Continue Reading Building power – highlights from 2018 Workers’ Comp Is A Right Campaign
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In many ways, 2018 was a year of ups and downs for social justice movements across Ontario. While the Ford government cuts have already started to dig into poor and marginalized communities, there is also broad momentum to push back and defend…
OFL calls for universal workers’ compensation coverage
As part of their submissions to the Ontario Government’s pre-budget consultation, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) calls on the province to extend workers’ comp coverage to everyone in the province.
Though many people assume everyone in Ontario is entitle to WSIB…
Continue Reading OFL calls for universal workers’ compensation coverage
Compensation for occupational cancer to be reviewed
In Ontario, as elsewhere in Canada, more workers die from occupational illness than workplace injuries. In 2017, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) allowed 175 occupational disease fatality claims, with mesothelioma, lung and bronchial cancers and asbestosis heading the list of…
Continue Reading Compensation for occupational cancer to be reviewed
Feb 28 – 20th annual International RSI Awareness Day Conference, Toronto
February 28 marks the 20th anniversary of the International RSI Awareness Day. The annual event – established on the initiative of Ontario injured worker activist Catherine Fenech – aims to educate about repetitive strain injuries and their prevention. The cause of…
Continue Reading Feb 28 – 20th annual International RSI Awareness Day Conference, Toronto
Presentation to pre-budget hearings, Dryden
The Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group made a presentation to the Parliamentary Committee on Finance & Economic Affairs Pre-Budget Hearings in Dryden, Ontario on January 21, 2019. They covered two issues: the growing gap of income inequality in Ontario…
Continue Reading Presentation to pre-budget hearings, Dryden
Hazards of working in the gig economy
Debate continues on the pros and cons of the gig economy. In this ‘sharing economy’ based on freelance, temporary or contingent on-demand project or piece-work arrangements, workers contract their labour through internet-based platforms such as Uber, Hyr, Upwork. According to staffing company…
WSIB denies mental stress in shocking decision
Injured Worker Margery Wardle, who was the face of a recent legal challenge that led to changes in the legislation that expanded workers’ compensation entitlement for chronic stress disabilities, was featured in the Toronto Star again.
The WSIB recently made a shocking…
Continue Reading WSIB denies mental stress in shocking decision
Any workers’ comp review must involve injured workers!
On November 15th of last year, Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservative Party released a document called A Plan For the People: Ontario Economic Outlook and Review that outlined some of their early accomplishments and plans.
Tucked 54 pages into this document is a…
Continue Reading Any workers’ comp review must involve injured workers!
A look back – and ahead
2018 was marked by the energy and solidarity of the injured worker community in bringing attention of the public and policy-makers to failures of Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in delivering fair and timely compensation, particularly for those with permanent…
Internal audit reveals extraordinarily high rate of denial of chronic mental stress claims
“Workers’ compensation board denies over 90 per cent of chronic mental stress claims, audit shows” / Sara Mojtehedzadeh (Toronto Star, Dec. 4, 2018). Since the Bill 127 amendment to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act came into force, Ontario’s workers’ compensation board…





