Last year 173 workers died in British Columbia, 98 from work-related disease and 77 of those 98 from exposure to asbestos.
On Tuesday, April 28 a little over 50 Sunshine Coasters who have lost family members, friends and loved ones gathered in Dougall Park for the annual Day of Mourning, to remember those who sacrificed everything for something that most of us take for granted.
“We all know someone — or know someone else who knows someone — who’s suffering,” Mark Benoit, Occupational Safety Officer for Worksafe BC, said in his speech on Tuesday. “Those workers who died represent men and women who are fathers and mothers, sons, daughters, friends, co-workers and neighbours. They will be missed by many and remembered here today.”
It’s surprising to hear that asbestos — a word that has become closely associated with cancer — is still taking lives, even though it has been banned in most developed countries. Most developed countries, that is, except for Canada.
“Most asbestos exposure happened a long time ago,” Benoit said. “We didn’t realize it — our forefathers didn’t realize it soon enough — that it’s a big problem and we’re still losing a lot of workers to that today.”
Rob Hood, chair of the BC Labour Council, also spoke on Tuesday. According to Hood, the numbers of workplace deaths are not completely accurate.
“In Canada — in the first four years of the decade — we’ve lost 3,800 people. That’s a lot of people who died in the workplace,” Hood said. “Those statistics don’t include temporary or foreign workers. If you’re not covered under the Workman’s Compensation Act, they don’t recognize you if you’ve died.”
The ceremony was closed by Liberal and NDP candidates Pamela Goldsmith-Jones and Larry Koopman, to the music of bagpiper Craig Buchanan.
