by Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Westray Disaster.
On May 9, 1992, 26 miners were killed when a deadly combination of methane gas and coal dust caused an explosion in the coal mine in Plymouth, Pictou County.
In 1997, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Peter Richard issued a report that said the disaster was the result of incompetence, mismanagement, bureaucratic bungling, deceit, ruthlessness, cover-ups, apathy, expediency and cynical indifference.
The so-called Westray Bill became federal law in 2004.
It gives police and prosecutors the power to find corporations and their representatives criminally liable when workers are injured or killed on the job.
The bill has been used in criminal prosecutions several times, but there have been only a few convictions.