On April 28, PSAC Ontario joins people across Canada in observing the National Day of Mourning. We remember workers who have been injured, made ill, or lost their lives because of their jobs. We honour those who never made it home and join those living with the lasting impacts of workplace injury and illness.
This year’s theme, Ensuring Workers Survive and Thrive, makes clear that workplace health and safety cannot stop at preventing immediate harm. It must address the full reality of work, including the long-term and often invisible impacts on workers’ health and well-being.
In Ontario, 246 workers lost their lives in 2024 due to workplace incidents and occupational disease. But these numbers do not tell the full story. Gaps in reporting, recognition, and enforcement mean the true number of workplace deaths is significantly higher.
These are not isolated tragedies. They reflect systems that continue to fail workers, and they are preventable.
Click here to find a Day of Mourning event near you in Ontario.
PSAC Ontario calls on all levels of government to take stronger action to protect workers. This means enforcing health and safety laws, removing barriers to investigating workplace injuries and deaths, and strengthening the use of the Westray Law to hold employers criminally accountable.
Families deserve answers. Workers deserve protection.
On this Day of Mourning, we remember those we have lost and recommit to protecting those still on the job. We will continue to mourn for the dead and fight for the living. In memory of Colin Lambert, one of the founders of the National Day of Mourning, whose work ensured that loss would never be met with silence, we will continue his fight to ensure every worker comes home safely and to honour those who never did.
In Solidarity,
Craig Reynolds, PSAC Ontario Regional Executive Vice-President