Who we are
We are a group of workers with permanent injuries from workplace accidents or exposures who gave our best to Ontario, and continue to give our very best. We come together regularly to support each other and try to keep up with changes that affect us as injured workers. We may not have a lot of political weight, but we have a lot of moral weight as we are the very purpose of the compensation system. We are active in taking part in research on workers’ compensation, and raising public awareness about problems in the current system that have so many injured workers living in poverty.
Why “Bright Lights”?
Our group is called Bright Lights because of earlier political concerns about the “unfunded liability”. In the mid-nineties this issue raised its political head and the Board fired then Chair Odoardo Di Santo to replace him with a business executive from General Electric who headed the transition team. One of our members suggested: “We do not need new light bulbs, we need some bright lights”. This is how our name started.
Join us
(Please note: in-person meetings are currently suspended due to COVID-19). Bright Lights usually meets the first Thursday of every month from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. noon with some social time together after at Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic (IWC) (815 Danforth Ave, Suite 411, Toronto – between Pape and Donlands subway station) to:
- learn of and discuss new developments in policy and law
- share our experiences with the compensation system
- give input based on our experience to consultations and government committees
- spend some social time together
Recent letters / submissions:
- 2020, Mar. 5. Letter to the Attorney General re Concerns About Changes to Legal Clinics in Bill 161
- 2018, Feb. 1. Letter to the Premier on the Injured Workers’ Campaign and Minimum Wage
- 2017, Jun. 8. Letter to the Minister of Labour re The unfair practice of Deeming and the impact of minimum wage on injured workers
- 2017, Apr. 6. Letter to the Minister of Labour on Deeming