Remembering and honouring those who have died, been injured or suffered illness in the workplace.
April 28th marks the National Day of Mourning, which was first established in 1984 by the Canadian Labour Congress to coincide with the anniversary of the day the first Ontario Worker’s Compensation Act, which was approved by the government in 1914.
The Day, which is also known as Workers’ Memorial Day, is officially recognized in about 100 countries worldwide.
“There is a monument for workers who have died on the job that we try to gather around,” said Treasurer Steve Mantis of the Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group. “Depending on the weather more or less people come, but I would say over the last ten years, with the exception of the (COVID-19) pandemic when we went virtual, we’ve had between 100 and 200 people participate.”
The day also includes wearing black and yellow ribbons, lighting candles and observing a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m.
The Thunder Bay ceremony gets going at 5:30 p.m. at the First Wesley United Church on North Brodie Street, which will be followed by the laying of roses at Patterson Park.
Mantis added a request was made years ago for workplace statistics from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
“What they told us was that our frequency of injuries in Northwestern Ontario, which encompasses Sioux Lookout to the Manitoba border, was about five per cent in total,” Mantis mentioned. “We have probably two or three per cent of the total population in our area, so what we ascertained from that was that our workplaces and the type or economy we have here, it puts people at a greater risk of injury in Northwestern Ontario as compared to the rest of the province.”
The Parliament of Canada passed the Workers Mourning Day Act in 1991, making April 28 an official Day of Mourning.