Tour bus operator pleads guilty, fined $475,000 for fatal rollover in Jasper
A tour bus operator pleaded guilty on Monday to two charges in a fatal rollover in Jasper National Park nearly three years ago.
Crown prosecutor Adam May said Brewster Travel Canada Inc. was convicted under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for failing to mandate seatbelts and for failing to control hazards.
He said Brewster, which is owned by Viad Corp., was ordered to pay a total fine of $475,000.
Of that amount, $365,000 is to go to the University of Alberta for research on vehicles, such as big-wheeled ice explorers, and $109,000 is to be given to STARS air ambulance.
The remaining $1,000 is to go to the court.
Brewster was initially charged with eight workplace offences. The other charges were withdrawn as part of the plea agreement, May said.
Three people were killed and 14 were injured after the tour bus lost control on the road to the Athabasca Glacier, about 100 kilometres from Jasper, on July 18, 2020.
The bus was carrying about two dozen people when it rolled 50 metres down a moraine embankment in the Columbia Icefields before coming to rest on its roof.
The icefield tours stopped and resumed in 2022 after the operator added seatbelts to the buses and made changes to training for its drivers.
At least two civil lawsuits were also filed by survivors of the crash.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Galen Weston pushes back on 'misguided criticism' of Loblaw as boycott begins
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston, as well as the company's new chief executive, pushed back on what they called 'misguided criticism' of the grocer as a boycott against the company gains steam online.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada's financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
Doctors concerned about potential spread of bird flu in Canada
H5N1 or avian flu has been detected at dozens of U.S. dairy farms and Canadian experts are urging surveillance on our side of the border too.
There's a limit to how much interest rates in Canada and U.S. can diverge: Macklem
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canadian interest rates don't have to match U.S. or global rates, but there is a limit to how much they can diverge.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.