A passenger from the Queen of the North ferry that sank off B.C.'s north coast calls a settlement offer by BC Ferries a "slap in the face."
Barney Dudoward said Wednesday the $2,500 offered to him is insulting for everything he's gone through since the ferry rammed Gil Island at full speed and sank on an overnight run on March 22, 2006.
Dudoward, a Bella Bella, B.C., resident who is among about 50 people to file a class-action lawsuit against BC Ferries, said he's had trouble with his memory and concentration.
"I'm actually a commercial fisherman and it affected me not wanting to go out on the water but I have no choice, I have to support my family," he said.
"I'm 65 and I'm too old to start another career so I have to continue fishing and I can't afford to retire."
A letter sent by BC Ferries lawyer Gary Wharton to lawyer James Hanson, who represents the class-action litigants, lists the settlement money that has been offered.
A family who lost all their possessions in a moving van when the ship went down, for example, has been offered $5,000.
One passenger has been offered no money while the highest settlement offer is for $15,000.
The letter didn't explain the criteria.
Hanson agreed with Dudoward that the offers are insulting and said BC Ferries officials don't understand the problems people have endured since going through something so traumatic.
"Many have suffered significant losses, including the inability to work and cost of psychological treatment and I don't believe the Ferry Corporation, to this point in time, understands the nature of the harm that was suffered," he said.
Hanson said he will seek individual assessments for the passengers in B.C. Supreme Court during a five-day hearing to be scheduled in April.
In the letter, Wharton suggests the passengers did not suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because the evacuation was "conducted without panic."
"The evacuation was conducted in a very short order and the evacuees spent a very limited time in lifeboats or life rafts prior to being transported to Hartley Bay and the comfort of the local citizens," the letter said.
"Much of the self-reporting of symptoms by passengers related not to the trauma of the event, but to thoughts of `what might have been.' This would fall into the category of `upset' rather than (post traumatic stress disorder) which, given the nature of the evacuation and rescue, is not surprising."
The vessel went down with 101 passengers and crew on board. Two passengers did not make it off and were presumed drowned.
It's believed that Gerald Foisy and his companion, Shirley Rosette, residents of 100 Mile House, B.C., were trapped inside their cabin with the door jammed.
Foisey's daughters, Britni and Morgan Foisy settled their wrongful-death lawsuit out of court last month, although their lawyer said they were forced to do so because they couldn't afford the high cost of a jury trial.
Rosette's family settled out of court earlier.
BC Ferries and the federal Transportation Safety Board conducted separate investigations and the RCMP has forwarded the results of their criminal probe to Crown prosecutors, who have yet to decide whether there will be charges under the Marine Act.
The Criminal Justice Branch is still reviewing the case.
Three crew members were fired for their actions -- which have yet to be explained -- on the ship's bridge the night the vessel sank.
The federal report also pointed to shortcomings in evacuation procedures that left Foisy and Rosette unaccounted for.
Ritchie has said both BC Ferries' internal review and the safety board report had shortcomings and the Foisy family has never learned what happened.
