2024 Day of Mourning

Thank you to all who attended the Oakville & District Labour Council’s annual Day of Mourning Event.

Although we take time out of our day on April 28th to commemorate these lives we encourage you to continue to advocate for workplace safety every day after. Below are some actions that you can take shared from the Workers Health & Safety Centre:
· Educating others about health and safety. You can talk to the young people in your lives that may be starting a job for the first time about their rights as a worker.
· Insist on prevention programs through your workplace that are developed with worker participation.
· Strengthen your workplaces training to highlight identifications, assessment and control of workplace hazards.
· Encourage local media to report on health, safety & environmental issues.
· Advocate to elected officials to support stronger regulations and better enforcement of laws like the Westray Law
· Please take these suggestions back to your workplaces, homes and community.

2024 marked the 20^th anniversary of the enactment of the Westray Law. This highlighted the sad reality that there is still not enough being done to protect workers and hold people and corporations responsible.  The labour movement is calling on the government to take decisive and meaningful action by setting forth calls to action:

·         The appointment of dedicated investigators and prosecutors for workplace deaths along with mandatory, standardized training for such positions

·         Having crown attorneys educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments to the Criminal Code

·         Mandatory training for police and health and safety regulators, supported by the necessary resources on the proper application of the Westray amendments

·       And mandatory procedures, protocols and coordination in every jurisdiction for police, crown prosecutors and health & safety regulators.

Thank you again for joining us and please remember that we all have a role to play in health & safety so that workers can return home the way they came into work.