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Calgary Herald

'It rips a hole': Calgary unions lay wreaths for workers who died on the job

Article content After a record number of Albertans died in workplace-related incidents last year, the Calgary and District Labour Council hosted a memorial at city hall Monday, to commemorate the National Day of Mourning. Article content Article content Held annually on April 28, the National Day of Mourning is dedicated to remembering workers who died, were injured or experienced a workplace tragedy, and promote the importance of occupational health and safety. Article content Article content Roughly 20 people, including representatives of local workers' unions, attended the ceremony. Held at the City of Calgary Workers Memorial, the event included speeches, a moment of silence and the laying of wreaths. Article content Article content 'Everybody has a role to play in health and safety,' said Alexander Shevalier, president of the Calgary and District Labour Council. 'The worker has a role to keep themselves safe and to keep their co-workers safe, employers have the obligation to keep their workers safe and government has to enforce the law.' Article content In 2024, Alberta recorded 203 workplace-related deaths — an all-time high, according to the Workers' Compensation Board of Alberta. In comparison, 165 workers in the province died in 2023. Of last year's worker fatalities, 112 died of occupational diseases, 50 from trauma, 29 in motor-vehicle collisions and 12 from other causes. Article content During Monday's sombre ceremony, Shevalier read out the name of each Alberta worker who died last year. Afterwards, attendees bowed their heads in a moment of silence, before wreaths were laid at the base of the memorial. Article content It's hard to explain the record number of workplace deaths in Alberta last year, according to Shevalier, due to the 'invisible' nature of some causes, such as illnesses that resulted from unsafe working conditions. Article content Every loss of life creates a cascading effect of grief for the worker's friends, families and co-workers, Shevalier said. Article content 'It's important to remind us that 203 people died, that families lost a family member — whether it was a mother, father, sister or brother, friends lost friends — and workplaces lost one of their colleagues,' he said. 'It's important for us to remember, because we don't want to have to go through that, because it rips a hole.'