AngusCharlie_NDPTimmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus rose in Parliament today to express the sadness of the region over the recent death of 22-year-old Alexie Dallaire Vincent at the St. Andrews Goldfields Mine.

It is believed that her death was a “terrible milestone” marking the first death of a female worker underground in Ontario.

Angus points out how women have been breaking barriers in the mining industry.

“Women are beginning to take their rightful place in the good paying jobs on the surface and deep underground. This transformation will continue. What we need to learn from her death is how to ensure such accidents will never happen again.”

Angus noted that there have been a number of mining deaths in northern mines recently and the importance of ensuring high safety standards must be the top priority.

“On behalf of Canada’s Parliament I offer my deepest regrets to her husband Travis her relatives in the Vincent, Dallaire and Mercier families. Alexie was worth more than all the gold that will ever be dug from that mine. Let us mourn and let us organize to prevent more tragedies.”