April 28
Day of Mourning for Workers Killed, Injured or made Ill on the Job

Mourn the Dead and Fight for the Living!

Some of the many monuments honouring fallen workers across Canada and Quebec.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
CANADA | QUEBEC

April 28 marks the 40th annual Day of Mourning for Workers Killed, Injured or made Ill on the Job.

The Day of Mourning was first marked with local events in Canada in 1984 on May 1, before being taken up the labour movement across Canada and Quebec and the date changed to April 28, then becoming international. It is held every year to commemorate workers who have been killed on the job and demand that those who have been injured or suffer illness due to workplace-related hazards and conditions get compensation and treatment as befits a human person at standards agreed upon by the working class.

Workers across Canada and Quebec, as well as around the world, are holding ceremonies, meetings and other activities to mourn the dead and fight for the living.

In the context of today’s intensifying anti-social offensive, that governments in the service of wealthy private interests are waging and attacking all standards heretofore established through the workers’ struggles, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) calls on working people to continue to speak out for the dignity of labour and let no one fend for themselves. This includes standing with all those fighting for better working conditions and paying particular to the need for healthy and safe working conditions for the most vulnerable sections of the working class, including injured workers, unorganized workers, migrant workers and young workers.

Some Statistics from 2022

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) informed of the latest figures from across Canada and Quebec on April 18, stating, “According to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC), there were 993 workplace fatalities in Canada in 2022, including 941 men, 50 women and two non-binary people, as well as 33 young workers between the ages of 15 and 24. In addition to these fatalities, 348,747 lost-time injury claims were accepted across the country. This represents an increase of 75,000 cases compared to 2021.

CUPW adds, “We are well aware that these figures do not reflect reality, since they do not include work-related injuries that employers try to conceal by persuading workers not to report them, offering them instead in-house accommodations without medical advice as a way to recover.

“By using this approach, employers neglect declaring these cases as disabling injuries resulting in time lost.”

In other words, because these statistics only include what is reported and accepted by the compensation boards, the total number of workers impacted is undoubtedly greater. Under-reporting of workplace injuries not only isolates the individual workers but deprives the movement as a whole of knowledge of what measures must be fought for to prevent injuries and deaths in the workplace.

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