The National Day of Mourning in Port Alberni was a chance for residents to remember workers who have been killed, injured or disabled on the job. But it was also a chance to look towards a future with better and safer workplaces.
People in Port Alberni—including workers, first responders, politicians and union representatives—gathered at the United Steelworkers Hall on Montrose Street on Sunday, April 28 to mark the National Day of Mourning, which acknowledges those who have died or been injured on the job.
According to WorkSafeBC, there were 175 work-related deaths in British Columbia in 2023.
Ron Corbeil of the Safety Advisory Foundation for Education & Research (SAFER) expanded on these statistics on Sunday. Three of those deaths were young workers. A total of 60 workers died from a traumatic injury, while motor vehicle incidents claimed the lives of 22 workers.
Occupational disease was the No. 1 killer of workers in 2023, claiming the lives of 93 workers. Of those 93 deaths, more than half were a result of asbestos exposure.
“We do this to remember the co-workers that we once worked with, we drank beer with, we played floor hockey with, we golfed with,” said Corbeil. “A number of you in this room today will remember someone who didn’t make it home.”
While the event was about remembrance, it was also dedicated to preventing workplace deaths from happening in the future. The number of deaths was slightly down from 2022, when 181 workers in B.C. lost their lives on the job.
“But 175 deaths in B.C. is 175 too many,” said Courtney-Alberni MP Gord Johns. “It’s a sad reminder of the work that needs to be done to prevent accidents, illnessess, injuries and death while on the job.”
Other speakers talked about the importance of making sure workers have mental health supports in place, because not all injuries are physical ones.
After the ceremony, piper Del Linden led people outside of the hall to lay carnations on the cenotaph. A moment of silence was held to honour the dead.
The National Day of Mourning began in Canada in 1984 and is now observed in more than 100 countries across the world.