant.

  • stevie wonders

    2 years ago

    Overreaction

    What? You say the BC Liberal government hasn't done enough?

    It would have been much more efficient to have simply passed a law making it illegal for gas bar employees to chase after gasoline thieves. As a previous poster has stated, and I as an employer can verify, we never want our employees to play hero during a theft.

    If such a law had been passed instead, many businesses would not have been forced to invest in more equipment on an accelerated basis (yes, folks, many fuel station operators are small independent businessmen/women selling branded fuel through their own pumps), and jobs would not have been eliminated due to reduced in-store sales, where the real profits are.

    Instead, the public get caught up in emotions, as well as ideological and political rhetoric. Assumptions and accusations are made about "corporate greed" without any apparent understanding about how the economy really works.

    The unions banded together on what they said (and their members probably thought) was a good cause. It'll take a while before useful statistics are gathered and conclusions can be made, but I predict it will show that a significant number of jobs will have been lost because of this law (albeit non-union jobs, so maybe the unions don't really care about them).

    Yes, I criticize the government for how they handled this issue: they grossly overreacted.

  • Rod Smelser

    2 years ago

    WHY NOT ELIMINATE SELF-SERVE AS IN OREGON?

    stevie wonders
    What? You say the BC Liberal government hasn't done enough?

    It would have been much more efficient to have simply passed a law making it illegal for gas bar employees to chase after gasoline thieves.

    stevie, let me overlook your off-the-rack anti-union rant, the hosanas to "independent" gas bar owners, and the silly bugger stuff about job losses and imaginary huge equipment costs. I suppose your next move will be to say that if retail gas prices are higher in BC it's because of Grant's Law.

    If the government wanted to maintain employment, keep gas station employees safe, and provide other things such as a good check on driver sobriety, it could have done as the State of Oregon has for many years. It could require that all filling stations be full-service. I believe that's also the law in the municipality of Richmond. Has employment suffered as a result in either Richmond or Oregon?

  • alive

    2 years ago

    it is about safety!

    Anytime that someone refers to a group of folks as "these people" I stop listening!

    As far as what legal rights a kid may have, I shall not argue, but I am sure you will agree that most kids who have their first job, are a bit intimidated about standing up for what they may feel is not a safe situation; and that is why it would be great were such places of employement unionized.

    When an unsafe situation occurs there is no time to call in Work Safe and wait for their investigation!

    It has to be a split-second decision on the part of the employee, and if he deems it unsafe, then he must have the security that he can refuse, right there and now!

    Maybe some of you have no idea what union membership is all about?

  • DorEli53

    2 years ago

    get the facts straight

    I don't understand why people are complaining about having to pay before you pump. No matter what, you have to pay. It shouldn't matter when. Get over it. Close your eyes and think..What if it were your child?
    There are some comments saying Grant shouldn't have intervened?
    I'd like to make some things clear about the circumstances regarding what happened.
    Grant did not go running after the thief. He was actually quite a distance away from the pumps, with his back turned and heading back into the station when that punk stepped on the gas. He struck Grant unaware, from behind.
    You can't blame Grant...Blame the person in the stollen car, who was drunk and who hit Grant and didn't stop. Imagine your son or daughter being dragged underneath a car for 7km. There is absolutely no excuse for what Darnell did.
    This would never have happened if this law had been put in place before someone had to lose a life. Grant is not the only one to suffer. There are people stuck in wheel chairs, paralized because of similar cases.

    I think Doug and Chett are hero's for fighting to change the laws. This wasn't just for Grant..this was done for your child, your grandchild, your neighbours child, anyones child.
    You should all be greatful that this won't happen again.

    Now it's up to the Government to make it happen..It's time to push forward, not procrastinate.

  • dorothy

    2 years ago

    DorEli53

    Your input has me flabbergasted and really angry! If your presentation of the occurrences is correct, then where the @*&^%Z&@ does the story come from that Grant died after 'trying to stop' the thief? So, the mainstream press has, I take it, twisted the story to make a lot of people think that 'he asked for it' - not that I ever agreed to that, but at least that he sort of engaged the louts himself and maybe it was 'unwise', yada yada yada - such a nice little piece of not even yellow, but Gods-know-what mucky color journalism. Why has this not been corrected in capital letters before?

  • DorEli53

    2 years ago

    re: get the facts straight

    I don't know why this hasn't been corrected . Maybe because of terminology? Technically he was trying to intervene.
    Grant was warned by another customer who informed him that they saw a screw driver in the ignition of the stollen car. Grant was going inside to make the phone call to report it.
    I am very close to The DePatie's. I grew up with Corinne (friends for 42 years so far)and consider them as family. Everything I know was told to me by Corinne and she I'm sure knows all the details intimately.
    The media doesn't tell all as we all well aware. Truth's gets twisted, deleted and ignored.
    There are things I know that were never mentioned but should have. This could have cleared up many assumptions that I've seen in mny other posts.

  • dorothy

    2 years ago

    Thank you very much

    for sharing your insight. So, it appears that we can totally heap scorn on the 'unwise' label or even disucssing it, as everyone was clearly barking up the wrong tree. This was agression and cruelty all the way. Not that it makes anything better, just that the truth should at least be told.

    There are three young adults in my family, who have all been doing jobs fraught with the same sort of risk, and I know that I could not find a way to rationalize a loss of someone in this fashion. I hope the politicians are listening and will quit trying to cheapskate. Punishment, as lame as it is? I think maybe we all deserve that, perhaps most of us not in any personal, individual way, but collectively, certainly!

  • DorEli53

    2 years ago

    You're very welcome

    I hope that others who have posted here have read what I've said. I have double comfirmed what I mentioned here with Corinne and she is frustrated as well. The
    the DePatie's have told the newspapers the truth but they won't listen. The Ridge Meadows RCMP and the Coroner, Lianna Wright on the other hand will contest that information though, so at least someone is willing to tell the truth.

  • Fish-counter

    2 years ago

    Rod Smelser; what Grant DePatie did was stupid. Got it?

    Chasing a customer for $12.00 was not the smart thing to do. It should not change the way the whole province works. We should not be changing laws based on the dumbest thing that ever happened. That is my point.

    If we did that, no one would take the Inside Passage Route from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert; the Queen of the North sank, so it must be dangerous. We would not be flying because some planes crash. We clear out office buildings because someone has a suspicion about a white powder in an envelope. We cancel school because some teenager writes graffiti on a school wall. Bullsh*t. We are over-reacting to every little incident like it was 9/11. that is because we are a bunch of neurotic cowards.

    Meanwhile cops commit murder with Tasers. We have our priorities screwed up. Go back to sleep Smelser. Or chase a car.

  • Stump

    2 years ago

    Wake up

    Read the comments FC. DePatie wasn't even doing what you suggest.

    Even if he were, protecting people from their own mistakes or lack of knowledge is a part of our legal system. Esp, in the field of labour law. You're either an idiot or a troll and I'm leaning towards Option A.

  • DorEli53

    2 years ago

    Fish-counter

    Don't you read or comprehend what the truth is here?
    Grant was 60 feet away from the pumps, with his back turned from Darnell when Darnell panicked. Grant was not trying to stop Darnell, he was going inside to phone the police.
    This is FACT. Grant did NOT do anything wrong...He did everything RIGHT.

    People need to stop making assumptions -
    The newspapers only say what makes news...not always the truth. Even the smallest details can make a difference.

    As for those complaining about the stores losing business because people are paying at the pump...stop whining..If someone needs to buy something they will go in. Nothing is stopping them, in fact, do what I do...go in, grab what I want and pay for my gas, then pump it. Does that confuse you?.

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