All sessions are via Zoom
Every Tuesday 10 AM – 12 PM EST
Contact us at tbiwsg@gmail.com if you want to join us for these Zoom Sessions!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2026
June 2026
June 16 – 10 AM – 12 PM EST occupational safety and health and Canada’s mobile labourer force. Obstacles to regulatory effectiveness.
Canada’s mobile workforce keeps the economy moving—but at what cost to safety and health? This timely and revealing book investigates the often-overlooked risks faced by workers who engage in extended geographical mobility related to their work including extended daily commuting, intra- and inter-provincial rotational work, international labour migration into Canada and mobility as or within work such as within transportation and homecare work. It uncovers the unique hazards tied to employment-related mobility and documents the regulatory gaps, inconsistencies and other determinants that leave these workers vulnerable to injury and that can constrain their access to workers’ compensation. With particular attention to temporary foreign workers and the systemic failings highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the book paints a compelling picture of injustice hidden in plain sight. Blending rigorous legal analysis with a wide-ranging review of international and Canadian research, it makes a powerful case for stronger protections and equitable access to compensation. Essential reading for policymakers, legal and other scholars, and advocates alike, this is a bold call to rethink both how work-related mobility puts workers at risk and how we could better protect workers on the move.
Occupational Safety and Health and C About the Authors
The late Katherine Lippel, LLL, LLM, FRSC, was a full professor of law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa and Distinguished Research Chair in Occupational Health and Safety Law. Barbara Neis, Ph.D., FRSC, C.M., is Professor Emerita and John Lewis Paton Distinguished Professor in the Department of Sociology at Memorial University. Maxine Visotzky-Charlebois is a lawyer and professor of labour law at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau is a full professor at the School of Industrial Relations at the Université de Montréal (Canada) and director of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT).
April 2026
April 28th 2026 – Day of Mourning
April 21- Adam King –Title: “Building Back Battered: Workers and Unions Post-Pandemic”
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic was a truly unique moment in Canadian economic history. While the recession induced by the abrupt closure of large swathes of the economy was deep and devastating, the subsequent recovery was both relatively quick and broad. At the height of the pandemic, unemployment approached levels not seen since the Great Depression.
By the peak of the post-lockdown recovery in 2021-22, employment had reached historic highs. In large part, Canada’s comparatively robust rebound resulted from a considerable mobilization of public spending, a good portion of which went directly to workers.
Consequently, the scarring typical of economic downturns was absent. For a brief moment, there appeared to be an opening to transform the conditions of work: to force a renewed commitment to full employment, to reform social welfare and worker supports, and perhaps most importantly, to capitalize on this favourable context to organize new union members on a mass scale.
These hopes proved false. Inflation ate away at workers’ living standards. A softening labour market caused unemployment to creep back up. The social safety net remains as tattered, if not more so, than before the pandemic. Union density hasn’t budged.
This presentation will take stock of the moment that wasn’t. It will explore how and why a unique set of economic circumstances offered workers and unions an opening to fight for change post-pandemic, and unfortunately, how and why this opportunity was abandoned by governments and mostly squandered by Canadian unions.
Bio: Adam D.K. King is an assistant professor in the Labour Studies Program at the University of Manitoba. Prior to joining Labour Studies at U of M, he was a senior researcher at the Canadian Labour Congress.
He is the co-author, with Mark P. Thomas and Andrew Jackson, of Work and Labour in Canada: Critical Issues (Canadian Scholars 2025). Adam is the author or coauthor of over a dozen scholarly articles in Labour/Le Travail, Canadian Journal of Labour and Employment Law, Studies in Political Economy, and Global Labour Journal, among others.
Adam also writes a weekly column and newsletter about work and labour called “Class Struggle” at The Maple. He is an executive member of the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies (CAWLS).
April 14th 2026 – IWC
Greetings,
Our next community gathering on zoom on Tuesday April 14 at 10 AM ET, will be hosted by our friends at Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC).
They will welcome Lauren Bates as the guest speaker.
Lauren Bates is the Chair of the Ontario Caregiver Coalition (OCC), a grassroots coalition of unpaid caregivers and organizations that support caregivers – the family, friends and neighbours who provide essential support for those living with disability, injury, and illness.
OCC is currently campaigning for a monthly caregiver benefit in Ontario, as well as other supports such as respite and access to mental health services, to help support the essential work that family and friends provide to people (such as injured workers) who rely on their assistance.
Ms. Bates has been actively involved in advocating for human rights, disability rights, equality in health, and other important issues for many years. She will speak about the OCC’s current campaigns, resources available for caregivers, and potential areas of overlap with the injured worker movement.
You can find info on past and future sessions on our website at:
April 7th 2026 – John Sandos & Arn Keeling – OH&S in Mining
Greetings,
You are invited to join us on Tuesday April 7 at 10 AM Eastern Time when John Santos & Arn Keeling will present on the – History of occupational health and safety struggles in Canada’s mining industry
Arn Keeling is a geographer, and John Sandlos a historian who have been writing about mining history for two decades. Their early work on the relationship between mining and Indigenous communities in northern Canada highlighted histories of colonialism, pollution, and displacement from land-based activities, best documented in the freely available collection of essays, Mining and Communities in Northern Canada: History, Politics and Memory.
More recently, Sandlos and Keeling have turned their attention to histories of mine accidents, occupational health and safety, and environmental activism among mineworkers’ unions. This work is documented in the book, Mining Country: A History of Canada’s Mines and Miners, and the recently released volume, The Price of Gold: Mining Pollution and Resistance in Yellowknife, which tells the story of the United Steelworkers opposition to arsenic emissions at Giant Mine.
Our presentation will focus on the broad history of occupational health and safety struggles in Canada’s mining industry, highlighting the conflict between labour and management over who should have control over the workplace environment. The presentation will also suggest mineworkers’ unions were one of the most important, often unacknowledged contributors to the environmental movement in Canada.
You can find info on past and future sessions on our website at:
https://thunderbayinjuredworkers.com/
March 2026
We are pleased to invite you to an amazing double header on March 31 at 10 AM ET on zoom.
Our own Lissa Beaulieu, creator of 3mpwrApp, will host an interactive presentation exploring how tech can transform isolated struggles into collective power. We’ll dive deep into the 3 mechanism flywheels of change built into 3mpwrApp !
Live demo, current app status, and Q&A
Visit Website for more information : https://3mpwrapp.pages.dev/
Also, we welcome Jaribu Hill.
Jaribu is a Civil and Human Rights Attorney. She is Founder and Executive Director of the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights.
Hill is an author and an international spokesperson on Civil and Human Rights topics. In support of the human rights struggles of workers across the globe, Jaribu has traveled to Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean.
Through her organization, Attorney Hill has provided legal representation and advocacy for hundreds of workers in the state. Her efforts have led to the adoption of “Zero Tolerance Against Hate” policies being implemented in workplaces across the state. Hill also won an important judgment against the Ku Klux Klan in Pelion, South Carolina and has assisted Mississippi Delta parents in their fight for school equity.
March 24 – 10 AM – Job quality before and after work Injury – Faraz Shahidi
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Canadians withdraw from the labour market due to injuries sustained at work. Most of these injured workers eventually return to work. But what kind of work are they returning to? Today’s labour market is characterized by a growing number of jobs that are precarious, offering little in the way of stability, pay, and opportunities for advancement. While work is often assumed to be ‘rehabilitative’, these poor-quality jobs may instead exacerbate the social and economic challenges that injured workers face. In this presentation, I will describe a new project at the Institute for Work & Health, entitled “Job quality before and after work injury”, which aims to provide a portrait of working life among injured workers in Canada. I will present some preliminary findings, particularly related to the health and safety risks associated with precarious employment. I am also keen to learn from you about where we might go next with the research.
Faraz is an Associate Scientist at the Institute for Work & Health. A social epidemiologist by training, his research examines the role that social and economic conditions play in shaping the health and safety of working people.
March 17 – 10AM – 12 PM EST Topic: OHS in the capitalist social order. Guest Speaker Merna Fatochi
Presentation Overview: State-corporate relationships within capitalist social formations often produce serious and widepsread harms that are predominantly distributed to and endured by the working class. Using the McIntyre Powder disaster as an empirical lens, I will demonstrate how institutional arrangements shaped regulatory responses to an emerging occupational health and safety crisis and how these responses produced the conditions necessary for corporations to prioritize profit over workers’ safety.
Bio: Merna is a Criminology Ph.D. Candidate from the University of Ottawa. After personal experience with a work-related death, I dedicated my life to researching OHS and responses to it. In the last 8 years, I have advocated for better working conditions and responses to work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities and will continue to do so until workers’ safety is prioritized over capital accumulation. We are all workers, we all deserve respect and care. Yet, despite dominant rhetoric, we are often viewed and treated as expandable objects in the production process within capitalist social systems.
March 10 – 10 AM – 12 PM EST IWC
March 10 – Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC)
IWC will give an update on
- WSIB stats and FOI data (Chris Grawey)
- Claim suppression research project (Chris Grawey/Steve Mantis)
- Age 65/Rights don’t retire social media campaign launch (Tebasum Durani and David Newberry)
March 3rd– 10 AM – 12 PM EST Discussion to strategize together on getting support for Bill 86, the Meredith Act
Join us on Tuesday March 3rd at 10 AM ET, when our guest Kendal McKinney will lead a discussion to strategize together on getting support for Bill 86, the Meredith Act, which was introduced late last year by the official opposition. It is due to go for 2nd reading in the Legislature on April 2, 2026, and we need your help to get as much support as possible for the bill to continue, and consider what comes after the vote. (Note: dates may change depending on the government agendas)
Meredith Act (Fair Compensation for Injured Workers), 2025
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Bill 86 repeals the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 and enacts the Meredith Act
(Fair Compensation for Injured Workers), 2025. The Meredith Act replaces the employer centred WSIA with a worker centred system of income replacement, retraining for the permanently injured, and, for the first time, pension benefits so that a permanent injury does not mean poverty in old age. The Meredith Act also integrates compensation with health and safety enforcement for the first time.
A summary of the Meredith Act will be available for the discussion and a copy of the Bill will be available by link.
How can we improve the chances of a successful vote on April 2nd?
What happens on April 2nd?
What happens after April 2nd?
– Committee hearings and 3rd “reading”?, or
– Holding MPP’s accountable.
– The Unifor petition campaign and the promise to end age discrimination.
Using the Meredith Act in the future:
-Manitoba
-Meredith Act as an organizing tool template. Click here for the briefing note.
February 2026
Feb 24 – 10 AM – 12 PM EST Sarah Rhodes – The key factors that drive the under-reporting and under-recognition of occupational disease
Dr. Sarah Rhodes is a Project Director at the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) with a background in occupational epidemiology and worker-driven research.
