• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Injured Workers Online

Injured Workers Online

Working Together for Justice

  • Blog
  • Sign Up
  • About
  • Twitter
Working Together for Justice
  • Workers’ Compensation
    • History
    • Law Reform
    • Workers’ compensation bills
    • Chronic Pain Victory
    • Research and Education
    • Bancroft Institute
    • Meredith Conference: “No-Half Measures”
    • RAACWI
  • Issues
    • Appeals
    • Benefits
    • Experience Rating
    • Funding
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Return to Work
    • Stigma and surveillance
    • Universal Coverage
  • Community
    • Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG)
    • Workers’ Comp Is a Right campaign
    • Injured Worker Groups
    • Injured Workers’ Stories
    • Organizing and Action
    • IW Speakers School
    • Arts & social justice
  • Events
    • Calendar View
    • RSI Awareness Day
    • Day of Mourning
    • Justice Bike Ride
    • Injured Workers Day
    • December demo
    • Labour Day – a workers’ festival
  • Media
    • In the News
    • Press Releases
    • Fact Sheets
    • Headlines on workers’ compensation
    • Videos
  • Resources
    • Law and Policy Submissions
    • Reports, Articles & Papers
    • Practical guides & booklets
    • IWHP Bulletins
    • Library
    • Find Legal Help
    • Links
Home / Injured Workers’ Community / IW Speakers School

IW Speakers School

The Injured Workers Speakers School (IWSS) offers a multi-session course to help injured workers know their rights, advocate for themselves and speak confidently about workers’ compensation issues from experience and knowledge. Injured workers can:

  • understand the history and principles of our compensation system
  • develop analysis to support your experience
  • learn about the injured workers movement and the importance of active participation
  • feel more comfortable speaking in public, with media and with politicians
  • have fun while learning in a supportive group with other injured workers
2019 graduating class and teachers
2011 graduating class, teachers and guests
2011 graduating class, teachers and guests
Marion Endicott welcoming injured workers and guests to Speaker School
Welcoming injured workers and guests to Speaker School graduation 2011
Session lessons
Graduation night 2008
Graduation night 2008
Studying Meredith's compensation system
Studying Meredith's compensation system
2012 graduation
2012 graduation
MPP Michael Prue presents certificate to 2011 graduate
MPP Michael Prue presents certificate to 2011 graduate
2011 graduate receives congratulations
MPP Peter Tabuns addresses graduation
MPP Peter Tabuns addresses graduation
2016 graduation ceremony
2016 graduation ceremony

The school started up in 2007 when two ongoing successful programs combined with the support of the Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury (RAACWI).  In Thunder Bay, activist Steve Mantis had created the Injured Workers Speakers Bureau in 2006, using the Toastmasters model, to develop public speaking skills. And in Toronto,  Injured Workers’ Consultants was running courses on the principles and politics of compensation and injured worker history, promoting leadership and community organizing skills. The new joint program, now named the Injured Worker Speaker School, began in Toronto but groups around the province soon set up their own.

There are now schools in Thunder Bay, Hamilton, Sarnia, St Catharines, Muskoka, Niagara – and the list is growing. In the January 2015 issue of “Justice for Injured Workers”, two participants in the Niagara & District Injured Workers’ Speakers School share what they’ve gained from the sessions. Thunder Bay speaker school graduation at City Hall

Telling our own story

  • New Directions Speakers’ School. Thunder Bay (website)
  • Vigil, Oscar. 2012. “Injured Workers Speakers School: From Pain to Protest”. Our Times, v. 31(2): 33-39
  • Aversa, Terri. 2011. WSIB: The Big Ship – At the 2011  Toronto IWSS celebration of their graduation, six injured workers movingly recount their compelling stories of workplace injury and dealing with the Board. Local MPP Michael Prue, who attended the evening, also made a  tribute in the Legislative Assembly to the School.

Contact Orlando Buonastella at Injured Workers Consultants (416-461 2411) or ONIWG  oniwgexec@gmail.com for information on speaker schools around the province.

Updated October 6, 2020

Primary Sidebar

Ontario Inured Workers timeline

Recent Updates

  • Stop Unsafe Evictions during COVID-19
    October 7, 2020
  • A Labour Day message from injured workers
    September 7, 2020
  • Today is Injured Workers Day: Help us ask Ontario to #ProtectUs
    May 31, 2020

More Related Updates

Footer

Stay connected – get our blog updates
Copyright © 2021 Injured Workers Online
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

The information in this website is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for legal advice. For legal advice, see Find legal help