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Follow the Toronto Star investigative series on Ontario's workers' compensation [read here]

News roundup

March 8, 2019

On Thursday Injured worker activist Maryam Nazemi was one of eight awarded the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship . A long-time advocate for full workers’ compensation coverage , Maryam was recognized for turning “a personal workplace tragedy into a driving force for…

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WSIB denies mental stress in shocking decision

January 9, 2019

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…

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Former rubber workers: ‘Those plants ruined us’

December 6, 2018

[Dec. 12 update: In response to The Record’s series, WSIB Chair orders review of hundreds of denied claims]. Once the booming Rubber Capital of Canada, Kitchener’s plants employed thousands. While many of those plants have long closed, former workers and their families…

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We can do better

October 8, 2018

Pushback on the recently announced 30% cut in employers’ premium rates continues unabated. In Rank and File.ca (Oct. 4) , Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups president Willy Noiles tracks reductions in employers’ premiums made since the mid-1990s. According to Professor Harry…

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New issue of JFIW newspaper is here!

September 25, 2018

The Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups’ newspaper Justice for Injured Workers has been reporting to injured workers and their allies on the current state of Ontario’s workers’ compensation system since 2012. Issue no. 14 (August. 2018) of ONIWG’s must-read newspaper is…

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Provincial inquiry needed to look into OPP suicides

September 20, 2018

Retired OPP officer and injured worker advocate Bruce Kruger is calling on the government of Ontario to hold a public inquiry. In the wake of three recent suicides by Ontario Provincial Police members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, the OPP Commissioner…

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Rejected claims review – justice for many still denied

August 23, 2018

The results of the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s (WSIB) recently completed review of rejected claims from workers at the General Electric plant in Peterborough caused anger, frustration and disappointment. Of the 233 previously denied occupational disease claims reconsidered, only 71…

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Tip of the iceberg

May 7, 2018

In the recently published Parkland Institute study Safer by Design: How Alberta Can Improve Workplace Safety, authors Jared Matsunaga-Turnbull and Bob Barnetson offer recommendations to address the unacceptable (and underestimated) number of workplace injuries and illnesses through better preventive measures, occupational…

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Remembering Ontario’s workers

May 1, 2018

Communities across Ontario held ceremonies Friday and over the weekend to commemorate the national Day of Mourning. Injured workers speaking at these events brought home the horrendous reality behind the numbers (227 Ontario fatalities in 2017 from occupational injury or…

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Under review – work-related cancer & compensation

April 15, 2018

“Work-related cancer compensation to be reviewed by province” (CBC News, April 13, 2018) This past Friday Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn announced the launch of a review of how occupational cancers are evaluated for workers’ compensation so “the system works properly for…

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