On February 24th, Sarah will join us to present on the key factors that drive the under-reporting and under-recognition of occupational disease. These issues include but are not limited to: (1) lack of educational resources for primary care providers, (2) shortcomings in OHS training for workers and employers, (3) compensation system barriers (e.g. time, language, staffing), (4) inequity and intimidation, (5) influence from industry-funded studies, and more.
Most importantly, Sarah will discuss how under-reporting drives under-recognition, and vice versa. She will provide direct examples from her experience working on occupational disease ‘cluster’ investigations in the rubber and plastics industries at OHCOW.
Feb 17 10 AM – 12 PM EST– Charlie Angus
Long time community activist, musician and recently retired MP Charlie Angus has been fighting for the workers rights, support for everyday Canadians and protecting our environment for decades.
Over the last year, he has been crisscrossing the country building resistance to the threats we are facing from south of the border.
Elbows Up! Building resistance!
Workers Compensation has been under attack by the corporate elite. These are the same rich and powerful people that have been successful to take money away from injured & disabled workers and their families and sending Billions $ to corporations. They same 1% that got Trump elected and are now making record profits.
Our challenge is to build resistance and to link it to worker power and in our case, OH&S and the struggles of workers and their families following workplace injuries and diseases.
February 10 10 AM – 12 PM EST– IWC
Ideas, people, songs, poems etc. that give us inspiration in difficult times. Join us to share what gets you excited to take on “the system” and hear other things that inspire folks
February 3 10 AM – 12 PM EST– Professor Harry Glasbeek
Harry Glasbeek is professor emeritus and Senior Scholar of Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. He has taught in both Australia and Canada and has written 140 articles and 12 books, including Between the Lines titles Wealth by Stealth: Corporate Crime, Corporate Law, and the Perversion of Democracy, Class Privilege: How Law Shelters Shareholders and Coddles Capitalism, and Capitalism: A Crime Story.
Why is it so hard?
Every year, there are roughly 300,000 compensable claims in Canada. The fatality rate is steady at circa 2.78 persons per day. That number rises to circa 5 people dying, every day, earlier than they would otherwise have done because of occupationally related diseases. These numbers do not include the many people who cannot, or are intimidated from making, claims. And, of course they do not include the many, the very many, workers afflicted by diseases which are not acknowledged to be sufficiently connected to working conditions.
Workers suffer hurts, diseases and are killed at work. The very least they and their families deserve is some adequate income replacement and care. Often, very often, it is way too hard to get. It is hard to get justice.
I want to put these unacceptable outcomes in a larger framework.
Canada sees itself as a liberal democracy. By this it means that we, as individuals, have exactly the same legally protected civil rights—such as freedom of belief, of speech, to assemble, to associate, etc.—and all individuals have exactly the same political rights—such as the right to vote or to be candidates for political office.
Canada also sees itself as a market capitalist economy. We all have the same right to become capitalists but have no realistic way to make this come true. It is an empty statement.
None of the freedoms and rights we have in the political sphere are enjoyed when individuals become workers-for-wages in the economic sphere. None. Employers are legally entitled to ride roughshod over the rights and freedoms we have won.
The workplace, its terms and conditions, govern much of our lives. The fact that Canadian workers have none of the rights and freedoms they are supposed to enjoy as Canadians when they are working for wages is what heightens their frustration and anger as they fight the unacceptable outcomes which they have to confront. Potentially, this might make them rebel.
This makes it necessary for capitalists and their many allies—lawyers, accountants, judges among them—to hide the fact that there is a huge gap between our political and economic spheres. They make up arguments; they engage in pretences, for instance, that a corporation is an individual person, like you and me. And, largely, the working class internalizes the rubbish they are fed. They appear to have accepted these false claims and fantasies as actually being true and unalterable. This cramps any fight-backs they mount..
This presentation will illustrate how many false arguments are made and what kinds of pretences are put forward to hide this huge contradiction.
My hope is that doing so will support the activists who are trying to reform the worst aspects of the system and, maybe, just maybe, make them think a little differently about the approaches they should take. More specifically, the hope is that all of us will pay more attention to the framework and how, within it, we fight with one hand tied behind our backs.
January 2026
On Tuesday January 27, our friends at Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) will join us. John McKinnon writes:
We will review the Rights Don’t Retire campaign to date, discuss the next steps in the campaign, and discuss why people with an age 65 cut off recently or in the near future might want to get into the appeal system and how to do this.
On Tuesday. January 20 at 10 AM Our guest speaker will be Glenn Shore. He will focus on:
The US National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws (1972)
In 1970, with the passage of the first federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), there was an acknowledgement that state workers compensation systems were ineffective at injury prevention and that there was need for a federal OSH regulatory system to serve that purpose. The OSHA act included a section establishing a National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws to “determine if such laws provide an adequate, prompt, and equitable system of compensation” for work related injury, illness and fatalities. The Commission, appointed by then president RIchard Nixon and comprised of representatives from business, labor, insurance, state WC programs, claimant and defense attorneys defined a purpose and role for the state programs, and evaluated whether the states were meeting that goal. The Commission concluded unanimously that primary responsibility for the program at the state level should be “conserved” but noting that if the states could not make significant improvement in their programs, that there may be a place for federal minimum standards, in the manner that the OSHA act allowed for state control only if the states were ” least as effective as” the national program. This presentation will discuss the Commission’s work and what happened after the Report was finalized in 1972.
Glenn Shor is a Continuing Lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Public Health with teaching experience at Cal State Hayward, San Francisco State University, and Sacramento State University. He is a retired public policy and research analyst with the California State Department of Industrial Relations, Cal/OSHA, and Division of Workers’ Compensation with more than 30 years of experience.
January 13 – Guest Jim Stanford – The current state of the Trump trade war and what Canada needs to do to respond.
Jim Stanford is Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work, based in Vancouver, Canada.
From 2016 through 2024, Jim also served as founding Director of the Australian Centre for Future Work, a separate organization.
Jim is one of Canada’s best-known economic commentators. He served for over 20 years as Economist and Director of Policy with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector trade union (formerly the Canadian Auto Workers). He is quoted frequently in the print and broadcast media, and writes a regular column for the Toronto Star. He is also the Harold Innis Industry Professor in Economics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, and an Honorary Professor in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney. Jim has also served for many years as a Research Associate and volunteer with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
2025
December 2025
Dec 16 – Guest Kevon Stewart, District 6 Director, USW
https://facebook.com/events/s/guest-kevon-stewart-district-6/1144594477804128
Kevon will discuss in the presentation:
The criminal liability and prosecution of organizations who do not follow the Westray law.
Why enforcement of the Westray law is not currently happening.
The actions USW District 6 is taking for more dedicated investigators, prosecutors, and training for legal and police officials.
Kevon Stewart has served as District 6 Director, representing more than 80,000 USW members across Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, since October 2024.
Stewart was born in St. Thomas, Jamaica, and moved to Canada with his family when he was 7. He graduated from York University in Toronto after studying kinesiology and geography, intending to teach and open a community centre.
Instead, he took a job as a machine operator at Samuel Strapping, a steel plant in Scarborough, Ontario, and joined USW Local 3.
Stewart’s participation in a USW education course sparked decades of union activism. Because of his interest in health and safety, he began training other workers on proper use of overhead cranes and forklifts. That experience led him to serve on his local’s grievance committee, as a steward and as his unit’s elected vice chair.
The union noticed Stewart’s leadership skills, and in 2004, then-District 6 Director Wayne Fraser began mentoring him for the role of Staff Representative. Stewart serviced local unions in Toronto, the Durham Region and Eastern Ontario, where members worked in sectors such as steel, manufacturing, nuclear energy, service and health care.
In 2019, Stewart accepted the position of District 6 Co-ordinator, overseeing District committees while supporting arbitration cases and bargaining committees. Three years later, he took on additional responsibilities as Assistant to the Director of District 6, becoming the first Black rank-and-file member to hold a USW leadership role in Canada.
As Assistant to the Director, Stewart collaborated with staff on servicing USW members, oversaw District programs and worked with the union’s allies and USW employers. He also participated in the union’s international initiatives to build global worker solidarity and began serving on the Canadian Nuclear Workers Council—a body promoting nuclear literacy and the safe use of nuclear energy—on behalf of USW members in that industry.
Through his union activism, Stewart made the connection between workers’ rights and politics. He currently serves as Executive Vice-President of the Ontario wing of the New Democratic Party (NDP) – Canada’s only labour party co-founded by Steelworkers.
Join us 3mpowrapp ™️ for December 9th 2025 – App for Persons with Disabilities, Injured Workers, Supporters/Allies
10-12pm Tuesday Information Session with the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group!
https://facebook.com/events/s/introduction-to-3mpwr-app-webs/865468949499057
Empowering Canadians Through Inclusive Technology!
Join us for an engaging introduction to the 3mpwr App — a new accessibility-driven platform created for Injured Workers, Persons with Disabilities, and their Allies across Canada.
Built with accessibility, inclusion, and connection at its core, 3mpwr helps users navigate supports and services at both provincial and federal levels.
Presented by Lissa Beaulieu (Creator), this session will feature a walkthrough of the 3mpwr App website and a live demo of the app currently in closed beta testing.
Discover how 3mpwr is empowering communities through technology that makes connection, coordination, and accessibility easier for everyone.
Learn more: https://3mpwrapp.pages.dev
Dec 2nd – IWC
We will share the experience of the November 25th MPP lobby to repeal the discrimination against injured workers over age 65, including videos of workers’ testimonies. In addition there will be a report on the December 8 day of action, aka the “Christmas demonstration”
https://facebook.com/events/s/tuesday-information-session-gu/1132505442302760
November 2025
Nov 25 – Duty to Accommodate – Sandra Goodicks, PSAC OH&S Staff representative
https://www.facebook.com/share/1DtTbRoNua
Nov 18 – Open Discussion
It seems our message is falling on deft ears. Share your thoughts and experiences on how to talk to friends and neighbours about the failures of the system.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CwomsD3a4
November 11 – IWC – The WSIB “Surplus”: A Political Slush Fund – Chris Grawey & Bonnie Heath
In less than 10 years, the Ontario’s Workplace Safety Insurance Board went from an alleged “unfunded liability crisis” threatening the very existence of the compensation system, to a surplus in which employer premiums have been slashed and corporations gifted billions of dollars. Chris Grawey, CLW at IWC and Bonnie Heath, board member will show who paid for this using data obtained through freedom of information requests.
