‘Those numbers haven't gone down in decades’
Deaths from occupational disease have not declined in decades, despite steady gains in workplace safety, a Sudbury union official said Monday as the community honoured 28 workers who died from work-related injuries or illnesses.
The names were read aloud at Leo Gerard Memorial Park in Val Caron, a community within Greater Sudbury, and a family member was presented with a rose, CTV News reported.
Sean Staddon, a compensation officer with United Steelworkers Local 6500, told CTV News that safety has improved but more work is needed.
"Unfortunately, we still have fatalities, and we still have occupational disease fatalities. Those numbers haven't gone down in decades," he said.
Occupational disease accounted for 661 of 1,042 accepted work-related deaths in Canada in 2024, according to a national report on work-related death claims in 2024. An analysis of workplace fatality and injury rates in Canada noted that disease deaths now exceed traumatic fatalities in most jurisdictions.
University of Regina researcher Sean Tucker, co-author of a national report showing a rise in workplace fatalities in 2023, has cautioned that not all occupational disease deaths appear in compensation claims.
Memorial's roots
The city unveiled the park in 2012 with a board listing people killed on the job, Northern Ontario Business reported. A second board naming those who died of occupational disease was unveiled in 2018, according to CBC News.
"This should never be a trade off between your health or your choice of careers," Mrochek told CBC at the time.
This year's event was organized by the Sudbury and District Labour Council with the city. Labour council president Jessica Montgomery said the last similar ceremony was held in 2022. Sudbury.com reported that a June 2022 ceremony added the names of 10 former Neelon Casting workers.
Widow recalls husband's illness
Celine Quenneville attended with her daughter on behalf of her husband, Mike, a former Vale employee who also worked at other mines. He died of an occupational illness three years ago at age 58.
"On Feb. 17, 2023, we found out he got diagnosed with lung cancer that had metastasized to his brain," she said. "Two and a half months later, he was gone."
Quenneville plans to keep pressing for worker safety, according to CTV News. "One thing Mike asked me to do was to not let this go. To fight, to fight for future generations," she said.
More names to be added
Montgomery said workers qualify for the wall if they lived or worked in the community, or belonged to a union local based there. A project is under way to find those who were missed.
"We are hopeful to gather more names next year of those that we have missed," she said.
Ward 5 councillor Mike Parent said: "I'm working with government, labour and industry, that we collectively all do better so that we can stop adding names to this board."
