THUNDER BAY – Flags at City Hall are at half mast. Today is the National Day of Mourning for Injured Workers. There will be a gathering this morning at the Lakehead Labour Centre to honour and remember injured workers.
Flags at Half Mast Honour National Day of Mourning
Local advocate for injured workers Steve Mantis shares; The Thunder Bay and District Labour Council in conjunction with the Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group invite you to join us on Sunday April 28th 2013 at the Lakehead Labour Centre, 929 Fort William Road at 12:00 noon to remember our fellow workers who have been killed or injured from a workplace accident or occupational disease.
Mayor Hobbs states, “Today they are specifically honoring the young man that was killed at the Country Club industrial accident. He was the son-in-law of Angela Nelli who is Police Chief JP Lesveque’s Executive Assistant”.
History of National Day of Mourning
The National Day of Mourning was started by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in 1984. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) followed when the Congress declared an annual day of remembrance in 1985 for April 28 annually.
In December 1990, April 28th became a national observance with the passing of the Workers Mourning Day Act.
Since 1990, the National Day of Mourning has gone global. It is now marked in over eighty other countries around the world.
Internationally it is called Workers’ Memorial Day.
The date 28 April was chosen to mark that on that day in 1914, the Workers Compensation Act received its third reading in the Canadian House of Commons.
Today, the Canadian flag on Parliament Hill is flown at half-mast, along with the flag at Thunder Bay City Hall and in other communities across Canada.