November 4 – Guest Anya Keefe Title: The gender gap in personal protective equipment
Description of presentation: Significant numbers of women report that their PPE does not fit properly, it is uncomfortable to wear, and the selection of women-specific PPE is inadequate. Despite evidence that anthropometric differences exist between the sexes, PPE continues to be designed for “all workers” based almost entirely on male anthropometry. This is problematic as research on the gendered and sexual division of labour – and its impact on occupational health and safety – reinforce the need to pay attention to sex and gender differences in exposures and hazards as well as the unique needs of each sex in mitigating those hazards and risks. This presentation will discuss the gender gap in PPE and highlight the challenges that women in Ontario experience with their PPE.
Brief Bio: Anya Keefe (she/her/hers)
Anya Keefe is an occupational and public health consultant with nearly 40 years of experience in occupational disease prevention, policy and research. Since 2006, she has consulted for a number of academic and research institutions, government and regulatory agencies, charitable organizations and private industry. Prior to launching her consulting practice, Anya was the Director of the Research Secretariat at WorkSafeBC, where she created and oversaw a systematic process for research, knowledge transfer and strategic initiatives. During her time at WorkSafeBC, she also gained considerable policy and public consultation experience developing occupational health and safety regulations as well as occupational disease compensation policy. Her initial career was with the BC Cancer Agency, where she performed retrospective exposure assessments for occupational epidemiological studies in British Columbia and internationally. Since 2014, she has provided pro bono assistance to workers diagnosed with occupational diseases (or their surviving spouses), helping to identify possible sources of exposure and working with them to create comprehensive occupational histories to support their claim for workers compensation. Anya has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering and a graduate degree in Occupational Hygiene, both from the University of British Columbia. She is also a formally trained chef and chocolatier.
October 2025
Greetings, Join us Tuesday October 28th at 10 AM ET.
We would like to hear from you about how we can improve our weekly zoom meetings. What do you want more of? Speakers/topics you want to return? Ideas on how can we improve?
Everyone welcome.
October 21st – Guest Paul Mason – How to best lobby your MPP
Since 2018 Paul has been at Queens Park working for NDP MPP members Sandy Shaw, Faisal Hassan and now Lise Vaugeois.
Paul Mason will take questions in a discussion of what goes on behind the scenes at Queen’s Park.
What makes an effective lobbyist, how to get an MPP’s attention and how to develop an effective media strategy.
Some useful background : https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/how-to-get-elected-1.4767140
Greetings,
You are invited to join our weekly zoom gathering on Tuesday October 14th at 10 AM ET. Guest speakers Alec Farquhar & Glenn Shore. Their presentation will be on:
Mobilizing for the compensation and prevention of occupational disease: lessons from the past and proposals for the way forward
Session description: Working people experience many risks of harm just to make a living. This includes the risk of physical and mental injuries as well as hazardous exposures which can cause occupational diseases. Overall, occupational diseases are under-compensated and prevention measures are often insufficient.
The Demers study in 2021 documented extreme under-compensation of occupational cancers in Ontario and the situation is similar across Canada and the US. Just as injured workers have mobilized to take collection action, occupational disease victims, family members and allies have mobilized for the compensation and prevention of occupational disease.
In this session Alec Farquhar and Glenn Shor will review the history of these mobilizations in Canada and in the US, the challenges to winning gains around occupational disease and proposals for the way forward. We hope to spark a conversation where session participants can contribute their own ideas on the best strategy to adopt.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1RHduFXdBb
October 7th 2025 – Peining li, a third-year Ph.D. student from the University of Waterloo
We are conducting a study that explores the experiences of physiotherapy clinics as they engage with different kinds of clients. Given the work and health focus of our research group, we are particularly interested in physiotherapy services with the MSK program of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1BDRwWbsyC
September 2025
Sept. 30th 2025 – TBD
https://www.facebook.com/share/1ANgymEdud
Sept. 23rd 2025 – Hosted by IW
To be Determined
https://www.facebook.com/share/19WemwFy4S
September 16th 2025 – Maryam Shahzad, OT Reg. (Ont.), MScOT, H.BHSc
PhD Student, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto
Maryam Shahzad is an Occupational Therapist specializing in neurological rehabilitation, working closely with individuals recovering from work-related brain injuries to support their return to work and daily life. Her clinical experience spans WSIB, short-term disability, and long-term disability contexts, providing her with first-hand insight into the challenges injured workers face in navigating complex systems. She is currently a third-year PhD student at the University of Toronto, where her research examines the facilitators and barriers to return to work following brain injury. In her talk, she will review her research and provide a specific focus on literature addressing injured worker stigma as a barrier, highlighting how it manifests in workplaces, compensation systems, and healthcare, and how it affects recovery, dignity, identity, and economic security. Her goal is to foster a conversation on recognizing and addressing stigma as part of improving outcomes and advocacy for injured workers.
https://www.facebook.com/share/17XdPG9rfP
September 9th 2025
Greetings,
Please join us on Tuesday September 9th at 10 AM for our first gathering after the summer break hosted by the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group.
We want to hear from you in this initial session, including:
– Bring your beef/share your story
– Updates from the summer
– Questions about what you would like to see in future sessions.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1BFhe48eQY/https://www.facebook.com/share/1BFhe48eQY/
June 2025
June 24 – Our last session before summer break. What would you like to see coming in our Fall series? Your suggestions are most welcome.
June 17 – Sandra Goodicks – PSAC OH&S staff representative – will return by popular demand to look at the appeal processes and how to build your case for appeal.
June 10 – Hosted by IWC – The presentation will focus on WSIB psych-related policies. Specifically, the entitlement criteria, the legal tests for causation, limitations and critiques of the policies, and statistics on decision/appeal outcomes.
June 3rd – Guest speaker Glenn Shor, long term activist in California around OH&S and WC and a lecturer at University of California at Berkeley will share info from south of the border. He will concentrate on their program studying job related fatalities and a little about data sources on OSH. And also speak about Trumps cuts to NIOSH and other OSH effects.
May 2025
May 27 – Focus on Injured Workers Day, June 1st. This is the first year that June 1st has been proclaimed by the Ontario Legislature as an ‘official” day every year
May 20 – Rohini Peris, President & CEO – Environmental Health Association of Québec (ASEQ-EHAQ)
The workshop, “Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS),” will explore the biological, social, and legal dimensions of this increasingly prevalent disability in Canada. Despite over one million Canadians being diagnosed with MCS, it remains highly neglected, leading to bias, discrimination, and barriers to inclusion. This session will address accommodation measures and strategies to promote equity and accessibility for individuals with MCS.
May 13 – Hosted by IWC – Reports from the Day of Mourning Ceremonies: Thunder Bay, Toronto, York Region, and more…
And
Moving on to Injured Workers DAY, June 1st: report from Toronto organizing committee, Thunder Bay, Peterborough event, and more…
Join us on Tuesday, May 6 at 10 AM ET for our regular Tuesday morning gathering hosted by the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recently had its 32nd Session and issued its observations on the rights of persons with disabilities in Canada. Jenny Tang, a long-time injured worker and an activist, spoke at the Geneva session. Please join us to hear more about this international treat.
April 2025
Join us on Tuesday, April 29 at 10 AM ET for our regular Tuesday morning gathering hosted by the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group.
This week our focus is on the appeal processes and how to navigate them.
Our guest speaker will be Sandra Goodicks who is the PSAC OH&S staff representative and is active with our local group.
April 22 – focus on the Day of Mourning for Workers Killed, Injured or made Ill in the workplace
This Tuesday, April 15, our Guest speaker will be John Oudyk MSc CIH ROH, Occupational Hygienist, Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers
The title of John’s talk is – How does an occupational hygienist evaluate workplace exposures?
Occupational hygienists are a health & safety discipline devoted to assessing and controlling workplace exposures. John Oudyk has worked as a hygienist for 45 years. During this session he’ll share some of the “tricks of the trade” and also some stories based on his years of working as a hygienist. He’ll also discuss the relevance of hygiene measurements in determining the work-relatedness of occupational diseases and discuss any personal exposure issues you’re interested in.
TBIW Zoom gathering – Tuesday April 8 – Age discrimination against injured workers
Greetings,
Join us on Tuesday, April 8 at 10 AM ET for our regular Tuesday morning gathering hosted by the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group.
This week, our friends at Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) will provide more information about age discrimination against injured workers.
“Ontario government lawyer justifies age discrimination against injured workers”: IWC is involved in a legal challenge against age discrimination of injured workers not receiving WSIB benefits past age 65. Chris Grawey will share and critique the most recent legal opinion of the Government of Ontario. He will also outline the various other issues faced by workers approaching age 65 and welcome your input in the fight back.
Join us on Tuesday, April 1 at 10 AM ET for our regular Tuesday morning gathering hosted by the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group for a return engagement with Chantel Rose from the Ontario Office of the Worker Advisor (OWA).
Last week’s session had lots of questions and there was not enough time to handle them all. Chantel will share information about the services at the OWA and how they can help injured workers in their appeals with the WSIB. They will also bring us up to date on their current practices and procedures.
March 2025
March 25 – We will have a guest from the Ontario Office of the Worker Advisor who will share information about their services and how they can help injured workers in their appeals with the WSIB. They will also bring us up to date on their current practices and procedures.
March 18 – Peter Smith, President, Institute for Work & Health. Title: The psychosocial work environment: what is it, why is it important, how is it measured?
The psychosocial work environment is getting increasing attention within the context of health and safety and return to work. However, the psychosocial environment refers to many different dimensions of work. In this presentation, Peter Smith from the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto, will provide an overview of the different dimensions that contribute to the psychosocial work environment; the immediate, short-term and long-term impacts that the psychosocial work environment can have on health; and approaches to modifying the psychosocial work environment. He will also provide recommendations on available measures to assess and help improve the psychosocial environment available to workplace parties
Please join us on Tuesday, March 11 at 10 am for our weekly gathering hosted by the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group.
Part one: a conversation about Trump tariffs and what they may cause to workers and injured workers in Canada.
Guest Katherine Scott – researcher from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has agreed to be part of a QA session with us.
Part two: Chris Grawey to present his FOI information showing NEL expenditures have much diminished over time and more.
Part three: Liz will share her tribute for Willy Noiles.
Please join us on Tuesday, March 4 at 10 am for our weekly gathering hosted by the Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group.
Following up from our recent provincial election, our message is Don’t Agonize – Organize. Come join us to share your thoughts and dreams of how best to organize.
February 2025
February 25 – Probono Law School students
As part of our partnership with Probono Canada and the Lakehead University Law School, Ben & Madeline will present the findings of their research into workers compensation systems in Ontario which included interviews with 6 injured workers in Thunder Bay.
February 18 – Maureen Haan – President & CEO of Canadian Council on Rehabilitation & Work (CCRW). https://ccrw.org/about-us/
Topic: Employment for people with disabilities in Canada: national initiatives in changing the landscape for equitable and meaningful employment.
