GODERICH – On Sunday, April 24 the Huron District Labour Council marked a special day, ahead of the official National Day of Mourning in a solemn ceremony at the Workers’ Monument on Gloucester Terrace across from the Historic Gaol.
The monument overlooking the Maitland River and the Salt Mine was constructed from rock procured from the mine.
The Sunday ceremony was the first in-person Day of Mourning since 2019 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Union members, mineworkers, past workers, and families with ties to workers who had been injured or killed in past events participated in the sombre and poignant service.
April 28, 2022 was the official National Day of Mourning where workplaces across Canada remembered those who lost their lives or suffered an injury or illness due to their work. The Huron District Labour Council reminds all workplaces that the day of mourning is also a day to renew commitment to protecting the health, safety, and well-being of all workers, especially those who have been personally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 1984, the Canadian Labour Congress launched the day of remembrance. In 1991, the Parliament of Canada made April 28 the National Day of Mourning and now, the Day of Mourning is commemorated in more than 100 countries around the world.
Jim Vance, a retired salt mine worker, spoke on behalf of the Labour Council at the ceremony and recognized several new plaques which had been added to the Workers’ Monument since 2019.
They honour Romeo Lablanc, Worker Health and Safety Rep, and Rev. Chris Morgan, Padre to the Labour Council.
Also unveiled was a new plaque placed by Compass Mineral to commemorate the loss of lives and injuries that occurred at the mine and evaporator plant over its 63 years of operation. This plaque is to remind the public that it is up to everyone to continually push for a safer workplace where no one is hurt, injured, or killed.
A memorial bench on the site also recognizes health and safety activist Murray Nesbitt, an employee of the mine and member of CEP Local 16-0 who was killed at work in August 2009. And in Lighthouse Park, a memorial bench overlooks the harbour in memory of Normand Laberge, who was killed at the mine site loading a ship with salt on the day of the August 2011 tornado.
Vance’s presentation was followed by guest speaker, Huron County historian David Yates. Yates reflected on how much the world and our lives have changed in the intervening years since 2019, because of COVID-19.
“How many workers in North America, in the last two years, have gone to work in long term care homes, checked out and bagged our groceries, hospitals, schools and you name it, have become sick or, perhaps, died as a result of work-related illnesses,” Yates said. “Reasonably accurate stats aren’t available and, really, they’d be impossible to compile.”
Who knows how many people took the illness home to families who became ill, disabled or worse? It’s impossible to know and the toll this pandemic has taken grows every day.”
Designated essential care workers, these people, who, in most cases, earn little more than minimum wage have borne the brunt of the epidemic. We may never know the cost in lives that this epidemic has exacted on our working population.”
Yates urged those present to be cognizant that we can do better in responding to workplace safety and must never let our guard down in protecting worker health and safety conditions, including adapting to the most dire crises such as what we have seen in recent years.
