The flag was at half mast while many at the ceremony wore a black arm band with the words written “Mourn for the Dead and Fight for the Living.”
It was all part of ceremony at city hall to honour the many Canadian workers who have perished due to workplace related hazards or incidents.
“We know in North Bay there are a lot of accidents,” stated Henri Giroux, President of the North Bay Labour Council, who hosted the event.
“I’m not sure if there has been any deaths, but I know there have been accidents that could have been prevented and people need to work with their occupational Health and Safety committees to make sure it doesn’t happen in the work place.”
One of those Canadian tragedies was the Westray explosion that occurred in a coal mine in Nova Scotia, killing 26 workers back on May 9th, 1992.
Ahmad Gaied, the Ontario Federation of Labour Executive Vice President, was one of the special guest speakers Friday morning.
“Our message is plain and simple, and our message is to enforce the law,” said Gaied.
“We know that when workers go to work in this province their families expect them to come home so we need to enforce the law and start holding employers accountable for the lives of their workers. We believe if you kill a worker, you should go to jail.
“We see about 1,000 people die per year or get injured on the job in Canada and in Ontario there have only been two convictions in the last few years,” concluded Gaied.
