Before I begin, Speaker, I want to thank you for the opportunity for the guests to use the Speaker’s gallery. There are a couple of the members who had mobility issues, but they all wanted to stand together, so I’m very thankful to you and your office for opening the entire gallery to them.

Speaker, today is November 30, an important day in Ontario mining: 79 years ago today, despite expert evidence recommending against its use at the time, the Ontario government of the day sanctioned the first use of McIntyre aluminum powder for use on Ontario mine workers. During the 36 years that it was used, more than 25,000 Ontario mine workers, primarily in uranium and gold mines, were forced to breathe the finely ground aluminum dust known as McIntyre Powder.

Before the start of each and every shift, the doors of the dry, the mining change room, were sealed shut, the ventilation would be turned off and a mist of fine aluminum dust was pumped inside. The dust would make the air turn black. Locked into the room, the workers were told to breathe deeply so the dust would coat their lungs, so the dust would protect them, and if the workers refused, they were fired.

I want to share the voice of two of these workers. During a press conference we held, Ed Graham said, “I put old shirt rags over my face to avoid the aluminum dust, but a supervisor caught me and told me to take that rag off my face. I asked the supervisor about the aluminum dust and was told, ‘Keep asking questions like that and you won’t be here very long.’”

Bill Ferguson also said, “At the start of each shift they would line our lungs with that aluminum dust before we went underground. The theory was that the silica and rock dust wouldn’t stick to your lungs and you’d cough up the aluminum at the end of your shift, but that didn’t work. They sprayed me with that for 18 years.”

For 36 years, Speaker, mining workers like Ed and Bill were told that breathing aluminum powder would protect them from harm, but instead many miners experienced immediate and long-term health effects, and it simply wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to the 25,000 Ontario mine workers who were forced to breathe McIntyre aluminum powder. It wasn’t fair to their loved ones, to their wives, to their children, to their fathers, to their mothers, to their friends and their fishing buddies. It simply wasn’t fair.

And so, today we are here, united as members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 79 years after the first use of McIntyre aluminum powder, 36 years after its final use, and we are here to tell you that we are sorry.

Nous sommes désolés. L’utilisation de la poudre McIntyre a été sanctionné par le gouvernement de l’Ontario. Ce n’était pas juste pour les 25 000 mineurs Ontariens. Ce n’était pas juste pour leurs amis et pour leurs familles. Nous sommes désolés.

We are sorry that between 1943 and 1979, more than 25,000 Ontario mine workers were forced to breathe McIntyre aluminum powder. We are sorry that the use of McIntyre powder was supported and sanctioned by the Ontario government of the day. We are sorry this happened to people who dedicated their lives and their work to the betterment of our province.

Speaker, when I began, I said today is November 30. This is an important day in Ontario mining because today, 79 years after the Ontario government sanctioned the first use of McIntyre aluminum powder, I am proud to join with all members of the Legislative Assembly from all parties. Together, on November 30, 2022, an important day in Ontario mining, we offer an apology on behalf of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to all miners, to mine workers, their friends and their families. We are very, truly sorry. Nous sommes vraiment désolés.

Applause.

I want to thank the Minister of Labour for his statement and apology, and we all need to thank the member from Sudbury for his tireless advocacy to shed light on this tragedy. We’ve all seen him in this House and in his community advocating for victims and their families, and to educate the public on what happened, so thank you.

Today is a new chapter, hopefully one that brings more attention and some closure for victims and families. We also need to thank the volunteers from the McIntyre Powder Project for all their work to educate the public and to document the extensive health issues that have affected miners and their families.

Mr. Speaker, mining has, and always continues to be, a critical and noble profession that keeps the wheels of our economy moving. The profession of mining has come a long way, including with safety standards, but it continues to be a dangerous profession. For centuries, men and women have worked in mines, being exposed to various risks to not only put food on the table and support their families, but to support the economy, their province and the country. Unfortunately, like we have seen with this case of aluminum powder inhalation, many of the advances in safety we see today have come due to the tragic loss and suffering of people that have come before us.

Tens of thousands of miners, and many who did not work in the mining industry, have been exposed to the McIntyre aluminum dust, from 1943 to 1980. Many suffered severe health challenges as a result. Men and women going to work, just doing as they were instructed to inhale this dust, just wanted to put in a good day’s work and return to their family safely. They thought they were doing what was right to protect themselves, and that was what they were told if they didn’t know. The tragic reality is that we did not do enough to ensure their safety, both in the short term and the long term. I can’t imagine the suffering that many families went through.

This apology today is a good step towards positive change to occupational disease or injury, and I wish every success in the government’s efforts to improve occupational safety for the workers that make our society prosperous. We need workers, Mr. Speaker, and we need to do everything in our power to ensure that they are safe at work. Every employer’s ultimate goal should be to send their employees safe home every day, every night to their families and to their children, that they’re able to grow up surrounded by loving, healthy family members who take care of them.

I want to say that we will remember all the victims. We thank everyone who is here with us today, and those who are not with us. As elected officials, we have a duty. We have a duty to put in the work, to do the research, to discern the truth, to explain it to people and to put the safety of our workers at the top of our priority list before tragedy strikes and not after.

Applause.