Christanne Boufford was convicted on the two charges Crown counsel perused following a fatal crash in a well marked repaving construction zone on the Trans Canada Hwy. south of Nanaimo in September 2021. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

high profile case

Guilty verdicts in fatal Nanaimo area construction zone collision

Aug 13, 2025 | 12:14 PM

NANAIMO — A BC Supreme Court justice convicted a woman on a pair of criminal code driving charges in relation to a late-night collision south of the city at a marked construction zone.

A nearly 40-minute oral ruling from justice Douglas Thompson in Nanaimo on Wednesday, August 13, resulted in two guilty pleas against 53-year-old Christanne Marie Boufford: dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The southbound Honda Fit she was driving was deemed to be speeding and operating in an unsafe manner when she hit and killed 69-year-old paver Raymond Ferguson on the Trans-Canada Hwy. between Kipp and Minetown roads on Sept. 23, 2021, at about 11:45 p.m.

A second flagger, Katherine Toews, was clipped by the car and sustained fractured ribs.

Raymond Ferguson was a longtime Hub City Paving employee. His roadside memorial is established at the crash scene. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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Boufford appeared to have little reaction in the prisoner’s box upon hearing of her conviction.

Evidence presented at trial and accepted by judge Thompson stated Boufford hit a car driven by witness Dwayne Carson in the construction zone, then struck Ferguson and Toews.

Ferguson hit Boufford’s windshield and was thrown about 30 meters before landing on the highway, while Boufford continued driving before hitting the back of a dump truck, the trial heard.

He was pronounced dead on scene.

“She said she wasn’t speeding,” a Nanaimo RCMP officer recounted Boufford saying as the driver confirmed her identity.

The construction zone speed limit at the time was 60 kilometres per hour.

Justice Thompson concluded Boufford was travelling no less than 79 kilometres per hour leading up to the collisions.

“The video evidence allows me to confidently estimate that the Honda was travelling between twice and four times the speed of all other southbound vehicles that moved through the construction zone in the forty minutes before the collisions.”

Justice Thompson stated evidence showed Boufford travelled past the first flagger at about 80 kilometres per hour, then carried on at about the same speed when Carson’s car was hit.

An RCMP collision reconstructionist, several on-scene witnesses, as well as surveillance video from a neighbouring business pointing toward the Trans-Canada Highway, were all relied on as evidence submitted by Crown counsel.

A mechanic also testified that Boufford’s car was in suitable working order at the time

In addition to ample evidence demonstrating Boufford was speeding, justice Thompson pointed to multiple construction signs, warning lights, cones and several workers wearing high-visibility vests.

The judge also referenced the stretch of highway was straight, newly paved and dry at the time.

“In these circumstances, I have no hesitation in concluding that the Honda was being driven in a manner that was a danger to the various workers in the construction site, to operators of other vehicles in the vicinity and to herself,” justice Thompson said.

The judge discounted “speculative” evidence that Carson’s vehicle had dim or non-operational tail lights, calling the assertion immaterial.

Justice Thompson also rejected Boufford’s legal team’s argument there was no evidence the paving company had safety plans for speeding vehicles.

Boufford was found not guilty of four alcohol related charges, most notably impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm.

Crown counsel was forced to abandon those charges after justice Thompson ruled this past spring that evidence secured by the first RCMP officer on scene was inadmissible.

Cst. Steven Butler was determined to have made several breaches on-scene and at the Nanaimo RCMP detachment, including not properly informing Boufford of her initial detention status.

Boufford’s legal counsel requested and was granted a pre-sentence report and psychological assessment to be conducted during the weeks ahead.

Boufford will be sentenced at an undetermined future date.

Crown prosecutor Nick Barber said he was pleased with the outcome.

“People working on the roadways are vulnerable, and this is a good example that the courts do take these kinds of situations seriously.”

Barber thanked the several witnesses who testified, including on-scene workers, who helped piece together what transpired.

“We’re very happy that happened because cases can’t be made and trials can’t be run unless members of the public cooperate,” Barber said.

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