February 11 – Hosted by the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) – Provincial Election Action Planning
In this session we will talk about how to raise issues important to us during an election and also go over the logistics of how to exercise your right to vote (e.g. advance voting, mail in ballots, getting a ride to the polls).”
February 11 – Hosted by the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC)
February 4 – We will be joined by members of the CUPE Ontario (Canadian Union of Public Employees) who are active as part of their union’s Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) and Injured Worker Advocacy Committees (IWAC).
CUPE and ONIWG have been meeting to share information and build connections that can strengthen our fight for a better workers compensation system.
January 2025
Our weekly Thunder Bay Injured Worker’s session on January 28th at 10 am will be a little different. For the first hour we will focus on the upcoming provincial election in Ontario and how to use the opportunity to get our issues into the public discourse.
AND THEN
From 11 am – 12 noon, we are encouraging everyone to then join the IWH session on mental health of injured workers.
January 21st at 10 AM – We will have two members of the OPSEU Disability Rights Caucus join us the share their experiences fighting for their rights, personally and collectively.
Tracey Ann has a story to share about her journey as a person with a disability.
The Human Rights code isn’t optional and through spit and grit I’m getting there but it wasn’t easy it’s been the fight of my life.
Not just any journey but the adventure of seeking justice within the four pillars of my employer with the profound support from Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the Disability Rights Caucus (DRC).
Greg will share info on formation of the Disability Rights Caucus and a few of our early successes. Mostly never ending lobbying and imaginative protest
On Tuesday January 14th at 10 AM, our first zoom session of 2025 will focus on Claims Suppression in Workers Comp.
Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) will host a discussion that includes the experiences of injured workers, legal advocates and researchers.
Background information is included below which includes the recent paper by Paul Petrie from BC, Experience Rating, Clams Suppression, and Disability Management: Workers Compensation at the Crossroads and the article in the Toronto Star – Tens of Thousands of Workplace injuries ‘in limbo”.
Please join us as we kick off the 2025 season.
2024
December 2024
Dec 17 – Siobhán Vipond, Executive Vice President, Canadian Labour Congress
Dec 10 – Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic – review of the WSIB Annual Report
Dec 3 – Opioid use by injured workers (Nancy Carnide, IWH; Jeavana Sritharan; Wayne Harris, ONIWG)
The opioid crisis has had a devastating impact on so many in our country, including workers. To date, there has been limited evidence available on the connections of opioid-related harms to the workplace here in Canada.
Nancy Carnide and Jeavana Sritharan will present the results from a collaborative project between the Institute for Work & Health and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre, aimed at understanding the occupational groups at highest risk for opioid-related harms among a cohort of injured workers in Ontario. They will discuss the potential ways in which the workplace may be contributing to these harms, including the role of work-related injuries, but also the ways in which the workplace and other relevant parties may be able to contribute to reducing these harms among workers. They will also discuss some potential future research directions in this area and are interested to hear from workers about their own ideas of what research is needed on this topic.
Nancy Carnide is a Scientist at the Institute for Work & Health and Assistant Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
Jeavana Sritharan is a Scientist at the Occupational Cancer Research Centre at Ontario Health and Assistant Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
November 2024
November 26th – 10AM via ZOOM – Professor Janet Mclaughlin, Wilfrid Laurier University and Stephanie Mayell, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto | Department of Anthropology will share some of their research with migrant workers and the Migrant Worker Health Project.
Drawing on two decades of research, clinical and legal encounters with migrant workers, the aim of the Migrant Worker Health Project is to provide evidence-based educational initiatives that describe these barriers to healthcare and service providers, and facilitate collaborative identification of strategies to increase these workers’ access to healthcare services and workers’ compensation.
Tuesday November 19th at 10 AM ET. Last week, our guests from the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic focused on Political Action, watching and discussing the video – Their Only Power Was Moral – and shared some preliminary plans for the annual Christmas Demonstrations on December 9th.
This week, we will focus on Taking Action, and ask everyone a couple of questions. Something like:
1) name, location, any news?
2) What I want to do to support the December 9th action?
3) What I need help with to accomplish this? Please bring your questions and comments.
November 12 – 10AM Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic – Political Action – the video – Their Only Power Was Moral.
November 5 – 10AM Mary Lloyd, President of the Pictou County Injured Workers’ Association will discuss the recent review of the workers compensation system in Nova Scotia.
Mary Lloyd, President of the Pictou County Injured Workers’ Association will discuss the recent review of the workers compensation system in Nova Scotia.
She plans on identifying the main recommendations of the committee and addressing her concerns about the Review Committee being overly influenced by Workers’ Compensation Board staff and Board of Director members.
October 2024
Tuesday October 29th at 10 AM ET. Guest speaker Lauren Reynolds, a PhD Student in the Clinical Psychology Program at Lakehead University, will share some of their findings from their recent study on how injured workers experience stigma following injury or disease.
She will be speaking to common themes among stigma experiences of injured workers, based on semi-structured interviews, with the hope of shedding light on the harmful impact of stigma towards injured workers.
A salient theme, “structural mechanisms of control,” where injured workers are disempowered by systems that control their return to work, access to healthcare, and financial stability, will be highlighted.
Please bring your questions and comments.
October 22 @ 10 AM ET Our guest will be Kendal McKinney who will gather your questions, comments and feedback in regard to a new Workers Compensation Act, called the Meredith Act, acknowledging the work of Sir William Meredith, the “father” of workers compensation in Canada.
We are working with the Official opposition in Ontario to introduce the Meredith Act in the Ontario Legislature.
Tuesday October 15th at 10 AM ET. Our guest will be Faraz Shahidi – Scientist at the Institute for Work & Health presenting:
Precarious employment has become more common in the Canadian labour market. In this presentation, Faraz Vahid Shahidi will examine the consequences of precarious employment for health and safety at work.
Drawing on compensation claims data from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, he asks whether workers exposed to precarious employment – such as temporary, part-time, and low-wage jobs – are more likely to experience an occupational injury or illness.
He also examines the impact of precarious employment on the workplace transmission of COVID-19.
Please bring your questions and comments.
October 8th at 10 AM ET. Our guest will be John McKinnon from Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic. He will be presenting on how the WSIB deals with recurring injuries:
What happened?
Pre-existing condition, aggravation, recurrence or new injury?
Navigating the workers compensation process if you were not in perfect condition before your last injury.
Please bring your questions and comments.
October 1st at 10 AM ET. Kendal introduced us to the draft Meredith Act and walked us through some of the sections. This Act is intended to replace the existing Workplace Safety & Insurance Act (WSIA).
Kendal McKinney will be returning next week as our guest speaker and he will share some more information about the draft Meredith Act. (copy attached).
He will focus on the following sections:
– Governance
– Duties of the Commission
– Occupational Disease
– Definitions.
Please bring your questions and comments on the document.
September 2024
September 24th at 10 AM. Kendal McKinney will be our guest speaker and he will share some information about the draft Meredith Act. (copy attached). The Meredith Act builds on the Platform for Change we reviewed together a couple of years ago.
Last week, as we were gathering your input regarding sessions that you might be interested in, few suggestions were:
– How to connect with each other, building support and co-operation?
– How can we reach people who haven’t lived “in our shoes”?
– How do we organise ourselves?
We will use these questions for our focus tomorrow, Tuesday September 17th at 10 AM ET. We look forward to a lively conversation as always!
We hope everyone enjoyed their summer! IWC will be taking the lead for the session on Tuesday, September 10th and will begin by looking at the age 65 press conference that was held in June. We will also gather your input regarding sessions that you might be interested in attending over the next few months. We look forward to a lively conversation as always!
June 2024
On Tuesday June 25, our guest will be Heather Scott Marshal. This will be the last session before the summer break.
Dr. Heather Scott-Marshall is the President and Scientific Director of Mission Research, a boutique research firm specializing in advanced scientific methodologies. She holds a PhD in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences from the University of Toronto, where she is also an Adjunct Professor. Heather’s academic research focuses on how social and economic systems influence exposures to work-related stressors and contribute to social gradients in health. Her research program has received support from major funding initiatives, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)’s Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury (RAACWI), to investigate the broad social and economic consequences associated with work injuries. Dr. Scott-Marshall has published research results in leading scientific journals, including the Canadian Journal of Public Health, Social Science & Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, Social Indicators Research, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and International Journal of Health Services.
Tuesday June 11th at 10 am – 12 noon ET.
Our friends at IWC will host the session.
Tuesday June 4th at 10 am – 12 noon ET.
We will start off with a debrief from Injured Workers Day and have an open discussion.
Everyone welcome
May 2024
May 28 10AM-12PM – Return to work coordinators – Pam Hopwood is a PhD student supervised by Dr. Ellen MacEachen at the University of Waterloo.
She will present findings related to two papers about RTW coordination, both of which draw on data from a research study led by Ellen MacEachen. First, she will discuss how a standpoint approach enhances our ability to understand how issues can be viewed from multiple perspectives, using the example of the role of Unions in RTW. The position of coordinators in relation to the issue of union involvement in RTW impacts their perspectives of the objectives of RTW negotiation, and how union coordinators helped or hindered the RTW process. Second, she will discuss the discourses adopted by RTW coordinators’ as they spoke about their roles in relation to workers, problematizing the language used to describe and frame their roles.
May 21st – 10AM-12PM We are inviting you to share your creativity and imagine the possibilities of a workers compensation system that truly supports you if and when you need it. What would your life look like? What would be different?
Join us and help create a vision worth fighting for !
May 14 – 10AM-12PM Our guest Pennee Koczka Iaboni (OFL Director of Health, Safety & Environment) will be delivering an educational session named “Build Your Power”. In this session, participants will learn about the power of storytelling and its use in engaging and mobilizing allies and community partners; and, organizing techniques that can be used to build a foundation for future mobilization and action. We will be using it to interact and build ideas (as well as the chat, in case people cannot access the Jam Board)!
May 7 – 10AM-12PM Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic – “IWC will share some visuals from its library to document the proud history of Injured Workers’ Day and to celebrate the inspiration of injured worker activists.”
April 2024
April 30 – 10AM-12PM Via ZOOM
Harry Glasbeek – Law Professor at York University (retired) – (I have now sat in on several of your zoom meetings. I have been moved by the stories of brave, often, frustrating struggles that injured people have to fight in order to get even a modicum of social justice. I would like to present an argument that the workers’ compensation scheme is designed to force you to struggle. Its purpose, despite the way it presents itself, is not to look after hurt workers. To the contrary: it is designed to contain not only workers’ demands for monetary compensation but also to contain their just demands for greater autonomy over their lives)
April 23 – 10AM-12PM Immigrant workers’ experiences of racism and discrimination following a work injury
Through interviews with 17 racialized immigrant workers, we examined immigrants’ experience of navigating different systems for access to benefits following a work injury. We specifically explore how racism and discrimination shaped their work disability experience from exploitative employer strategies that were driven by their vulnerable circumstances (e.g., language barriers), employer and workers’ compensation system practices that were used to disempower workers and complicated their return to work, as well as the perceived differences in treatment that workers described when compared to their Canadian-born counterparts.
