Blog
In leaving 2021 behind, a round up of selected events from the past year that underscore increased awareness of social and health inequities that face too many workers and their families; the power of solidarity and support, collaboration and compassion among the…
Presentation to the 2021 Disability and Work National Conference
The following presentation was made by long-time disability activist and Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic Board director John Rae. In his career with the Ontario Public Service, John served as a Consultant with the Centre for Disability and Work, an Education Officer…
Continue Reading Presentation to the 2021 Disability and Work National Conference
IWC makes recommendations to Standing Committee on changes to Bill 27 (surplus funds distribution)
Orlando Buonastella and Kathrin Furniss from Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic were among those making presentations today at public hearings before the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 27 (Working for Workers Act, 2021) . Specifically, they spoke to the Committee…
Registration deadline Wed. Nov 10 for public hearings on Bill 27 (WSIB surplus distribution)
Working for Workers Act, 2021 amends the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to allow distribution of “surplus” funds. The Bill has now been referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy for public (virtual) hearings Nov. 15-18.…
Schedule 6 of Bill 27, Remembering Katherine Lippel
Katherine Lippel, Distinguished Research Chair in Occupational Health & Safety Law at the University of Ottawa, widely respected for her commitment to employment law that advanced workers’…
Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic was saddened to learn of the death of Dr WSIAT survey on service, accessibility & barriers
The Workplace Safety and Appeals Tribunal’s (WSIAT) Access to Justice Working Group aims to remove barriers so everyone can fully participate in proceedings. WSIAT is seeking feedback in a short survey on customer service and the accessibility of its adjudicative processes and…
Continue Reading WSIAT survey on service, accessibility & barriers
Class action about opioid addiction
OxyContin has fueled the opioid crisis in Canada for many years. Purdue Pharma created OxyContin and made billons off of it while falsely promoting it as a less addictive opioid. In 2007, Purdue pled guilty in the U.S. to misleading regulators and…
Calling for occupational disease reform
A recent National Observer investigation detailed how an Ontario paper mill poisoned nearby First Nations and their decades-long fight for environmental justice. The toxic chemicals and contaminants also had long-term and grave impacts for construction workers at the Dryden Mill. A report…
Ontario Divisional Court overturns WSIAT, allows injured worker to sue
Jan Morningstar was a hotel cleaner in Niagara Falls. She successfully overcame uterine cancer but was left with one of the symptoms, an unusual odour. She was relentlessly teased and harassed by her co-workers and management did little or nothing to assist…
Continue Reading Ontario Divisional Court overturns WSIAT, allows injured worker to sue
ONIWG responds to consultation on ‘surplus funds’
In response to the Ministry of Labour’s consultation on how the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) should distribute “surplus” funds, ONIWG calls on the Board to restore the cuts to injured workers’ benefits and services. “Elimination of the unfunded liability should…
Continue Reading ONIWG responds to consultation on ‘surplus funds’