The New Westminster school board observed a minute of silence at its April 28 meeting to mark the National Day of Mourning.
The day is recognized each year on April 28 to honour workers who have lost their lives on the job or suffered injury or illness as a result of work. It was introduced by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984 and proclaimed by the government of B.C. in 1989.
Since school board meetings are now being held online, via Webex, a planned delegation from the New Westminster and District Labour Council did not appear in front of trustees, but school board chair Anita Ansari read aloud a letter from the group asking the board to observe one minute of silence.
Ansari noted that WorkSafeBC is working through COVID-19 to ensure that workers’ safety remains paramount as we make our way through the pandemic.
“I really, really want to remember all the individuals whose hard work got us to a place where we have legislation that protects the lives of our workers even through a pandemic,” she said.
Ansari also acknowledged that workplaces have not always been safe for workers and that there have been fatalities that led to legislation to protect workers.
She paid tribute to those workers, their families and “everybody who has done the hard work for making the kind of society we live in, where it is not acceptable to have a fatality be an OK part of doing our work.”
Ansari invited the rest of the meeting attendees to join in marking the Day of Mourning.
“I will start the clock … and observe the minute of silence on behalf of all the workers whose lives have been lost for us to get to where we are, for making safe workplaces for all of us to do our jobs in,” she said.
