Pardon me; April 28, National Day of Mourning. Each year in Hamilton, the Hamilton and District Labour Council, along with many other unions and community groups in Hamilton, gathers at a statue right in front of city hall. It’s the corner of Bay and Main Streets in Hamilton. There’s a really remarkable statue there that is actually called Day of Mourning. If you google it it’s such a stark and impressive sculpture. We gather there every year to lay wreaths and honour the people who are injured or have died in the workplace.

The very first day that statue was dedicated, which was in 1990, I was there, and just that morning, before we were there, an electrician had been killed on the job at Dofasco that very morning. The family was actually there crying—grieving—because they had just got this tragic news that very morning. I was standing beside an older gentleman in front of the city hall and he said, “Yes, my brother-in-law was killed building city hall,” so killed in the 1950s. When you lose someone you always remember and you always need to recognize and acknowledge that. That’s why the Day of Mourning is really so very important.

Also I would just like to acknowledge Paul Cvetich, who is the sculptor who created that beautiful piece of work. If you’re ever in Hamilton, go and look at it. I’m telling you, you will be impressed.

I think it’s kind of ironic—or I don’t know what it is—that May 28 was picked as the day—

I think what many people don’t know or don’t realize is that when WSIB was first brought in, workers in the workplace forfeited their right to sue for injury or damages if they were injured on the job. They forfeited that right in exchange for an insurance compensation program that was expected to make them whole.

We have seen since that time that this is a program that has not worked for workers and, in fact, is continuing to actually make things more difficult for injured workers. Injured workers are having to advocate to us, to you, as MPPs, to say that this system is failing them. This system is failing them when they need it most.

I have to, again, acknowledge Hamiltonians who have done a lot of work to advocate on behalf of injured workers. Karl Crevar is a gentleman who helped establish in Hamilton the Hamilton and District Injured Workers’ Group. They come to my office quite regularly to tell the stories. He comes and quite clearly tells the stories and the plight and the injustices that workers in Hamilton—which represent workers across the province—are facing.

I think we’ve said it here before, but the methods by which WSIB is changing their benefit programs, making it so difficult for injured workers to access these benefits, it’s essentially a way of slowly diminishing benefits and cutting benefits, essentially, that people should be entitled to. Not only is this injustice, plain and simple, but it is driving people into poverty.

I would like to just talk a little bit about one of these individuals who also is a huge advocate and comes to all of our offices and I have nothing but admiration for, Marvin Mulder, who himself is an injured worked. Marvin’s story is that he was injured on the job, and he underwent six spinal injections and two failed back surgeries in an effort to recover. In that time, he was asked by WSIB to participate in its work transition program right after his accident, and they gave him an option to retrain as a millwright or an office assistant even though his injuries prevented him from walking, from sitting or standing for long periods of time. It’s unbelievable.

Marvin’s persistent health problems prevented him from completing the retraining program. Because of that, the WSIB deemed him as non-co-operative and drastically reduced his benefits each year. The issue of “deeming”—this is just an unfair, punitive practice that is used to prevent workers from accessing the insurance benefits that they pay into, that they have a right to, and so I want to salute Marvin and I want to salute Karl and all the injured worker alliances and folks that fight on behalf of injured workers across the province. We hear you and we support your fight and we are doing what we can to support that, but as you can see, with this legislation there’s an opportunity to address this injustice in this bill that is supposed to be about workers, but the workers that most need help have been excluded when it comes to WSIB.

A couple of the members on the Conservative side have talked about the presumptive legislation, and I would just like to make sure that I acknowledge that we here feel that any opportunity, any time that benefits can be extended to workers in the workplace, that is a wonderful thing. We’re fully supportive of that.

In fact, the first presumptive legislation that was introduced in the province of Ontario was spearheaded by our former leader Andrea Horwath. She did that because of a firefighter in our community named Bob Shaw. I knew Bob Shaw and his son, Nathan Shaw—not related, but I did know them. He was one of many firefighters that fought the Plastimet fire, which was a devastating tire fire right in the centre of Hamilton. It caused a lot of damage, and a lot of firefighters breathed in those toxic fumes and were working in that toxic water, and a lot of the injuries that they suffered were because of that. So the first presumptive legislation was in honour of Bob Shaw, and we are happy to see this extended.

