Ceremony Honours People Killed on the Job
From left, Aaron Ekman, Secretary Treasurer, BC Federation of Labour, Don Iwaskow, Vice-President, North Central Labour Council – photos 250 News
Prince George, B.C. – Workers, families, and employers gathered at the foot of Connaught Hill this afternoon to remember those killed or injured while on the job.
The Day of Mourning ceremony included a powerful speech by Lynne Rozenboom, who’s husband Dirk was killed in a work related helicopter crash back in 2008.
Fighting back tears, she spoke of how the day he died started like every other day, with a bowl of oatmeal and a kiss before leaving for work.
“It irrevocably changed the lives of so many that day at 1pm. My life, the lives of our children, our grand-child and parents, our siblings, our friends and our co-workers were instantly altered,” said Rozenboom. “All of our hopes and dreams, everything Dirk and I had worked so hard for, was instantly gone.”
She added there’s been many heartbreaking moments along the way, including “how to explain to my grand-son that every helicopter he saw in the sky was not going to fall out of that sky.”
Lynne Rozenboom, wife of fatally injured worker
Another speaker, Aaron Ekman, Secretary Treasurer with the BC Federation of Labour, recalled the tragic mill explosions in Prince George and Burns Lake.
“It was only three short years ago that I stood here in this same place, just a few short months after that terrible tragedy in Burns Lake, and a mere week following the second tragedy at the mill behind us,” he said. “Three years on, with so many in our community still reeling from the tragedies, it must be said that the response from our perspective, has fallen far short of the mark.”
Ekman went on to criticize the Lakeland Mill inquest.
“It must be said if justice is to be done, a coroners inquest is a wholly inadequate process,” he said. “When an investigation is to be found to have been improperly conducted, when nothing was done after the first tragedy to avoid the second, and when it’s revealed evidence has been withheld from current proceedings, that in order to achieve justice for Northern communities, nothing less than a full independent inquiry will suffice.”
Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall said since Day of Mourning ceremonies began decades ago, it’s helped raise awareness around workplace deaths and injuries, and noted “that in itself is a good thing.”
According to WorkSafeBC, 173 workers died while at work in B.C. last year, that’s up from the 128 who lost their lives in 2013.
(The BC Federation of Labour says 203 workers were killed in 2014. WorkSafeBC only counts the number of work-related deaths claims accepted for survivor benefits in a year while the BC Federation of Labour counts all deaths, regardless).
Of the 173 killed, 98 were the result of occupational disease, as a result of previous exposure to asbestos.
Below are the number of work related deaths in our province the past five years:
2010: 143
2011: 142
2012: 149
2013: 128
2014: 173
* Stats courtesy WorkSafeBC
Comments
Wow, look at all the non union people included in this story that have something to say about workplace deaths. One! The mayor.
Where is Bond, Rustad and Morris? Where are the owners of Lakeland and Babine sawmills? Where is Hart Guy and the rest of the union haters?
Hi Dumbfounded! Seems like you missed me!
Obviously you want my comment on this, so here it is!
The explosions at Burns Lake and here in Prince George were tragic events. I cannot and do not profess to understand the grief and loss that the mill workers and their families have gone through and continue to go through.
With that being said, I find Aaron Ekman’s comments to be both self-serving and hypocritical! Where was Ekman and the Union when the employees where working in what they considered to be an unsafe workplace?
Even if Government failed in it’s responsibility to provide a framework to ensure that work places are safe, even if WorkSafe failed to inspect and enforce safe work practices, even if Lakewood failed to provided the safest and most up to date systems to ensure worker safety and as I’ve said many many times on this site, ever if the workers went to work in an unsafe workplace due to their economic situation, even if all of this happened, the Union still had the power to withdraw it’s workers!
The Union did nothing! Oops, I stand corrected, the Union continued to collect dues!
Dumbfounded, time and time and time again, I have stated that there is more than enough blame to go around, and the Union needs to start acknowledging and accepting it’s share!
There you go, Dumbfounded! Happy now?
So much hate for unions hart guy.. Where you done wrong by unions? Not get that job your really wanted due to unions?
Do you have vacation.. If you do thank unions
Do you have benefits at work.. Thank unions
Do you have a retirement fund..thank unions
Do you a acceptable work week..thanks to unions
You have a lovely list of everyone that failed to keep the workers safe..and yet spin it so it’s the unions fault..again.,bravo.
And so you don’t have to mention it again.. I do not work in a union shop..but have good benefits, great retirement package, lots of vacation and good working shift..plus great safety record.. And I thank unions for it.
Ekman certainly picked the wrong forum. This was not a place to air a union grievance, it was a day and place to mourn. He screwed up!
Good God.
How about all of you put a cork in it and show a little respect for fallen workers!!!!
Ha unreal…..Hart Guy blames the union. However I’m willing to bet if the employees asked the union to support a walk out and did, all the time the government, work safe, and the employer said it was safe place to work Hart Guy would be yelling “lazy unionized workers should be fired”
P Val, my point is that there is more than enough blame or fault to go around. Ekman and the Unions keep pointing fingers at everybody else when they had also had a part to play.
I’m sure that you have heard the phrase “When you point your finger at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you.”
Why is it that the Union should share no blame?? Ekman standing and pointing fingers is the height of hypocrisy! Grandstanding at it’s best!
Asbestosis is horrible.. I worked with a fellow who installed asbestos way way back when and he passed away from it a few years ago..
I had a friend who was a commercial faller. He was killed on the job.
The family was worried when he did not come home one night and went looking for him. They found him dead under a tree.
My friend was not unionized. The only tribute was an obituary by his family in the local paper. My friend was one of many killed in the forest industry those years ago and nobody cared except the families. Only family and friends attended his funeral. There was no official mention in the newspaper.
Compare this to the death of a unionized police officer (few compared to not unionized forestry workers) killed on the job. Bus loads of members from all over the country (and foreign) attend the funeral.
Any job related death should be taken seriously. I hope there is a message that employers should shoulder the onus mourning their casualties and not union bosses.
Lynne Rozenboom expresses the pain: “All of our hopes and dreams, everything Dirk and I had worked so hard for, was instantly gone.”
So were the hopes and dreams of my friend and his family.
To quote itelman: “Any job related death should be taken seriously. I hope there is a message that employers should shoulder the onus mourning their casualties and not union bosses.”
Worksafe BC :”The Employer must provide a safe workplace”
The Union: Is calling for a Public Inquiry
The Goverment: “Promised answers to ensure such a tragedy never happened again.”
Yet thousands of mill workers (union/non-union) go to work every day in fear not knowing if there mill will be #3, still not knowing what they need to do, nor can they believe Premier Clark’s promise to ensure such a tragedy will never happen again.
Farnorth: I don’t believe the past mill explosions are about the Company, Worksafe or the Union any more. This is now an issue of the BC Government stepping up to the plate and doing a public inquiry into the past 2 explosions so that Thousands of Workers in the Sawmill Industry can get some answers!
Hopefully our Government will make Workers Safety first, so that we aren’t talking about Mill #3 explosion.
“I DREAM OF A DAY WHEN WORKERS, (no matter what there industry) KILLED IN THE WORKPLACE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!
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