Nova Scotia Citizen Sues Provincial Transport Chief Over Road
Sonja Wood, a local musician and social activist, wants to make Nova Scotia’s Highway 101, a heavily traveled trucking route, safer for commuters and truckers — and she is willing to go to any lengths to force the province into action.To that end, the feisty paraplegic who has been confined to a wheelchair since a 1985 automobile accident has charged the provincial transport minister with a criminal violation of the federal Occupational Health and Safety Act.
According to Wood, who has persistently “harangued” the province to do something about the road, 67 people have died on the highway between 1995 and 2000. As owner of the road, the province is responsible for its condition, she said. As transport minister, Ron Russell is the provincial government’s representative.
By calling the road a “workplace” for truckers and others doing business, Wood was able in November to press criminal charges against Russell as a “private prosecution” under Canadian law. She charged that as owner of the road, Russell was keeping an unsafe workplace. If convicted, the provincial minister could face jail time or fines mounting into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
