Ceremony marks National Day of Mourning in Ottawa

More than a thousand workers lost their lives on the job in 2021 in Canada. On Friday, the National Day of Mourning, we stop to remember those who died or have been injured while trying to earn a living.

Stephane Lamadeleine laid flowers in memory of his grandfather at a ceremony in Vincent Massey Park on Friday.

“I was thinking of my grandmother, all she went through - all my family,” he said.

His grandfather, Omer Lamadeleine, was one of nine workers who lost their lives during the construction of the Heron Road Bridge on Aug. 10, 1966.

“My dad was 14 at the time, and it was very hard. My grandmother had 12 children, very small, and she had to make it on her own.”

A monument near the bridge in recognition of the National Day of Mourning, April 28. It’s a day to commemorate those who have died or been injured as a result of their job.

“We look forward to the day that we don’t have to do this; but, unfortunately, we have too many employers who do not understand that the cost of doing business has to come after health and safety of employees in the workplace,” says Larry Rousseau with Canadian Labour Congress.

According to the CLC, there were 1,081 accepted workplace fatalities across Canada in 2021 - up from the previous year. Of those, 481 were in Ontario.

Recent high profile workplace fatalities in Ottawa include January 2022, when six employees died in an explosion and fire at Eastway Tank on Merivale Rd.

And in March 2016, Olivier Bruneau died when he was hit by a chunk of ice falling at the Claridge Icon condo construction site on Carling Avenue and Preston Street.

“A young construction worker, you know - someone whose death was completely, it did not have to happen,” said Rousseau.

On this day of mourning, labour advocates from both the CLC and the Ottawa and District Labour Council want to ensure workers are empowered to know their health and safety rights,

"Workers do have rights out there, in respect to the health and safety act; and the regulations that are attached to that," said Sean McKenny with the Ottawa and District Labour Council. "We have some tools that have been made available to us, so to use those tools, but also to reinforce to employers: please provide a healthy and safe workplace.