When Donna Thomas was three years old, her father was working on a tugboat in Vancouver when a tow cable snapped, breaking his back and cutting up his intestines. He “spent the rest of his life living with the results of that,” said Thomas, a retired member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). That accident, she said, is what brings her out to the Day of Mourning, held each year on April 28.
Thomas helped organize the Day of Mourning ceremony at Dougall Park in Gibsons, where 30 people gathered out of the rain in the gazebo to hear speeches from local firefighters, paramedics, police officers and politicians. Afterwards, they laid down roses to commemorate those who died or were injured on the job.
During his speech, Chris Miller of WorkSafe BC said there were 158 work-related deaths in B.C. last year, the majority of them caused by occupational disease such as asbestos exposure, which he said predominantly afflicts construction workers.
Nobody died on the job on the Sunshine Coast last year, but Miller noted that one forestry worker “suffered life-changing injuries” after a log struck him. Miller also said several people suffered long-term injuries after they were exposed to chemicals at Howe Sound Pulp and Paper in October. “Every worker has the right to a safe workplace and proper training and the right to refuse unsafe work… If they are not aware, they won’t refuse,” said Miller.
Thomas also emphasized the need to speak up, but called on the community at large to advocate for safe work environments. “As a community we are all responsible for praising an employer who does a good job in health and safety and knowing that we as a community are part of making work safe, and [we] should speak up if we see anything,” said Thomas after the event.
Meanwhile, about 25 people attended the memorial in Sechelt, which was held at Spirit Square, where a memorial plaque was installed last week.
“It was sparse but I think that was the weather,” said Sechelt councillor Alice Lutes, also a member of the Sunshine Coast Labour Council. “Hopefully next year it will be better.”
The Labour Council commissioned the Sechelt plaque but because it doesn’t own sites to install it, the District of Sechelt’s support was required, said Lutes. “Though I had brought it forward numerous times with other councils, this was the first group that jumped and said yes, let’s do it,” she said. A district work crew installed the plaque and local contractor Al Hemstreet donated the stone.
During the Sechelt ceremony Mark Benoit of WorkSafe BC told the story of a 17-year-old named Andrew Strom who was a first-aid attendant working at an independent power project up Sechelt Inlet. A worker accidentally cut his wrist and hit an artery, causing severe blood loss. He called his boss, who said he would order a water taxi to pick up the victim, but Strom instead requested a plane. “That takes a lot of strength for a 17-year-old to direct his boss like that, but he knew it was critical and they saved the man’s life” said Lutes.
After the ceremony, she ran into Strom’s father, Dave. “For me it’s a real circle because David Strom was named after my brother Dave, who died on his way to work,” said Lutes. “It just gave me shivers.”
Mike Davis also spoke at Sechelt. His father was one of the four workers who died in the 1981 Bentall Centre accident in Vancouver, in which a fly-form, an instrument used for concrete pouring, broke free.
