I too would like to welcome everyone here to Queen’s Park. They’ve done so much work, Mr. Speaker, around the McIntyre Powder issue.

There are a lot of people that we need to recognize, but I want to recognize Ken Brezenski; he is here with his wife Luanne. They are also here to represent Ken’s father, Felix, who was exposed to McIntyre Powder for 27 years at McIntyre Mine. Felix passed in 1996.

It has been more than 40 years since McIntyre Powder has been used in Ontario mines, but for the thousands of miners who were exposed to the powder, it might as well have been yesterday. They were told by their employers that this powder would help protect them from lung disease and that they had to inhale it to continue working in the mines.

These 25,000 miners across northern Ontario didn’t have a choice. For them, their livelihoods depended on taking this powder, and it was supposed to keep them safe. Instead, this powder caused the very things it was supposed to prevent. The survivors have had to deal with the lingering effects—lung disease and Parkinson’s—while countless families have had to watch their loved ones suffer, helpless to do anything in relief.

Today, Mr. Speaker, there are more than 30 people here who have travelled from right across northern Ontario—family and friends who have had to watch their fathers, brothers and sons live this hell, including six miners here who experienced this themselves.

I also want to recognize miners like Isadore Commando, David St. Georges and thousands of others who didn’t live to see this day.

And Janice Martell, who I’m glad to have met and had the opportunity to listen to. Janice is the daughter of Elliot Lake miner, Jim Hobbs. Jim passed in 2017 after a 16-year battle with Parkinson’s. Janice, I don’t need to have met him to know how proud he would be of the fight that you have taken up.

Speaker, I also want to recognize my colleague across the floor, the member for Sudbury. His unwavering commitment to his constituents—and miners across northern Ontario—helped bring us to this day. I also want to thank our government House leader, the MPP for Markham–Stouffville, for his assistance and for his staff’s help as well.

Today’s apology is the next step in actions to support our miners. I’m proud to say, earlier this year, the Premier and our government declared Parkinson’s disease to be an occupational disease that is the result of work-related exposure to McIntyre Powder. As a result, miners who were exposed to McIntyre Powder and have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s are entitled to compensation without having to produce any evidence that their disease is work-related. For the miners and families here today, this means not only faster compensation but, equally as important, recognition that what businesses demanded these workers to do was wrong.

Speaker, I am proud that our government also funded the research that led us to this momentous occasion. And today is just a start—our government will continue to make investments to help identify and recognize occupational illnesses and support those who have been injured by exposure on the job, because anyone in Ontario who falls ill because of their job should have the confidence that they and their loved ones will be taken care of. That is why our government launched the first-ever review of our province’s occupational illness system to deliver lasting change for workers and their families. This review is being led by an independent research centre at St. Michael’s Hospital with the unparalleled expertise in studying complex health issues. Their work will lead to improved recognition of workplace diseases, a better understanding of the exposures that led to them and, most importantly, more days like today.

While we know that an apology will not bring your loved ones back, it will not ease the pain and sadness so many of you have faced—this tragedy should not have happened to you; it should not have happened to your loved ones—to each and every one of you, on behalf of the people of Ontario, we are truly sorry.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to stand with me to honour and remember the victims of this tragedy. Thank you.

Applause.

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.

I believe this is the last time I’ll be reading this petition in the assembly. I want to thank Janice Hobbs Martell for all of her work and for arranging for the apology today. None of this would have happened without her, Speaker.

The petition is entitled a petition “For an Official Statement of Apology on Behalf of the” Legislative Assembly “of Ontario to the McIntyre Powder Project Miners.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas over 25,000 Ontario mine workers were subjected by their employers to mandatory, non-consensual inhalation of finely ground aluminum dust known as ‘McIntyre Powder’ between 1943 and 1979, as a scientifically unproven industrial medical treatment for the lung disease silicosis; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario supported and sanctioned the McIntyre Powder aluminum prophylaxis program despite the availability of safe and proven alternatives to effective silicosis prevention measures such as improved dust control and ventilation, and also despite expert evidence from the international scientific and medical community as early as 1946 that recommended against the use of McIntyre Powder treatments; and

“Whereas the miners who were forced to inhale McIntyre Powder experienced distress, immediate and long-term health effects from their experiences and exposures associated with aluminum inhalation treatments, as documented through their participation in the McIntyre Powder Project;

“We, the undersigned, petition the government of Ontario to provide an official statement of apology to the McIntyre Powder Project miners.”

I support this petition, as do all of my colleagues. I’ll sign it on behalf of all of us, Speaker.

Interruption.

Applause.

Today being November 30, 2022, I present this petition on behalf of the good people of Elliot Lake and across the North Shore: the Bouchard family; Hamilton family; Phelan and Todd families; Martin family; Lacelle family; Harrison, Kanafa and Hennessey families; McLean family; Lefebvre, Salo, Racette and McLeod families; the Blaheys, the Sanches and Marcottes; the Hills; the Whites; the Mikkolas; the Bigras, Lawsons and Grattons.

“Petition for an Official Statement of Apology on Behalf of the Government of Ontario to the McIntyre Powder Project Miners

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas over 25,000 Ontario mine workers were subjected by their employers to mandatory, non-consensual inhalation of finely ground aluminum dust known as ‘McIntyre Powder’ between 1943 and 1979, as a scientifically unproven industrial medical treatment for the lung disease silicosis; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario supported and sanctioned the McIntyre Powder aluminum prophylaxis program despite the availability of safe and proven alternatives to effective silicosis prevention measures such as improved dust control and ventilation, and also despite expert evidence from the international scientific and medical community as early as 1946 that recommended against the use of McIntyre Powder treatments; and

“Whereas the miners who were forced to inhale McIntyre Powder experienced distress, immediate and long-term health effects from their experiences and exposures associated with aluminum inhalation treatments, as documented through their participation in the McIntyre Powder Project;

“We, the undersigned, petition the government of Ontario to provide an official statement of apology to the McIntyre Powder families and miners across this province.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this petition and send it to page Grace to bring it down to the Clerks’ table.