Perhaps the saddest part of the National Day of Mourning in Canada is that the annual event continues to be needed each and every year.
That despite 40 years of gathering on Apr. 28 to remember those killed in workplace accidents and lost to diseases caused by their workplace, people are still dying from preventable causes. And despite the awareness efforts surrounding staying safe on the job, the numbers essentially remain the same.
A total of 33 people in Saskatchewan lost their lives to accidents and disease in 2021 just because they showed up for work, and that’s a number that remains far, far too high for Moose Jaw Labour Council president Stacey Landin.
“It doesn’t seem to be getting better, and I’m sad about that,” she said shortly after the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Moose Jaw Union Centre. “I think there's lots of hope and promise that it could, but I don't feel like it's better. I shouldn't have a list that comes to me each year with around 30 people or more on it, that's just not acceptable. Most of them could be super easily prevented, just by making sure people are staffed properly, trained properly, and special measures are taken to make sure that people know what they need to know. So it doesn't feel like it's better.”
Landin and fellow Labour Council member Nancy Semen read off the names of all 33 people as part of the ceremony, and two of them hit especially close to home -- Judson Ringer, a 74-year-old plumber who passed away due to long-term complications from asbestos exposure, and Carrie Therrien, a 49-year-old education assistant who died of COVID-19. Both were from Moose Jaw.
The fact COVID-19 was included as a cause of death is a product of how many folks contracted the disease in their workplace and later died, despite doing what they could to keep everyone else happy and safe.
“You think of people in care homes and hospitals who were super exposed to that kind of thing, but there were grocery workers and people who were working in any number of areas who put themselves out there, all the time,” Landin said. “They were the heroes in all of this, and for some, it cost them their lives. They’re important people and often weren’t fairly recognized for that, even though they had to go through something extremely unknown and dangerous.”
The good thing is that despite the deaths every year, efforts are being made places to keep workers -- and especially younger, inexperienced workers -- safe on the job. The numbers might not improve, but that could be only a matter of time, given attention and effort.
“There are a lot of new workers out there, and sometimes they don't realize how dangerous work can be until they run into a problem like that,” Landin said. “They need to be safe and not just jump into something because they think that will make their boss happy, taking special measures and knowing that they deserve to be safe. So we want everybody to take pause, especially the young ones coming in. And they all need to take them under our wing a little bit too.”
Until the time comes that’s happening everywhere and all the time, though, the National Day of Mourning will continue to take place every April 28.
“It’s important that we recommit each year to trying our best to make things safer, holding politicians' feet to the fire to protect us in our workplaces and doing the same trick for employers,” Landin said. “It's just something that's necessary, to take a moment to step back and say ‘we gotta do better’.”