Bio:
Dr. Sonja Senthanar is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. Her program of research examines the work and health inequities of workers who experience conditions of marginalization including immigrant and racialized workers, precarious workers, geographically isolated workers and at the intersections of sex and gender of these groups. Particularly, she examines systemic challenges to securing safe and decent work, work disability and compensation system experience following a work-related injury/illness, and how these relationships change within the context of new forms of work. She obtained her PhD in Public Health at the University of Waterloo in 2019 where her dissertation explored the employment integration experience of Syrian refugee women using a feminist grounded approach.
April 16th 10AM-12PM – Heather Scott Marshall
April 9th 10AM-12PM Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic
Tuesday April 2nd, we celebrate 40 years of activism with the Thunder Bay & Dist. Injured Workers Support Group (TBIW) with two special events:
10 AM – on zoom
We will share some of the history of the TBIW from the early days in the 1980’s, include some of the many memories, what we have done (and continue to do), how we work together and some connections into our community.
We will then bring us into 2024 with our part of the ONIWG Community Outreach Initiative, reflecting on our Community Meeting on Feb 1st and share some of the ideas for more community gatherings across Ontario.
Part 2: 6:30 PM – hybrid, in person and on zoom – Everyone welcome !
Thunder Bay & Dist. Injured Workers Support Group AGM and Board meeting will be held this coming Tuesday April 2nd at 6:30 pm.
The AGM will begin at 6:30 pm followed by a short celebration of our 40th anniversary and then the April Board meeting.
PLEASE NOTE:THE MEETINGS WILL BE HELD IN PERSON AT THE OPSEU OFFICE AT 326 MEMORIAL AVE (beside the Merla-Mae restaurant) AND ON ZOOM FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND IN PERSON.
Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: TBDIWSG AGM & Board Meeting – Recognizing our 40th Anniversary
Time: Apr 2, 2024 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Please try to come out and join us.
March 2024
March 26 10AM-12PM Self-employed Personal Care Workers and Occupational Health Conditions
Pam Hopwood is a PhD student supervised by Dr. Ellen MacEachen at the University of Waterloo.
Self-employed Personal Care workers: My thesis research is focused on self-employed women performing personal care work, who use websites or apps to find jobs. As self-employed workers, these women are not automatically covered by workers’ compensation – yet “Assisting occupations in support of health services” have some of the highest injury rates and lost-time claims in the province. I will share early findings from interviews with 20 women who were self-employed and performed personal care work, focusing on their occupational health and work conditions and their perspectives of risk.
After the presentation the group will be invited to ask questions or comment on the presentation, including sharing thoughts on workers’ compensation coverage and other occupational health considerations, the increasing prevalence of self-employment, and the role of the health care workforce in an aging population.
March 19 – 10AM – 12PM Int. Day of Mourning for Workers Killed or Injured on the Job
As you know, April 28th is the Int. Day of Mourning for Workers Killed or Injured on the Job. As we approach this year’s events, we will explore how injured workers are involved in the ceremonies taking place around the province and how we can use the opportunity to build to June 1st, Injured Workers’ Day (and beyond).
As you may know, at the OFL Convention last November, they passed a resolution to support June 1st big time this year.
Join in to hear what others are doing and share some of your thoughts.
March 12 10AM-12PM How best to reach out to injured workers, families, and allies?
The ONIWIG outreach committee will consult on the upcoming series of community meetings across Ontario. We’ll explore how best to reach out to injured workers, families, and allies, and how to make the outreach successful (led by Kathrin Furniss and Wayne Harris)
As well, David Newberry will lead a session on medical evidence and the appeals process.
March 5th 2024 10AM-12PM Lauren Reynolds, part of the research team at Lakehead University in partnership with the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance, exploring the effects of stigma for injured and ill workers.
Please see the article below from the Chronicle Journal on the project.
Exploring the stigma faced by injured workers
February 2024
In recognition of International RSI Day (Feb 28/29) we want to hear from you about your experiences with repetitive strain injury.
Were you exposed to repetitive tasks at work? Did your workplace injury lead to further injuries? How have you dealt with RSI?
Join us on Tuesday February 27th at 10 am to share your experiences and hear from others.
Feb. 20 – Kevin Hedges, occupational hygienist working with OHCOW will be presenting.
Feb. 13 – Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic will be presenting.
Feb. 6 – the Occupational Disease Reform Alliance (ODRA) will be presenting.
January 2024
Tuesday January 30 – Community Building as part of Research Partnerships. Guest speakers – Marion Endicott & Steve Mantis
A new book – Who Killed Sir William?https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000279874990/Marion-Endicott-and-Steve-Mantis-Who-Killed-Sir-William%3F
In 1910, Sir William Meredith led a Royal Commission to investigate the injury, death, and permanent disability of workers. In response to his findings, Meredith helped introduce a new system of compensation for injured and disabled workers that emphasized their rights and well-being. But today, Sir William’s principles appear to be dead: injured and disabled workers often end up living in poverty and are viewed with stigma by those who should be providing them with service.
What happened? How can we find out the experiences and needs of injured and disabled workers, and how can the necessary changes be put into action?
To answer such questions, the Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury (RAACWI), a community-based research initiative that brought advocates, injured workers, and academics together, was formed. Who Killed Sir William? Provides an engaging look at RAACWI’s eight years of groundbreaking work and what a successful community-academia partnership looks like to inform and inspire.
Tuesday January 23 at 10 AM ET. Dorothy Wigmore will be our guest speaker. Dorothy is a long-time health and safety activist and a former injured worker. She’s trained and worked as an occupational hygienist, ergonomist and stress specialist.
Tuesday’s Topic: Cleaning — and disinfecting when necessary — should not harm people. Too many products do. You’ll find out about the possible health effects and the good options available, whether the products are used in workplaces, homes or the community. Bring examples of specific products that we can check out.
Dorothy Wigmore is a long-time health and safety activist and a former injured worker. She’s trained and worked as an occupational hygienist, ergonomist and stress specialist — all of which means she’s committed to protecting workers from job-related health hazards. She’s used that training in Canada, the US and Mozambique, working in a variety of organisations.
During the pandemic, Dorothy’s done a lot of work about “transmission truth” — the virus is in the air, so that’s what we need to clean. As a result, she rants regularly about the public health mantras to “wash your hands” and “clean and disinfect frequently-touched surfaces”, and talks about the hazards that go with those recommendations.
These days, she lives in Kingston Ontario and works on contract with the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) on their projects about temporary foreign workers and rubber workers.
Tuesday January 16 at 10 AM ET will be a tribute to Ron Ellis led by our friends at IWC and Alec Farquhar.
Ron died in December 2023.
At this Tuesday session, we’ll discuss Ron’s contribution to justice for injured workers and how best to carry his vision forward.
· Prior to 1985, all appeals of WCB decisions were heard by Appeals Commissioners within the WCB. This meant that there was no recourse for injured workers outside WCB. One of the main demands raised by the injured worker movement during the 1970s and early 1980s was for the right of appeal to an independent appeals tribunal.
· In 1985, the Bill 101 amendments created the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal (WCAT). Ron Ellis was appointed as the founding Chair.
· Ron believed that injured workers had the right to a high quality, independent review of their cases. He created a tribunal that strived to do this. When he stood up for WCAT against appointments decisions made by the Mike Harris government in 1997, he was replaced as Chair. After that, he dedicated himself to the struggle for truly independent and expert tribunals in Ontario, including his activism with Tribunal Watch Ontario.
We are excited to bring you our first zoom session of the year on Tuesday January 9 at 10 AM ET.
Our focus will be on Community Building and Community Actions. Your thoughts, hopes and dreams are welcome.
Join in! Everyone welcome.
All the best for 2024.
2023
December 2023
We are excited to bring you our last zoom session of the year on Tuesday December 19 at 10 AM.
Our focus will be on Community Building and Community Actions. Your thoughts, hopes and dreams are welcome.
Join in! Everyone welcome.
Best of the season to you all!
December 12th 10AM-12PM Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic will lead this week’s session including:
1) Update on Bill 149: super cost of living protection or super political hype?
2) Skit on “compensationese language”
3) Report back from December 11 actions/demonstrations (Windsor, Thunder Bay, Toronto)
4) New year resolutions – “add yours today”
December 5th 10AM-12PM Our focus is on Local Organizing.
ONIWG in partnership with ODRA has created a plan to do community outreach meetings in 25 cities over the next 2 years to involve more injured and ill workers, their families and our allies. We will hear more on the plan and then hear from folks in Windsor who will pilot the first community meeting next week.
And we will continue the discussions around our provincial Day of Action taking place Monday, December 11th.
November 2023
November 28th 10AM-12PM Claims Suppression in Ontario.
An ONIWG committee has been meeting with the WSIB for over a year to raise the issue of claims suppression and learn how they deal with it. As part of our committee, Stephanie Premji from McMaster Univ. is starting a research project to continue understanding workers’ experiences with claims suppression and then moving to action.
November 21st 2023 10AM-12PM. Poverty of injured workers after retirement.
Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic will focus on what happens after aged 65. Special guest Prof. Ellen MacEachen will share some of the finding from her recent research on this issue.
November 14th 2023 10AM-12PM A focus on organizing.
Using the recent presentation by Marshall Ganz, we will engage participants in sharing their experiences with organizing around “Justice for Injured Workers”. Below is a link to the video of the presentation by Marshall Ganz.
November 7th, 2023 10AM-12PM Presenter: Lynn Cooper Director of Research and Education for the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance
This presentation will include a discussion about:
– Chronic pain and how it can impact your life.
– Recognizing the stigma experienced by injured workers living with chronic pain.
– Creating your pain management plan.
– Resources, including the Power Over Pain Portal, that can help you learn about your pain and manage it more effectively to support you in living your best life.
The presentation will be followed by questions, answers, sharing and discussion.
October 2023
We have a special event planned for Tuesday October 31st at 10 AM ET to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Sir William’s Report to the Ontario legislature.
