Deeming

Injured workers don’t fake pain or poverty

March 23, 2020

In a recent article in social justice newspaper Tough Times, injured worker activist Catherine Fenech addresses the myth that continues to stigmatize: the misplaced idea that injured workers are somehow faking injuries to take advantage of “generous” workers’ compensation benefits. She…

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Auditor General finds Ministry of Labour health & safety enforcement lacking

December 5, 2019

As an injured worker advocate, I see many workers in economic vulnerability and in precarious and unsafe working conditions. I see workers who think of their workplace injuries every day, who think about “what if the factory actually kept to their safety…

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Will your MPP vote to end deeming?

October 5, 2019

Will your MPP vote to end deeming? We have told you before about an important Private Members Bill that could stop deeming in its tracks and preserve the livelihood of thousands of injured workers in the province. Well, now you can see…

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Deeming as a violation of rights: submission to the UN

September 6, 2019

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities met in Geneva this week (4th and 5th of September) to consider reports on Canada’s compliance with the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Ontario Network of…

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WCIAR – action tools to end deeming

August 27, 2019

The Workers’ Comp Is A Right (WCIAR) campaign has two new lobbying tools to end deeming and stop the cuts to legal aid. Deeming is when the WSIB pretends an injured worker has a job that they do not actually have, and…

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Workers’ compensation concerns raised in the House

May 28, 2019

New Democrat Labour critic Wayne Gates (MPP – Niagara Falls) introduced Bill 119, Respecting Injured Workers Act (Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment), in the Legislative Assembly today. Intended to remedy the harmful Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) practice of deeming…

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ONIWG launches whistleblower report on deeming

May 22, 2019

What happens to people who are injured at work? Most of the time, workers heal and they return to their regular jobs and lives. But what about those workers who don’t fully recover? Some of those people are looked after by workers’…

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Overdue: addressing injured worker poverty

October 17, 2018

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is a day to reflect also on the poverty close at home. One in six Canadians currently live in poverty, and in Ontario the percentage is slightly higher at 17%. While Toronto and Windsor…

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“Deeming the WSIB unfit to serve Ontario’s injured workers”

April 12, 2018

Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas rose in the Legislative Assembly Tuesday to call out the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) on practices that have had catastrophic impacts for two miners in her constituency – and that can have devastating consequences for…

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The Premier of Ontario was asked about ‘deeming’

March 20, 2018

(ONIWG’s recent letter to the Premier follows up on questions on deeming raised with her during recent Town Halls by providing recent research on how severely injured workers are impacted by the WSIB practice of deeming…) As many are aware, the Premier…

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