Canadian Lawyer

8 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP C E N T R A L The former premier accepted all 10 of the advisory council's recommenda- tions on principle. Whether the new government will offer a similar endorse- ment is not known. (Repeated requests from Canadian Lawyer for an interview and information went unanswered.) The council's first recommendation identifies the need to improve the co- ordination and collaboration of services for victims, offenders, and at-risk indi- viduals, including program criteria and funding models. Among the other recom- mendations are development of a provin- cial plan related to at-risk youth that has a long-term, cross-government commit- ment from several departments including justice. The advisory council also stressed that efforts should be made to avoid crim- inalizing mental illness. "Treatment has to be a priority for persons with mental illness who commit criminal offences or become involved with the Criminal Justice System as a cry for help," the report stated. Aboriginal issues were also a focus. According to the report, which was 11 months in the making, aboriginal people made up 18 per cent of those sentenced to custody in Newfoundland and Labrador, 23 per cent of those in remand, 20 per cent of those on probation, and 14 per cent of those with conditional sentences. Yet First Nations people comprise only 3.7 per cent of the population. The advisory council put forward a number of recom- mended actions, including implementing a case-management system to address the needs of high-risk individuals and devel- oping cultural sensitivity training for pro- fessionals working throughout the areas of justice and public safety. — DM Long-term plan for public safety needed: report Continued from page 7 REWARDS FOR A JOB WELL DONE W hen the runaway train hauling crude oil derailed, crashed, and exploded in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Que., in July 2013, it killed 47 people and incinerated most of the downtown area. It also destroyed several busi- nesses and close to 100,000 legal docu- ments, thus creating an administrative nightmare and environmental devasta- tion. Legal claims, unsurprisingly, were filed without delay. Montreal Maine and Atlantic Rail- way Ltd., the owner of the train, filed for bankruptcy since its insurance coverage fell far short of the hundreds of millions of dollars in claims against it. And what could have been a long and frustrating compensation process for the heirs of the victims turned out to be quite the opposite: $114 million will be distributed to them within the coming months, the Canadian Press reported in December. The settlement comes a mere two- and-a-half years after the tragic events, a result qualified as "phenomenal" and "beyond expectations" by Quebec Supe- rior Court Justice Gaetan Dumas, in a decision rendered Dec. 15, 2015, which gives credit to the good work of the professionals involved. In the decision, the judge granted an extra payment of $10 million to the bankruptcy monitor, Richter Advisory Group Inc., law firms Woods LLP (representing Richter), Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP (rep- resenting MMA), and U.S. firm Verrill Dana LLP, which together had filed an application to get the bonus payment on top of their regular fees. The judge was impressed by the fact the professionals took a considerable financial risk, exceeding $1 million in total (for example, Gowlings paid $458,000 in government taxes and $124,944 in expenses). These professionals would not have been blamed for simply closing the file after the liquidation of MMA's assets, wrote Dumas. They could also have stopped investing time and money as soon as an acceptable plan of arrange- ment was submitted to creditors. If they had done so, the compensation fund would be worth at most $150 mil- lion instead of the actual $450 million. The compensation fund was consti- tuted by convincing potentially liable third parties, a group of about 25, to contribute in return for a receipt pro- tecting them against any future claims in Canada and possibly in the United CHRISTINNE MUSCHI / REUTERS Aftermath of the July 2013 train derailment in Lac-Mégantic.

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