A Serious Anniversary on Halloween: 110 years of workers’ compensation law
On October 31st, while our children and grandchildren trick or treat, injured and ill workers will be remembering Chief Justice William Meredith’s report to the Ontario Legislature that created our workers’ compensation system. This was the first piece of social legislature, preceding Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, social security, and other progressive measures. We remember with pride and mourn the fact that very sadly, the tide has turned against us today. Meredith tabled his report on October 31, 1913.
https://www.worksafebc.com/en/resources/about-us/reports/meredith-report?lang=en
October 24th 2023 10AM-12PM Andrew Bome, Staff Lawyer at the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic will be our guest speaker on a fair hearing process at the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB), the failure of the WSIB to deliver a fair hearing process and how this all ties in to the recent consultation on the hearing process at the WSIB.
October 17th 2023 10AM-12PM focus on what happens to injured workers in retirement age when they have been receiving workers compensation benefits. This session follows up from the research presented to the zoom session last May by Prof. Ellen MacEachen on retirement pension poverty among injured workers.
Karl Crevar from ONIWG and John McKinnon and Orlando Buonastella from Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic will identify some of the legislation and policies that lead to poverty among pension age injured workers and discuss the steps we could take to address this injustice.
October 10th 2023 10AM-12PM -WSIB & KPMG: a toxic combination for injured workers with Andy LaDouceur, United Steelworkers District 6WSIB & KPMG: a toxic combination for injured workers with Andy LaDouceur, United Steelworkers District 6
October 3rd 2023 10AM-12PM Traumatic Mental Stress Guest Speaker Eric DePoe
Eric DePoe recently won an important WSIAT decision on Traumatic Mental Stress. It may change the landscape for mental stress claims and also opens a new avenue for Chronic Mental Stress claims. This is Decision 1741/21, which is attached for your information.
September 2023
September 26 – 10AM – 12PM ET – Lissa Beaulieu will be our guide looking at social media and how we can advance our issues using various social media platforms.
Kevin Jones will be providing insight on his experiences with Activism.
September 19 – 10AM-12PM How to file a Freedom of Information Request.
Chris Grawey will take us thru the process looking at the recently released 2022 Annual Report from the WSIB. Attached is the report. Take a look in advance of the session if possible.
September 12 – Meet and Greet – catch up from the summer
Each session will wrap up with a focus on how we can take action on the topics of discussion.
We are eager to hear any thoughts for guest speakers and topics to cover this Fall.
June 2023
Tuesday, June 13th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario Green Party will discuss the Green Party’s position on the WSIB
Tuesday, June 6th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Lissa Beaulieu will lead us in social media techniques
May 2023
Tuesday, May 30th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM We are doing a special session “#InjuredWorkersDay – Past and Present.” Our guest will be from the ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups and the Injured Workers /community Legal Clinic. We are building up to June 1st, Injured Worker Day.
Some of the #40Years40Stories have been shared at these links:
https://injuredworkersorganize.ca
Everyone welcome. Please join us tomorrow and bring your families as well.
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Ian Thompson, a member of the WSIAT who will talk about the workings of the WSIAT
Tuesday, May 16th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Injured Workers and their family members share their stories.
Tuesday, May 9th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Orlando Buonastella & John McKinnon from IWC will be our guest speakers. Topics will include:
1) Update on KPMG/WSIB attack on appeal rights: complaint to Ombudsman, skit by Malingerers, appeal to send messages to Ombudsman.
2) Preparation for IW day: John McKinnon for Toronto events update, + update the Thunder Bay events?
Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Our guest will be MPP Lise Vaugeois – NDP – WSIB & Injured Worker critic in the Ontario Parliament.
Lise will share some of the priorities of the official opposition and explore how we can work together to improve the lives of workers in Ontario and beyond.
April 2023
Tuesday, April 25th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Guest Speaker: Jamie West MPP for Sudbury, NDP Labour Critic
Jamie will share some of the priorities of the official opposition and explore how we can work together to improve the lives of workers in Ontario and beyond.
Tuesday, April 18th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Do you know what may happen at the WSIB Appeals level? WSIB is planning big changes in the appeal process that can make it harder for workers to achieve their rights. Join us this to learn more and to learn what you can do about it.
Tuesday, April 11th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM hosted by Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC), our guest will be Professor Emeritus Robert Storey, recently retired from the School of Labour
Studies at McMaster U. Robert has studied Workers Compensation and the Injured Workers Movement for over two decades and will share some of his thoughts with a view of building for the future.
https://injuredworkersonline.org/workers-compensation/history/injured-workers-history-project
https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/38699/35107
Tuesday, April 4th at 10 AM, we welcome Sean McFarling, General Counsel, LiUNA (Labourers Union) and worker representative on the Ontario WSIB Board of Directors.
Sean will speak about:
Intro (both as a lawyer and WSIB Board member)
Balancing fiduciary duty as a board member vs. being an advocate for workers rights – (both the limits and advantages from my experience)
Examples: Surplus distribution, Durations, Claim Suppression & Health and Safety Initiatives.
Concluding thoughts on Systemic Issues
March 2023
Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Guest Speaker Vicki Kristman – EPID@Work
Dr. Vicki Kristman will present some preliminary thoughts for a new study titled the “Northwestern Ontario Workplace and Worker Health Study” with the objective of understanding health, particularly mental health, and associated factors in order to develop and test workplace interventions. She is seeking input on what factors to measure that would provide important information for workplaces and workers. In particular, she would like to hear what injured workers consider important and helpful information to collect for an injured worker specific part of the study that may be used to maintain or improve injured workers’ mental health.
https://www.iwh.on.ca/people/vicki-kristman
https://www.lakeheadu.ca/https%3A//www.lakeheadu.ca/centre/epid?page=10
Tuesday, March 21st at 10 AM, we welcome Janice Folk-Dawson, Executive Vice President of the OFL, to speak to issues that impact injured and ill workers.
Tuesday, March 14th, 2023 at 10:00 AM Orlando Buonastella and Ellen MacEachen will talk about the situation of injured workers in their retirement years (age 65+).
MacEachen will share recent research on the WSIB’s “Loss of Retirement Income” plan, the logic that prompted this plan and some of the consequences of it for workers. Buonastella will provide comments how the WSIB’s Loss of Retirement Income plan affects other benefits and share some broader reflections on the big picture, including whether this retirement plan fits into principles of just compensation.
Tuesday, March 7th, 2023 at 10:00AM
“Research in the field of occupational health has consistently found evidence of racial inequities, with workers of colour facing more frequent, severe, and disabling injury and illness when compared to white workers.
In this presentation, Dr. Arif Jetha and Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi from the Institute for Work & Health describe findings from a recent systematic review of literature examining racial inequities in the return-to-work (RTW) process. They synthesize existing evidence which has focused on racial and ethnic inequities in the re-integration of injured or ill workers. They also discuss opportunities to address obstacles faced by workers of colour in RTW and provide recommendations for future research.” Arif Jetha PhD
Scientist, Institute for Work & Health Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
February 2023
Tuesday Morning session will be at 10 am on February 28th. The Session is Human Rights for Injured Workers.
Topics include:
· Overview of the Ontario Human Rights Code
· Current dysfunction of the Human Rights Tribunal
· Accommodation of disability under the Code
· How the Code is different from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act when injured workers return to work
· Does the Code apply to decisions and actions of the WSIB?
Guest Speaker Brian Cook is a former Vice-Chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Tribunal and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Before his work as an adjudicator, he worked in the legal clinic system representing injured workers. He is currently the Co-ordinator of Tribunal Watch Ontario.
Everyone is welcome.
Please contact us at tbiwsg@gmail.com for more information
Tuesday, February 21st, 2023 at 10:00 AM What are the factors that influence the process of rehabilitation for older workers?
Our guest speaker will be Jessika Audet. She is an occupational therapist who has been involved in the rehabilitation, return, and stay at work process of workers having suffered an occupational injury for more than 12 years. She is currently working on her doctorates project concerning the rehabilitation, return, and stay at work process of aging workers, under the directorial supervision of Alexandra Lecours, OT, PhD, at the University of Québec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR).”
Considering the current labor shortage, aging and experienced workers are an important resource. However, when aging workers suffer an occupational injury, the duration of disability and the difficulty in returning to work increase with age. This begs to question, what are the factors that influence the process of rehabilitation, return, and stay at work of aging workers who have suffered an occupational injury?
January 2023
Tuesday, January 31st, 2023 at 10:00 AM Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal joining us to talk more about the Immigrant / Migrant Workers Issues.
He is active with the Migrant Alliance and personal experience fighting for his rights in Canada.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Tuesday, January 24th, 2023 at 10:00 AM Emmanuelle Lopez – Bastos, Human Rights, Equity & Diversity Coordinator UFCW Canada – United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Strengthening Disability Inclusive Workplaces Through a Union Approach
Results from the 2022 UFCW Canada Union Membership Questionnaire on Disability Inclusion
Tuesday, January 17th, 2023 at 10:00 AM Anne Hudson – School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal
Framing the Care of Injured Workers : An Empirical Four-Jurisdictional Compassion of Workers Compensation Boards Healthcare Policies
The objective of this study was to explore how workers compensation policies related to healthcare provision for workers with musculoskeletal injuries can affect the delivery and trajectories of care for injured workers. The principal research question was : What are the different ways in which workers compensation (WC) policies inform and transform the practices of healthcare providers (HCPs) caring for Injured Workers?
TUESDAY, January 10th, 2023 at 10:00 AM Our first Tuesdays Injured Worker Session for the New Year will be led by IWC and Group.
We will reflect on the past years issues and happening as we move into 2023! We look forward to seeing everyone!
2022
June 2022
June 21 – Our guest this week is Randy Robinson, Ontario director for the Canadian Centre for Policy and Alternatives (CCPA). Randy will be speaking on the economics of poverty and the impact of the re-election of Doug Ford for those in poverty.
June 14 – Chris Grawey and Kathrin Furniss, IWC – Temporary Employment Agency rate setting
Our guests this week are Chris Grawey and Kathrin Furniss from IWC. They will talk to us about Temporary Employment Agency rate setting at the WSIB. Temp Agencies have long been problematic, often paying lower WSIB rates than the companies where they send workers. This creates an incentive to contract out dangerous work, among other problems. There is a consultation happening now where we can push for some long needed changes. Join us to talk about it!
May 2022
May 24 -David Newberry from IWC who will be teaching us tips with using social media. He will be giving us some hands-on practice with some exercises. Everyone is welcome!
May 17 – Monia Kosciejew and Jody Jones, OFL – Prevention Link and Accommodation Law workshop
The Ontario Federation of Labour’s project, “Prevention Link” began as the WCB Training Project in 1990. It has undergone a few name changes in the last 30+ years, but what hasn’t changed is our goal of improving the well-being of Ontario’s most vulnerable workers, including injured workers, young workers and those that are new to working in Ontario.
We will be joining you today to discuss the training that we typically do in person, show you how we’ve adapted it for online learning and to offer the ONIWG group the opportunity to participate in our online workshop, “Principles of Accommodation Law”.
