2010 National day Of Mourning Ceremony opening comments

APRIL 28, 2010

AS READ BY MURRAY PAPPIN, Divisional worker safety Representative for USW local 6166

              NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING 
Good Evening. Welcome to our 2010 Day of Mourning Service: Every year we commemorate April 28 as a day to remember those who have been killed by their work. Unfortunately, it's  becoming a ritual that we seem destined to repeat year after year. The April 28th Day of Mourning is now recognized in more than one hundred countries, bringing attention to a single fact - no matter where we are in the world and no matter how advanced our technologies, people are still dying because of their jobs. World wide, approximately 2 million people die each year because of injuries sustained at work. And those are the reported ones.

USW local 6166 Monument to the Fallen and Injured

  Here in Canada, a relatively rich country with a relatively well-developed rule of law, our record on health and safety is totally unacceptable. Every year we have about 1000 workplace deaths. That's about three workplace deaths every single day. At least another million are injured or made ill. And we know that the real numbers are even worse, given that many occupational disease cases often go unreported or unrecognized. In 2009 there were 39 workplace deaths in Manitoba. 20 died from workplace accidents and 19 died from an occupational disease accepted WCB. This year we also remember that since last April 28, four Steelworkers were killed on the job in Western Canada.

Please stand and  join with me for a moment of silence for those who died because of their work.