April 28th is the Day of Mourning in Canada and over 80 other countries around the world. It marks the day when workers and their families pause to honour those men and women who have died, been injured or became ill because of conditions in the workplace. In Manitoba, 16 workers have been killed and tens of thousands were injured since April 28th, 2011. More than a thousand workers were killed across Canada in 2010.

Hundreds of working people took part in this year’s Day of Mourning events, which were spread over two days. On Friday, Safe Workers of Tomorrow staged its annual Leader’s Walk taking hundreds of marchers from the Union Centre on Broadway to the construction site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to underscore the fact that workers’ rights are human rights. Students from five Manitoba high schools participated in the ceremony to emphasis how critical it is to provide young people with the knowledge and tools they need to bring about improvements to their future workplaces.

Marchers heard from Premier Greg Selinger (left) and Michael Werier, Chair of the Manitoba Workers Compensation Board about their efforts to reduce deaths and injuries in the workplace.

The family and co-workers (right) of 67 year old Allan Leschyshyn from Stony Mountain Manitoba joined the ceremony to honour him. He was killed while on the job at the Wuskwatim Dam project.

About 100 people attended the April 28^th Day of Mourning Candlelight Service at the Union Centre on Saturday. Candles were lit, representing each the Manitoba workers killed in the last year.

The ceremony was emceed by Brother Tony Zienkiewicz (left) and Sister Rebecca Matheson. Speakers for the event included Minister of Family Services and Labour Jennifer Howard, Canadian Labour Congress Executive Vice President Marie Clarke Walker, MFL President Kevin Rebeck and Winnipeg Labour Council President Dave Sauer. Brothers Joseph and Michael Warbanski entertained the ceremony with inspirational songs.

In his comments at the Candlelight Service, MFL President Rebeck (right) said “As you know, organized labour is devoted to the ongoing campaign to win effective health and safety laws and to make healthy and safe workplaces a reality. We continually try to create educational opportunities for all of the stake holders in the workplace, with particular emphasis on young workers and first-time entrants.”

“One tool we are trying to make more use of is what is commonly referred to as the ‘Westray Law’ named after the infamous 1992 coal mine collapse in Plymouth, Nova Scotia where 26 miners were killed. It was enacted in late 2003 and it’s an important tool that we can use to hold accountable corporate leadership when on-the-job disasters take place. The key amendment to the Criminal Code reads as follows: ‘Every one who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task.'”

“Since it was enacted, I am sorry to say that only two provinces have laid charges under the criminal code. But in spite of that, I believe that if provincial and territorial governments were using the Westray legislation as intended, we could make a serious dent in the statistics gathered every year. We could make significant gains in protecting workers health and safety. We could save lives.

“Nothing catches the attention of a manager quite as effectively as the likelihood of a stiff jail sentence if they don’t do their job properly and insist on sending workers to their death or the hospital.”