Labor & Employment Law

National Day of Mourning - April 28

By Michael Fitzgibbon

As I was watching the coverage of the memorial service for the 29 coal miners killed in West Virginia, I thought it fitting to mention that April 28 is the National Day of Mourning commemorating workers whose lives have been lost or injured in the workplace.

In 1990, Parliament passed the Workers Mourning Day Act to formally recognize April 28 as a "day of mourning" across Canada.

There were 1,036 workplace deaths in Canada in 2008.  Another 942,478 were injured or become ill. 

The CLC has issues a statement in which they propose:

"It?s time for the federal government and the provincial and territorial governments to appoint special prosecutors to lay charges under the Criminal Code against employers when their actions cause death or serious injury.  More inspectors must be hired to ensure employers comply with the law. Government regulators must be held accountable for this carnage that seems to go unchecked."

It will be interesting to see whether more charges will flow from Bill C-45 which amended the Criminal Code and became law on March 31, 2004 which provides in part:

"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."

To date these provisions have been used sparingly.

Full post as published by Thoughts from a Management Lawyer on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).