I would also like to say that a good friend of mine who was a firefighter—his name was Dave Begley. Actually, we called him Bugsy; it was his nickname. He also fought at Plastimet day and night for many days if not for a week or so, and he died shortly thereafter as well. So this legislation is near and dear to all of our hearts, mine as well.

But I have to say, what you’re talking about—the extension of presumptive legislation to include pancreatic and thyroid cancer—is not in the bill. You can talk about it, and it’s important to talk about it, but if it’s that important, why is it not in the bill? I find it is actually a bit of a sleight of hand, if you will, that the government gets up and talks about something that’s in the legislation that actually isn’t in there. So I think people need to read the bill and see that it’s not there. Don’t judge a book by the cover, or don’t just take the government’s word for it. The “trust us; we’ll take care of it” hasn’t worked for many people in this province with this government.

And when it comes to presumptive legislation, extending this to firefighters, this also is the case. My guess is firefighters expected this to be in the legislation, and they’re probably dearly disappointed that it’s not. I am hoping that the government will be true to its word and make sure that they pass it at legislation, but it would have been a proud moment to see it right here in the bill.

I also just would like to acknowledge the many things that are missing from this bill. While we think, in schedule 2, it is absolutely wonderful that members of our armed forces will be extended the kind of mental health benefits that they deserve and that we all deserve, I would just like to acknowledge that in the city of Hamilton, access to mental health services is abysmal. It’s absolutely abysmal, particularly if you’re a youth in the city. We’ve had two, now three mental health service providers closing due to lack of funding from this government and due to the inability to retain workers because of your wage-cap, punitive Bill 124. It’s great that you’re extending these benefits, but it will be very difficult for anybody to access mental health services, because they’re drying up and they’re closing in cities all across the province.

We’ve put forward legislation. Our opposition day motion called for emergency funding for the Canadian Mental Health Association, emergency funding that would have kept the doors open at some of these services all across our ridings, and this government voted no. You turned down funding for mental health service providers in the middle of a mental health crisis, and that is just really mind-boggling as to why you would do that.

Further to Bill 124, I just want to talk about PSWs and the injury and the risk that they faced when they went to work during COVID. I want to talk about a PSW in my riding whose daughter wrote to me to say that due to Bill 124 her mom struggled to pay the bills, struggled to keep her job. What happened was, at one point, she was in a client’s home and she was exposed to bedbugs in the workplace. She brought those home and then she had to incur the cost of making sure that her home was cleared of that—very expensive, hired an exterminator. Then she was told, basically, that if she did not go back to work that she would be fired, essentially. In her distraught state, she spoke to the Ministry of Labour, and was told that there was nothing that they could do to protect her in this instance. This is a PSW working in people’s homes, home care, making sure we can keep our loved ones at home, who faced an exposure in the workplace where she needed protection, and was told by the ministry that there was nothing that they could do to help her.

There’s so much missing from this bill. I would say that we have been advocating for workers on this side of the House for five years now with this government. We have been saying that we want to make sure workers are protected in the workplace—true protections that include enforcement and true fines. We’ve been calling for a minimum wage for workers so that they can actually go to work and put food on their table. We’ve been saying that you need to repeal Bill 124. It’s unconstitutional and it’s harming people all across the province. I don’t understand your stubbornness not to repeal this bill. I think that women, who are the majority of health care workers, really need real pay equity in this province.

There are many, many things that you could have put into this bill to really work for workers. It falls short in many aspects, and I hope that the government will take some of our consideration and put it into their next bill that apparently we’ve been hearing is coming along.

I was quite pleased to hear the member talk about the Day of Mourning. The Day of Mourning started in my community. It is very meaningful to many, many families who have lost loved ones because of a workplace accident or injury or sickness.

I would like to ask the member, in her community, who attends the Day of Mourning? Why do they come to the Day of Mourning? What do they get out of attending this gathering focused on workers killed or injured at work? And why is it so important for each and every one of us to take the time to attend those ceremonies that take place throughout our province to honour workers who died at work? If she could share her own experience with the House as to why each and every one of us should attend the Day of Mourning.