Sept. 2nd, 2022. It’s 1:00 a.m. Tracy Lenes’ doorbell rang.
“My daughter said there was a police unit out front,” Lenes said. “I thought ‘oh, I wonder if somebody broke into our garage, or something’s happened in the community?’”
When Lenes opened her door, she said a police officer was standing on her front lawn by her flower bed, waiting for her.
“I stick my head out the door and he goes, ‘are you Tracy?’ and I said ‘yeah’ and he goes, ‘well it’s Calgary police and we have some sad news. Max was killed at worked today.’”
Max Paczulla was Lenes’ oldest son of four. The 27-year-old was a mechanic and had died while working at Gahcho Kue diamond mine.
Lenes said she didn’t go back to sleep that night and couldn’t believe what she just heard. Nearly two years later, she’s still looking for answers.
“It’s not necessarily getting any easier. I thought that year two would be easier but it’s actually a bit more of a struggle.”
De Beers Canada owns Gahcho Kue diamond mine. Paczulla was working for a contractor partner company called SMS Equipment Inc. when he died.
SMS Equipment Inc. has been charged with 14 counts in relation to Paczulla’s death alleging violations of the Safety Act and the Mine Health and Safety Act.
According to the charging documents, Paczulla died after he was “crushed in the head and neck area between the rail of the boarding ladder and truck guardrail toe plate” on a Komatsu 830E haul truck while he was inspecting the vehicle.
“It feels like a state of limbo and we’re waiting for resolution, as if I could close the chapter, but we’re not there yet,” Lenes said.
According to information documents from NWT territorial court, there is an appendix of offences SMS Equipment Inc. currently faces.
“The work of a contractor performed at the said mine, namely, SMS Equipment Inc., did fail to take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect the health and safety of employees of the mine and other persons at the time,” the document reads.
SMS Equipment Inc. is also accused of failing to provide effective safeguards for dangerous moving parts of machines, according to the information document. The charge sheet states that Paczulla was not suitably trained to perform work safely.
Lenes said that even after nearly two years, she still doesn’t know much about what happened.
“Any time I’ve asked to get more information, I’m told, ‘it’s going through court, we can’t say anything’ and I just don’t even feel like I have anywhere to turn to get more information.”
Lenes said she did get an apology from SMS executives, adding that it was comforting to talk them. Still, she’s got no shortage of questions left.
“How did it all come about?” Lenes asked rhetorically. “Did Max do something that brought this about, was it truly an accident in the truest sense of the word?”
Lenes also said she isn’t sure if her son had received adequate training for his job. “I can’t imagine that he would somehow put himself in danger,” she said. “I can’t imagine he would take a shortcut.”
She added that her son had been a mechanic for years, and was more than aware of the dangers of the job.
Lenes said her son’s body finally made it home after four days. “We got to spend one hour with Max when he finally got to Calgary,” she said, which is where Paczulla was born and raised.
One hour might not sound like much, but for her, Lenes said it was one of the most meaningful and healing times.
“He ended up being cremated, but I wanted time with him,” she explained. “It starts off highly stressful and it ends extremely peacful.”
Lenes looked up to the sky when thinking about who her son was. She smiled, retelling stories of how much he used to read. “By the time he got into school, his Grade 2 teacher informed me - she phoned me to tell me - that his reading comprehension was at a Grade 9 level.”
Now, Lenes said she’s still working on finding resolution for her son. She’s working on his legacy too.
Back home in Calgary, Lenes said she is having a memorial bench made for a downhill biking area somewhere in Kananaskis territory. Lenes said Paczulla loved downhill biking.
She’s also starting to read more herself.
“I’m reading lots of books, books that he recommended I read before he passed. So, I got a lot of them,” Lenes said, smiling.
SMS appeared in court in late April and is expected to enter a plea on July 26.
