Fallen workers honoured at Day of Mourning

John Swart says he sees cases of asbestosis and mesothelioma all the time.

The 52-year-old Sarnia man, a heat and frost insulator, was one of 200 people gathered at Centennial Park for the International Day of Mourning on Thursday.

"Back in the '60s, '70s, part of the '80s, we more or less installed the asbestos insulation on the piping and boilers," Swart said. "Now we're in the process of removing it all through proper regulations."

His industry and others like it are plagued with asbestos-related diseases, he said.

"We've got to keep our efforts up and making sure that everyone respects this deadly disease."

The International Day of Mourning, a Canadian initiative taken up by more than 100 countries, recognizes tragic losses caused by deaths, injuries, and illnesses in the workplace.

Swart was among a group who laid wreaths dedicated to victims of workplace tragedy.

Before placing his, he remembered his brother, who died 19 years ago while working in the Chemical Valley.

He was working by himself, insulating pipe, Swart said. Something went wrong with the controls on lift he was using and he was pinned against an I-beam, where he suffocated. He was 37.

"We want to wake up parliament, the government, the powers that be that make the laws ...," said June Maruschak, Sarnia and District Labour Council president. "Punish those who are not adhering to the laws, who are basically murdering their workers."

Across Canada an average of 20 workers are killed on the job every day, she said.

"Those workers never come home again to their families, or to their loved ones, their home or their friends. They die simply because of their jobs and that's not right."

The hundreds of cases of asbestos-related cancers in workers from the former Holmes Foundry is the most notable disaster in Sarnia's history, Maruschak said.

"It's a really, really sad thing that this community is doing today," said Sandy Kinart, chairperson of the Victims of Chemical Valley. "The devastation we feel is huge."

There are streets in Sarnia in which every household has lost a family member to occupational disease, she said.

Kinart railed against Prime Minister Stephen Harper who said this week his government has no plans to curb Canadians exports of asbestos to other countries.

"If one fibre is going to cause mesothelioma and have you take your life away, how can it be safe?"