An explosion in the gold mine on Sept. 18, 1992, killed nine replacement workers. The government accused Warren, one of the strikers, of the deaths. He was convicted on Jan. 19, 1995.

At the time, the bosses together with the government, cops, and courts carried out a concerted drive to try to defeat the Yellowknife gold miners and break their union, whose strike was Canada’s most important labor fight in several years. The workers, however, succeeded in winning back their jobs and keeping their union intact. The employers and the government sought to use the frame-up of Warren to undercut that victory.

The strike began as a lockout on May 22, 1992, and lasted 18 months. At the center of the strike was safety in the mine. Between January and April of that year there were 81 accidents in the mine. In 1991, compensation payments were 10 times higher than at the other gold mine in Yellowknife. The company stepped up its harassment of the workers, firing 13 miners between November 1990 and the beginning of the strike.

Locking out the workers a day before the strike began, the owner, Margaret Witte, brought in replacement workers to run the mine and hired security guards. On May 26, a 58-member Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) "tactical team" was flown up from Edmonton, Alberta.  
 
Government frame-up targeted union
Throughout the strike, the police continually harassed the 240 members of Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers Local 4. Police and security guards carried out attacks on the picket line. Around 100 miners were charged and some went to jail.

The employers used the deaths of the nine replacement workers to attack the strikers. Government agents conducted more than 500 interrogations, often without lawyers being present. Some 30 to 40 undercover RCMP operated throughout the strike. The strike became an important cause for the union movement across Canada and won support internationally. It finally ended in December 1993 with the union intact and a contract.

Warren was interrogated 12 times. In October 1993, under this intense pressure, he confessed to the crime and was charged for the nine deaths. But at his trial he pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence ever since.

The jury at the trial was forbidden to hear expert testimony on Warren’s state of mind. He was sentenced to life in prison and is now imprisoned in the Stony Mountain Penitentiary near Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In an interview broadcast on CBC television on September 18, Warren said of his confession, "It’s words. It is not forensic proof." He was convicted solely on the basis of his confession, which included leading police into the mine and showing them how the bomb was supposedly set.

No trace of a timing device or trip wire was found at the scene of the explosion. When police fabricated a bomb according to Warren’s specifications, they had great difficulty making it work.

Warren was in failing health at the time of the explosion. For experienced miners it is hard to imagine how someone in his health could have done what he described in the four hours that were available.

At the time the explosion took place, it was common knowledge that explosives were often transported on the mine cars along with miners. An inspection the day after the explosion found dynamite with firing caps improperly stored in 20 locations in the mine. The day of the explosion, the mine owners took one and a half hours to inform the police that it had taken place.

The Association in Defense of the Wrongfully Convicted (AIDWYC) is considering adopting Warren’s case. AIDWYC has been involved in overturning 10 wrongful convictions in Canada. They have sent lawyers up to Yellowknife to gather testimony.

On August 14, James Lockyer, a founding directory of AIDWYC, spoke at a benefit supper in Yellowknife to raise funds for the investigation. Sixty people paid $50 each to attend. The Steelworkers local at the Con gold mine in Yellowknife has donated $1,000 to the effort.

The Roger Warren Appeal Fund Committee has been established to help raise funds for an expected appeal of Warren’s 1995 conviction. Al Shearing, a former striker and participant in the committee, stated, "We know it is an injustice. It’s got to be brought to the public. It’s not going to go away."

Commenting on how Warren’s conviction was used against the unions, Shearing said, "They were always saying it was a union guy who did it. We always say miners don’t kill miners, which they don’t." Shearing himself spent two-and-a-half years in jail convicted of doing damage to mine property.

Funds raised will be disbursed for travel expenses, expert witness fees, and investigations into evidence only. Lawyers for AIDWYC do not charge legal fees. Contributions to help in the defense of Roger Warren can be sent to Roger Warren Appeal Fund Committee Treasurer, Kathy Hrynczuk, Union of Northern Workers Local 11, Box 422, Yellowknife NT X1A 2N2.

Joe Young is a meat packer in the Vancouver area.  
 
 
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