May 3 – Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario
April 2022
TUESDAY, APR 26, 10-12: Jim Brophy and Margaret Keith have written a book about violence in the healthcare workplaces and will be speaking to it tomorrow.
Apr 19 – Melissa Palermo and Natasha Luckhardt, OFL – How to tell and amplify your story
Melissa Palermo (Director of Communications) and Natasha Luckhardt (Director of Health, Safety and Environment) from the Ontario Federation of Labour will lead a dynamic and interactive workshop on how to tell and amplify your story to compel change around health and safety and workplace injury or disease.
Apr 12 – Lois Cromarty, Northumberland Community Legal Clinic
Our guest is Orlando’s hero, Lois Cromarty, who works for a sister legal clinic (Northumberland Community Legal Clinic) and is one of the most knowledgeable worker reps in the Province. Also a long-time supporter of ONIWG and the IW movement. She recently received the prestigious Sydney Linden award. (She is probably blushing by now…)
“I have a lot of beefs with the current WSIB administration and “case management” systems, let alone the benefits system(s) as a whole. Would the group want to hear my top ten list of problems – even if I have few answers or solutions beside the usual lobbying route – on such oldies but goodies as:
The Objection Intake process/gatekeeping
The older injured worker who gets their LRI as a lump sum (or retroactive award from an appeal) which affects their OAS/GIS, and in some cases their spouse’s OAS and that takes 2+ years to get caught back up
The split up decision-making where the case manager shuffles stuff off for others to decide
Narrow focus adjudication and loss of look to grant adjudication principles
Return to work
Deeming in a down (or pandemic) economy
Don’t get me started……”
Apr 5 – Open Discussion
March 2022
Mar 29 – Open discussion on May Day and upcoming election
TUESDAY, MAR 22, 10-12: The guest speaker this week is Sharon Bak, a volunteer first responder, is the Northern operations manager for Boots on the Ground, a mental health program for first responders, is there to assist them with mental health and emotional issues that they face in the line of work.
TUESDAY, MAR 15, 10-12: This week’s guests are Andrew Mawdryk and Arpan Brar, Pro Bono students from Lakehead University’s Law School. They will be presenting on the RB4 Project at Dryden that they have been working on with the RB4 Committee and OHCOW. We look forward to seeing you there!
TUESDAY, MAR 8, 10-12: This week, Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic will be leading the session and Tebasum Durrani from Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic will present on the WSIB policy discussions on the opioid pandemic in Ontario & Canada and how the WSIB policy and practices may have unintended consequences for workers in the workplace.
TUESDAY, MAR 1, 10-12: Taylor Demetrioff & Ken Porter: Mood Disorder Society of Canada
February 2022
TUESDAY, FEB 22, 10-12: This week’s presentation, with guest speaker Stephanie Premjie and a member of the South Asian Women’s Rights Organization (SAWRO), will focus on the work, health and return-to-work experiences of Toronto Bangladeshi workers.
TUESDAY, FEB 15, 10-12: MPP Michael Gravelle
Feb 8 – Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic – WSIB Annual Report analysis
Feb. 1st – MPP Judith Monteith Farrell – How we can participate in Public Policy Reform
January 2022
TUESDAY, JAN 25, 10-12:
Our guest speaker, Ellen MacEachen, will present findings from 2 recent Ontario-based qualitative studies focused on how low wage and digital platform workers experience and managed occupational risk during COVID-19. She will also discuss recommendations for improvement.
https://uwaterloo.ca/news/global-impact/when-youre-gig-worker-during-global-pandemic-and-your-boss
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35762212
TUESDAY, JAN 18, 10-12: Our guest speakers Prof Deb Scharf and associates Joshua and Chelsea from Lakehead University will be speaking to the mental health issues for injured workers in NW Ontario. They competed a project with IWC and the TBDIWSG on the mental health experiences of injured workers in Northwestern Ontario.
https://www.lakeheadu.ca/https%3A//www.lakeheadu.ca/centre/epid
https://www.instituteforbetterhealth.com/member/scharf-deborah
https://www.lakeheadu.ca/centre/epid/current-research/mental-health/node/107341
TUESDAY, JAN 11, 10-12 Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic: Our session this week is with John McKinnon and Marion Endicott, “1000 Days Without a Lost Time Accident – and other corporate myths”. They will be talking about experience rating in setting employer workers compensation assessment rates.
https://injuredworkersonline.org/issue/experience-rating
https://www.iwh.on.ca/plain-language-summaries/trends-in-no-lost-time-claims-in-ontario
TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 10-12 Examining the Platform for Change document. It lays out a worker-centred vision for the workers compensation system. We will be discussing strategies for getting the document distributed widely for the greatest impact! SEE DEC. 7, BELOW, FOR A COPY OF THE FINAL DRAFT OF THE PLATFORM FOR CHANGE.
2021
December 2021
TUESDAY, DEC 14, 10-12: 30th Anniversary ONIWG Christmas Demonstration: “Fighting Against More Gifts to Employers”
10am: Injured Worker Community Forum
11am: Online Rally with Speakers & Performers
TUESDAY, DEC 7, 10-12 We will be looking at the final draft of the Platform for Change.
This updated version of the Platform has undergone months of reviews and is now ready to go. It lays out a worker-centred vision for the workers compensation system.
November 2021
TUESDAY, NOV 23, 10-12 We are going to collectively look at the actions that injured workers took regarding Bill 27 and then we will discuss future steps, specifically how we can bring forward our issues to the political parties in anticipation of the summer election.
TUESDAY, NOV16, 10-12 The Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) is hosting. Alec Farquhar and Sue James of the Occupational Disease Reform Alliance (ODRA) will speak to the rewards and challenges of organizing for occupational disease.
Jules Tupker and Eugene Lefrancois will speak to Dryden cluster issues and solidarity from the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG). We will also give time for a brief update from Bill 27 hearings.
TUESDAY, N0V. 2: 10-12: Duty to Accommodate People with Disabilities. David Lepotfsky will be joining us.
An Introduction to the Duty to Accommodate People with Disabilities”
The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y32XvjWmDAQ
Here are links to key topics in the video:
1. Introduction and Overview 00:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeKQHuxP9XU
2. Where does the Duty to Accommodate Come From? 2:27 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=147
3. Who Must Accommodate People with Disabilities? Who Has the Duty to Accommodate? 5:12 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=312
4. What is the Purpose of the Duty to Accommodate? 8:25 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=504
5. What are the Benefits of Fulfilling the Duty to Accommodate? 11:15 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=675
6. What Disabilities are Included within the Duty to Accommodate? 15:40 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=941
7. Examples of Accommodations that Can be Required 17:26
8. What is the Content of the Duty to Accommodate? What Must an Organization Do? 26:05 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=1565
9. Some Red Herrings We Can Eliminate from Discussion About the Duty to Accommodate 34:05 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=2045
10. When Does the Duty to Accommodate Arise? 35:25 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=2125
11. When, If Ever, Can You Ask a Person, Requesting Accommodation, for Medical Documentation of Their Disability? 37:50 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=2270
12 The Undue Hardship Defence – General Principles 39:33 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=2373
13. When Can the Cost of Accommodation Justify a Failure to Accommodate? 49:14 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=2954
14. When Can Health and Safety Considerations Justify a Refusal to Accommodate? 57:42 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=3461
15. Can the Failure to Accommodate Be Defended on the Basis that It Adversely Affects the Morale of Other Workers? 59:10 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=3546
16. How Does the Duty to Accommodate Apply to Trade Unions and Collective Agreements? 1:00:49 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=3649
17. What Happens if Fulfillment of the Duty to Accommodate May Conflict with Other Rights of Other People? 1:03:48 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=3829
18. A Short, Punchy List of Defences or Arguments that Cannot Justify a Failure to Accommodate 1:06:56 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=4016
19. Concluding Thoughts 1:11:18 https://youtu.be/y32XvjWmDAQ?t=4282
October 2021
TUESDAY, OCT. 26, 10-12: Becky Casey, Peri Ballantyne, Pat Vienneau – Aging with a Disability.
“What does ‘Retirement’ look like for WSIB Claimants with Permanent Disabilities ”
We compare two groups of WSIB claimants with long-term permanent impairments who describe themselves as retired – those who voluntarily retired and those who involuntarily retired. We show how those who involuntarily retired are much younger, in worse health, and will likely face financial challenges as they get older.
We will discuss what might happen to the financial situation of these injured workers when they turn 65. Data are from the Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury (RAACWI) 10-year follow up survey.
Oct 19 – Patty Coates, President Ontario Federation of Labour
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 10-12 Jody Brown, a lawyer with Goldblatt Partners, will be talking about a proposed class action based on the dangerous promotion and sale of OxyContin on behalf of people who were prescribed OxyContin.
They are looking for an individual who took OxyContin at anytime from 2007 to the present and developed a dependency who is willing to be a representative plaintiff for people who took OxyContin.
Oct 5 – Karen Messing, Professor University of Quebec at Montreal – Workers’ Bodies at Work
September 2021
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2021: 10-12 Sue James and members from the Occupational Disease Reform Alliance.
The focus for this session will be on the highs and lows of building an alliance/coalition and look at the building blocks and how it comes about and most importantly the emotional toll it can take on activists and advocates to promote change.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 @ 7:30 PM Special session with guests/union activists from Australia who will update us on how Workers’ Compensation functions.
This will include information on the self insurance model used by big corporations and the Rozen Independent Review into the Victoria Workers Compensation System.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021: 10-12 Mahboob, the co-founder of PilotMind and Jaisa Sulit the co-teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC)
joining us to give an hour presentation of what Mindfulness and Mindful Self-Compassion is about. This will help a person to navigate their attention through difficult and stressful times, to be in a wiser relation with their anxiety and depression.
July 2021
TUESDAY, JULY 20: 10-12 try to address the comments that have been made over the past few weeks that we need to expand our reach and we need give injured workers the ability to speak up. We have Ryan Sigurdson, the facilitator of the New Directions Speakers School here in Thunder Bay, to talk to us about the Speakers School and to take us through a simulated lesson or two to show how the Speakers School helps individuals gain their voice and confidence. Please join us for this informative session.
TUESDAY, JULY 13: 10-12 “Disability Trajectories Following Workplace Injury and Permanent Impairment: 10-year Follow-up to the RAACWI Injured Worker Health and Social Survey“
In this presentation, Peri Ballantyne and Becky Casey will provide an overview of the 10-year follow up survey of WSIB claimants with permanent impairments who were initially part of the RAACWI injured worker health and social survey.
Data were first collected in 2008-09 with 494 injured workers with permanent impairments. In the follow up survey – conducted in 2019 – about one quarter (N=126) of the initial participants were re-interviewed and provided insights into their injury status and relationship with the WSIB, their family and social status and social integration; education, employment and income; and health/mental health.
