National Day of Mourning goes virtual in 2020
Events remembering employees hurt or killed at work to also recognize local essential workers
WATERLOO REGION — The annual National Day of Mourning will go virtual in 2020 and recognize essential workers in this community still on the job during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelly Dick, president of the Waterloo Regional Labour Council, said events scheduled for April 28 have had to move online due to restrictions imposed on gatherings because of the coronavirus.
“This is something I look forward to every year, it’s a very impactful day for labour,” she said. “I would prefer to do it outdoors, 100 per cent.”
First held in Canada in 1984, the day of mourning is dedicated to remembering those who have lost their lives, or suffered injury or illness on the job. It’s also a day to advocate for improved worker protections.
The event is traditionally held at memorial sites in Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge
and it rotates between the three cities each year.
This year, however, they’ve recorded a 25-minute video that will play on the labour council’s YouTube and Facebook pages on April 28 at 10:30 a.m.
The video will include a recorded panel discussion via video conference with three essential workers in the region — a Grand River Transit employee, a grocery clerk and an employee from a long-term care home — to discuss stress and anxiety in the face of the pandemic, and what it means for front-line workers in this community and across the country.
The three city mayors and Regional Chair Karen Redman will also have recorded messages played.
The day typically attracts a few hundred people every year in Waterloo Region, depending on the weather, but Dick said with many people isolating at home she is expecting upwards of 1,000 people to watch online.
According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, in 2018 more than 1,000 workplace fatalities were recorded in Canada. Thousands more are injured on the job every year.
Also known as Workers’ Memorial Day, it’s officially recognized in about 100 countries worldwide.
Whether it’s a chronic injury like carpal tunnel, a serious illness or death, worker safety has “touched almost every person in this region,” said Dick.
For more information or a link to the video, visit wrlc.ca/dom2020.