GUELPH POLITICAST #416 – Day of Mourning 2024

If it’s the end of April, then you know it’s time for the annual National Day or Mourning. Although the pandemic is over, it's worth remembering there was a whole class of workers who had to keep working as it happened, and that meant intentionally putting themselves at risk. This was important, but even before the pandemic, workers across Canada in all sorts of work were taking risks every day, often unknowingly, and they still are.

According to the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada, in 2022, there were 993 workplace fatalities recorded in Canada. Among these deaths were 33 young workers aged 15-24. Now, there are dangerous jobs in the world, jobs that can expose you to dangerous people, or dangerous circumstances, but would you classify climbing a ladder under the category of “dangerous work”?  Sometimes the little dangers become big problems with high personal costs.

According to lore, two labour activists were driving to a union meeting in 1983 when they were stopped for a funeral procession. The deceased was a firefighter who died in the line of duty - he died on the job - and they were struck by an idea: Not everyone that is killed on the job is given this kind of remembrance. The Government of Canada legislated the Workers Mourning Day Act in 1990, and since then workers in Canada stop on April 28, and remember colleagues hurt and killed on the job.

Here in 2024, we will be joined by Sarah Neath and Janice Folk-Dawson from the Guelph and District Labour Council. They will talk about the things they think about during the National Day Mourning, the things they hope you’re thinking about, and the things that they want the people in power to think about in order to make sure that fewer people die on the job. Also, they will talk about how affordability plays into issues around worker safety, and their own experiences with workplace safety.

So let's talk about marking another year of people killed on the job on this week's Guelph Politicast!

The local commemoration for the National Day of Mourning is on Sunday April 28 at 1 pm at Goldie Mill Park off Cardigan Street, and that will be followed by a reception at Diana’s Downtown on Upper Wyndham. You can also follow #DayofMourning on social media to stay on top of all the events and all the advocacy that comes along with the issues behind worker safety on the job across Canada. You can follow the Guelph and District Labour Council on Facebook or at their website.

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