April 28 is nationally recognized as a Day of Mourning—a day dedicated to remembering workers who lost their lives through work-related illness or injury.
In 2023, 165 Alberta workers lost their lives as a result of their employment. Each loss has a profound impact on families, friends, employers and co-workers.
165 people in Alberta alone, many more span across Canada and the United States. Unions and governments need to work with employers to ensure workers health and safety is put before profits. Employers need to be held accountable for foreseeable and avoidable injury and illness, beyond a slap on the wrist and a hefty fine. Workers are our families our friends, and they are worth more than the job they do for the employers.
Below Michael Brown, IAMAW LL 99 member’s words on the Alberta’s Broken Families monument.
A broken family is still a family, only with broken dreams, and broken hearts. Here stands a memorial for those who died at work and those who are left behind. Look to the future, remember the past, and let not their deaths be in vain. – Michael Brown IAMAW Local Lodge 99.
In 2012, Edmonton’s Labour Council unveiled a monument to Alberta’s Broken Families in Grant Notley Park, named after the Alberta NDP leader who died in a plane crash in 1984. Made of stainless steel, granite, and concrete, the obelisk stands 14 feet tall and 10 feet wide at the base. On each of the four sides, a family is seen, cast in bronze – but with one family member missing, a worker who went to work, but didn’t come home. Previous to this, a Workers’ Memorial was erected in Calgary through the efforts of their Labour Council. It stands at Edward Park Place, on the SE corner of City Hall at 9th Avenue and Macleod Trail SE.
Here are some photos of our IAM Retirees and Members honoring this Day of Mourning.
Sources:
April 28: National Day of Mourning/International Workers’ Memorial Day
https://www.wcb.ab.ca/about-wcb/community-partnerships/day-of-mourning/#DoM-resources