Cranbrook British Columbia - Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) has been charged under B.C.'s Mines Act in relation to the 2014 deaths of two men who were killed when their truck went out of control.
 
An information sworn last fall alleges that the railway company, along with two other corporate defendants, and a pair of individuals, failed to take measures that might have prevented the deaths of Murray Neil Fadden and Larry Chorneyko.
 
Chorneyko's brother told the CBC he was pleased to hear there was some movement on a case that appeared to have turned dormant.
 
"It's not that I want somebody to pay a million dollar fine because that's never going to bring my brother back," Dallas Chorneyko said from his home in Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan.
 
"You want stuff to never happen again to anybody else."
 
They Disagree with These Charges
 
According to details provided by the B.C. Coroner's service at the time, the accident occurred at the Swansea Ridge Ballast Quarry about 16 kilometres south of Cranbrook.
 
Fadden was driving and Chorneyko was a passenger in a Mini Mack truck on a mine access track that ran parallel to a conveyor belt.
 
CP owns the mine pit.
 
The truck went out of control on a steep descent and overturned.
 
Both men died at the scene.
 
CP is charged with two Mines Act offences along with Clifton Associates Inc., Broda Construction Inc., Gordon Broda, and Rudy Hausermann who was a supervisor at the site.
 
All are accused of "failing to take all practicable measures to ensure that the workplace is free of potentially hazardous agents and conditions which could adversely affect the health, safety, or well-being of the workers."
 
The first count is for allegedly "creating and allowing employees to operate vehicles on a steep road grade" and the second is "failing to maintain runaway lanes or retardation barriers on roadways."
 
William Smart acts as defence lawyer for Broda Construction and its president Gordon Broda.
 
He says they plan to dispute the allegations at trial.
 
"They have an excellent safety record as a company," he said.
 
"It's a tragic accident. They feel really badly about this. They're supportive of their employees. But they disagree with these charges."
 
A lawyer for CP declined comment on the case.
 
Good Man That Went Too Soon
 
Fadden was from Dryden, Ontario.
 
The 36-year-old left behind a wife and four children.
 
Chorneyko was 58 when he died.
 
His brother said he had worked for Broda Construction for nearly 30 years.
 
"He was very hardworking. He was committed to the company," he said.
 
"He was a very good man that went too soon."
 
Dallas Chorneyko said he was with their 85-year-old mother when RCMP showed up at her farm to inform her of her son's death.
 
"Larry was a bachelor and he did spend most of his off-time at my mum's place. And that was her first-born son," he said.
 
"She copes. She's a strong woman. But I'm sure there's lots of tears involved in his passing."
 
Chorneyko said no one from the B.C. government informed the family of the charges, which were sworn in September, three years after the incident.
 
"We need to keep the victims' family in the loop and up to date about the investigation and about charges," he said.
 
"Because it just seems like you're unimportant."
 
None of the charges have been proven in court.
 
Jason Proctor.