Subcontractor goes to court over renos to old Stanton hospital

A subcontractor who worked to turn Yellowknife's old Stanton Territorial Hospital into a primary and long-term care facility says it still hasn't been paid for work it did there nearly a year ago.

SMI Construction, an Alberta-based company, will be in court Jan. 11 for a hearing on whether a lien it filed on the project is valid. A lien is basically a claim against a property, often filed so a contractor can recoup money.

Mick Stack, SMI's owner, says his company is still owed roughly $3.4 million by CANA Construction, the main contractor on the project. SMI filed the lien against CANA, the territorial government and other parties in May after being taken off the project it had worked on for 15 months.

SMI is also asking for $2 million in punitive damages. 

In court documents, CANA is disputing the validity of the lien and claims SMI breached its contract. It says it doesn't owe SMI any money because SMI did shoddy work, fell behind schedule and that CANA was left to fix the mistakes.

CANA did not respond to interview requests, but the documents show it's arguing the lien was filed against the wrong party and should be annulled.

'Nightmare' project damaged company, owner claims

Stack claims the project was plagued with issues from the start. He said CANA ordered defective construction materials, held up the project, didn't have work scheduled in the right order and issued major change orders early on. He also says CANA signed statutory declarations saying it had paid for work done between January and March of this year — money SMI says it never received.

"Effectively from day one, the job has been a nightmare," Stack said.

His company has also levelled serious allegations of bullying against CANA, many of which were detailed by Cabin Radio when the lien was filed. Some of those allegations include staff being bullied to the point they quit, being called names, being threatened with firing and, in one case, having a reciprocating saw thrown at them by a CANA supervisor.

Other allegations relate to safety hazards on-site, which SMI says it raised concerns about numerous times. Those include allegations of improper demands from CANA about how steel frames should be installed, incorrect fasteners and defective door frames.

Stack said his company has worked on numerous projects in Alberta — schools, airports and more — without running into any issues. This dispute with CANA, though, has hurt his company badly, he said. In an April 2022 email to Diane Archie, the N.W.T.'s infrastructure minister, he wrote that his company had to lay off more than 40 employees because of CANA.

"I don't even have a car any more. My wife doesn't have a car any more … I had to sell my cube van, all my equipment," he told CBC.

"SMI [will] survive but … we've sold everything. They've destroyed us."

N.W.T. gov't notified of issues

The plan to turn the old Stanton hospital into a primary and long-term care facility was first unveiled in 2018. In 2020, CANA won the contract with a bid of about $46 million.

It subcontracted SMI to do drywall and ceiling work starting in January 2021, but Stack said the site wasn't ready when his crew got there. After months of delays, they were finally able to get to work.

The rocky start to the project only grew worse, according to Stack. He said he went to CANA and the N.W.T. government with complaints of bullying, but nothing was done.

Emails shared with CBC appear to show SMI repeatedly notified the territorial government of issues with the project after it was removed, arguing it has video and audio evidence of mistreatment and of subpar work done by CANA.

CBC requested an interview with Infrastructure Minister Diane Archie, but Archie was not available.