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"April 28 is the National Day of Mourning and is dedicated to remembering those who have lost their lives or suffered injury or illness due to work. As the pandemic restrictions are being removed it is critical that we ensure that all workers are properly protected, and that health and safety is placed as the highest priority. NUPGE remembers those who have been harmed and continues to call for improved workplace safety and protection." — Larry Brown, NUPGE President
Ottawa (26 April 2022) ― This year marks the third year in which Canadians will be commemorating the National Day of Mourning in the midst of the pandemic. Observed annually on April 28, the National Day of Mourning has become an international event with ceremonies in over 100 countries. The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) stands with workers as we mourn the dead and fight for the health and safety of the living.
Work Shouldn't Hurt
The theme of this year's National Day of Mourning, as promoted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), is "Work Shouldn’t Hurt: Choosing Health and Safety as a Fundamental Right and Principle at Work". Commemorating the National Day of Mourning is an important moment for all Canadians to come together and memorialize the approximately 1,000 Canadians who die every year because of an incident that takes place in a workplace.
Tragic number of fatalities and injuries
Even before the pandemic, the number of workplace fatalities and injuries was severely problematic. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) noted that the 2019 figures from the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC) cite that 925 workplace fatalities were recorded in Canada. Over 271,000 workers had claims accepted for lost time due to work-related injury or disease, a number which is likely grossly under reported.
Health care failures
NUPGE has joined two other unions with frontline health care workers to send a letter to Federal Health Minister Duclos and Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Bennett. The letter noted that there was a 59% increase in the number of COVID-19 infections among health care workers between June 2021 and January 2022. Over the first 2 years of the pandemic, over 150,000 health care workers were sickened by COVID-19 and 46 died. This failure to protect workers has become part of systematic occupational health and safety gaps which put health care workers at risk.
Defend our basic rights at work
The level of harm workers are being subject to shows we need to defend our basic rights at work. These are rights which are protected in health and safety statutes in every jurisdiction in Canada. Those basic rights are
- to be informed of the hazards in their workplace and to receive the training they need to be able to do their jobs safely.
- to participate in decisions that could affect their health and safety.
- to refuse work that could endanger their health and safety or that of others. The right to refuse is not the first step to protect workers. This is a serious, sometimes necessary step that no worker takes lightly.
- to be free from reprisal for exercising any of the other rights or health and safety requirements.
A call to action
This National Day of Mourning is a time to reflect on the state of worker protection and it is a critical moment to highlight our concerns. It is also an opportunity to press governments, employers and regulators to better protect workers.
Every year on April 28th, thousands of workers, friends and families of fallen workers gather at events across the country to show solidarity with those injured and killed on the job. Here is a list ceremonies taking place on the National Day of Mourning.
The fight for worker protection and safety is ongoing. We must learn the lessons from this pandemic and make the changes necessary to improve worker safety, reform our health care system and prevent future workplace injuries and death across all sectors and workplaces.