CORNWALL, Ontario – Every year, on April 28, Canada remembers those workers who were killed on the job, or sustained injury or illness through their work.
Usually, the Cornwall District Labour Council holds a memorial at the monument that honours those workers in Lamoureux Park in Cornwall. While the flags there have been lowered to half-mast, no gathering will take place this year because of the social distancing restrictions necessary to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Darby Bergin, MP for Cornwall-Stormont in the late nineteenth century was Canada’s first Surgeon General and advocated for safer workplaces, especially for women and children. In previous years, Cornwall City Councillor Elaine MacDonald said that the fight for workers rights in Canada in many ways, began in Cornwall.
The City of Cornwall lowered all flags to half-mast in observance of the occasion.
“Today is the National Day of Mourning for injured workers. I would normally be in Lamoureux Park today at the commemoration that is organized by the Cornwall and District Labour Council and local union members,” wrote Cornwall Mayor Bernadette Clement. “This event is always a solemn and powerful event. I have devoted much of my legal career to representing injured workers and have had the honour to learn from them about resiliency and courage.”