We will focus on over-time changes in each these areas, emphasizing how some injured workers have become more vulnerable over the long term. We will seek audience participation in identifying ‘what matters most’ in these workers’ longer term trajectories, and what to emphasize in future analyses and presentations of this work.
Peri Ballantyne, professor of Sociology at Trent University and Becky Casey, professor of Sociology at Acadia University, both with long-time interest in injured worker outcomes in Ontario, will cover a bit of background on the original RAACWI survey and now the follow up after 10 years.
https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstreams/d1b5003c-d844-4e25-8687-996a277ba9db/download
TUESDAY, JULY 6: 10-12 Guest speaker: Diana Prairie MSW RSW, Supervisor Counselling & Psychotherapy Services, Thunder Bay Counselling
Diana has been a practising social worker in our community for thirty years. The areas of practice have focused on depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, grief, sexual assault and abuse, intimate partner violence, self-care, compassion fatigue, moral distress, conflict resolution, and other related mental health concerns.
June 2021
TUESDAY, JUNE 29: 10-12 Our guest will be Janice Folk-Dawson, Executive Vice President of Ontario Federation of Labour.
Janice has been a unionized public sector worker for 44 years. First with Newfoundland Association of Public Employees (NAPE) in Labrador with Dept of Social Services and since 1986 with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) at the University of Guelph.
She was president of the Guelph & District Labour Council, Chair of CUPE Ontario University Workers and President of CUPE 1334 before becoming Executive Vice President of the OFL in 2019.
Janice was injuried in 1995 and today wants to share her story, and talk about the impact being injuried in the work place had on her career and social life and the gaps that exist in supporting injuried workers in our unions and society. Janice is a working class feminist who roots herself and her actions in the principles of peace, equity & solidarity. Having suffered a workplace injury in 1995, Janice has also been a tireless advocate for the rights of injured workers. Janice has also been active with numerous allies and campaigns including $15 & Fairness, Six Nations and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council, Wellington Water Watchers, United Against Racism, the NDP and the Council of Canadians. Janice was also a co-founder of the We Are Guelph organization, formed to maximize progressive representation in the municipal elections.
TUESDAY, JUNE 15: 10-12 IWC staff, Kathrin, John and Orlando will do an educational (“refresher”) on Universal Coverage and current issues.
There will be a special recognition of the work that Maryam Nazemi has done in the fight for Universal Coverage.
TUESDAY, JUNE 8: 10-12 What do you think you can do to move towards change?
We have had a variety of speakers over the past one year plus and a focus has been how can we encourage the powers to be to have a fairer compensation system.
This is an opportunity for us to think about what we can do as individuals and / or with small groups.
May 2021
TUESDAY May 25, 10:00-12:00 Bob Barnetson, Professor, Labour Relations, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Athabasca University, will be presenting on how media represents injured workers today.
TUESDAY May 18, 10:00-12:00 Cam Mustard of Institute for Work and Health and he will be speaking to what happens to injured workers 18 months post injury.
TUESDAY May 11, 2021 John McKinnon and Orlando Buonestella, IWC
who will speak to “How proposed funding rules for community legal clinics could impact injured workers”. If passed, these new rules plus upcoming changes to the OWA, will have a major effect on the plight of injured workers.
TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021 ARCH Disability Law Clinic staff lawyers, Jessica De Marinis and Mariam Shanouda, will speak about recent court decision.
The decision is called Commercial Spring and Tool Company v Barrie Welding, 2021 ONSC 2591 and it is a commercial dispute that raised important issues about human rights and privacy interests of workers with disabilities. ONIWG, represented by ARCH, intervened to make submissions about these issues. Jessica and Mariam will discuss the case and talk about accommodations in the workplace.
April 2021
TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021 What issues would you like to feature on our Tuesday sessions?
TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2021
Everybody experiences anxiety. The good news is that there are many healthy ways that we can all learn to cope. Join clinical and health psychologist, Dr. Deborah Scharf, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Lakehead University, for an hour of education about anxiety and evidence-based coping strategies to help you get through today’s challenging times.
TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2021 Our guest speaker this week will be Gerry LeBlanc and Jessica Montgomery from USW
who will speak to the health and safety struggles, past and present, as well as the kind of cases that they work on what they are tackling at the WSIB. This will include a look at some of the occ diseases that they are facing.
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 10:00-12:00 Al Etmanski, parent advocate for persons with disabilities and Rabia Khedr, co-chair of the Canadian Disability Alliance Initiative
will join us at 11 am until 12:30 pm. Our session will still begin at 10 am. Last fall in the Throne Speech the federal government promised to create a Canadian Disability Benefit.
This is the first time any national government anywhere in the world has committed to address the poverty experienced by disabled people. In response a group of disabled people have created the Canadian Disability Benefit Initiative.
Our goal is to hold our government to account and to make sure we end the poverty experienced by disabled Canadians once and for all.
This presentation will discuss the 3 core actions that need to take place to make sure the disabled community takes advantage of this exciting and unprecedented opportunity.
March 2021
TUESDAY MARCH 30, 10:00-12:00 Sue James and Bob DeMatteo who will be joining us to speak to the GE Project the WSIB challenges with Occ Disease and how can we come together to implement strategies going forward.
Sue shared – I worked at General Electric in Peterborough from 1974 – 2014. In Nov. of 2015 I joined the Peterborough Coalition fighting for justice for workers and families affected by multiple chemicals and carcinogens. I was a proud participant in the GE Retrospective Profiling report and now chair the newly named Peterborough Occupational Disease Action Committee (PODAC).
Joining our fight here in Peterborough is the Ventra/Pebra Plastics Plant who also have put out their own retrospective profile report and were also part of the 2004 OHCOW intake clinic that was put on.
Bob has many years experience in the Health & Safety field and has tirelessly given his time as an activist. He was the Health & Safety coordinator with OPSEU union and served time on the Occupational Disease Panel and sits on the board of OHCOW.
Bob and his wife are now working on their 3rd Retrospective Exposure Profile Report for Neelon Castings in Sudbury after finishing the Peterborough reports of GE and Ventra/Pebra Plastics.
TUESDAY MARCH 23, 10:00-12:00 Moses Sheppard, retired USW rep
who started the campaign for lung cancer for gold miners in Timmins and went on to win around $326M for the widows and their families, will be joined by Janice Martell. They will share experiences and their lessons learned.
TUESDAY MARCH 16, 10:00-12:00 Our pro bono students will be presenting their research findings on the Dryden Paper Mill Recovery Boiler#4 exposures which occurred from 2002 thru 2004.
From 2002 to 2004, over 400 construction workers were exposed to toxic fumes while adding on to the Paper Mill in Dryden Ontario. Many of these workers became ill and some have since died. Join us to find out more
TUESDAY MARCH 16, at 1:00 PM We’re calling it an “End of Winter Warmup”, and it will feature greetings from ONIWG, IWC, and a handful of other injured worker groups, as well as some songs, stories, and social time.
February 2021
Tuesday, Feb 23.21 Catherine Fenech, Injured worker and ONIWG Vice President for Peel Region, will be discussing how she founded International Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Awareness Day, now in its 22th year.
RSI Day is officially marked on February 29th or the last day of February each year in countries across the globe. Catherine will discuss how her struggles to get recognition, treatment, compensation and accommodation of her injuries led to an international event in the hopes to prevent others from suffering as she had.
Learn how this event took off in the days before social media when computers were less common than they are today and what lessons it offers for organizing today.
2020
October 2020
Tuesday, October 13, IW session at 10 am the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic – “WSIB benefits and services, why should they be semi- secret?”
Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic staff, Orlando Buonastella, Rebecca Lok and David Newberry, will lead our injured workers session on Tuesday, October 13th. We will look at benefits and services that some injured workers may not know about, such as maintenance therapy, clothing allowances, travel allowances, interpretation services and entitlement to re-assessments when the injury gets worse. Below is a link that you can take a look at.
https://www.wsib.ca/en/document/maintenance-treatment-april-2015
Tuesday, October 5 2020, IW session at 10 am. Dorothy Wigmore, Occupational health specialist (hygiene, ergonomics, “stress”), researcher, educator, writer/editor and Jim Littleford, electrician at Recovery Boiler # 4 at Dryden mill will be our guest speakers for this Tuesday’s session. We will look at how body mapping can be used to define clusters, etc. We look forward to seeing you there.
Bio of Dorothy Wigmore:
Dorothy Wigmore, Occupational health specialist (hygiene, ergonomics, “stress”), researcher, educator, writer/editor and Jim Littleford, electrician at Recovery Boiler # 4 at Dryden mill will be our guest speakers for this Tuesday’s session. We will look at how body mapping can be used to define clusters, etc.
Dorothy has worked with/for unions, governments, occupational health centres/clinics, NGOs and universities in Canada, the United States and Mocambique. These days, she is self-employed and based in Winnipeg (with a move to Kitchener, Ontario planned for December), and writing a lot about the hazards of cleaning and disinfecting, especially in the pandemic.
About 25 years ago, Dorothy became a pioneer of body and workplace mapping, tools she has adapted for different jobs and situations as needed. They can help participants “see with new eyes” and make visible harm and hazards that are hard to see. As pictures of collective experience, the maps also start participants telling stories that can lead to action and change.
Tuesday Sept 29th 2020 IW Session – Guest speaker Ellen MacEachen
Researcher, Ellen MacEachen will present research findings on insights gained from RTW Coordinators about strategies for managing RTW for people with common mental health conditions. These have been compiled in a 60-page stakeholder guide called: “Road Blocks and Alternate Routes: Practical Strategies for Managing Mental Health and Return to Work” (this is available for download at http://ellenmaceachen.ca/rtw-mental-health-guide/).
She will also share findings about how the work conditions of RTW Coordinators themselves shapes the RTW process. RTW Coordinators are required to meet their own employer’s performance mandates for issues such as minimal injured worker absence while also meeting worker health and recovery needs. MacEachen proposes a theory to explain this often conflicted position and related high RTW Coordination turnover and burnout. Finally, she reflects on implications of RTW coordination for workers themselves.
NEW: Sara Mojtehedzadeh’s Toronto Star podcast Report on the Demer’s Report (July 15, 2020): Is Ontario ignoring workplace cancer?
Tuesday Sept 22@ 10 am – Iw Session – Exploring next steps for Paul Demers Report
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 @ 10 am. The Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group will be partnering with the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) for our session this upcoming Tuesday. The session will be hosted by IWC with guest speakers who will help us understand the nuts and bolts of the Paul Demers Report on occupational disease.
Contact us at TBWISG@gmail.com if you want to join us!
The Paul Demers Report