The zoom gathering on Tuesday January 16 at 10 AM ET will be a tribute to the late Ron Ellis led by our friends at Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic and Alec Farquhar.
At this session, we’ll discuss Ron’s contribution to justice for injured workers and how best to carry his vision forward.
- Prior to 1985, all appeals of WCB decisions were heard by Appeals Commissioners within the WCB. This meant that there was no recourse for injured workers outside WCB. One of the main demands raised by the injured worker movement during the 1970s and early 1980s was for the right of appeal to an independent appeals tribunal. In 1985, the Bill 101 amendments created the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal (WCAT). Ron Ellis was appointed as the founding Chair
- Ron believed that injured workers had the right to a high quality, independent review of their cases. He created a tribunal that strived to do this. When he stood up for WCAT against appointments decisions made by the Mike Harris government in 1997, he was replaced as Chair. After that, he dedicated himself to the struggle for truly independent and expert tribunals in Ontario, including his activism with Tribunal Watch Ontario.
Contact tbiwsg@gmail.com to be on the mailing list to get notices and Zoom links for upcoming sessions.
See Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers’ webpage and facebook for regular updates:
https://thunderbayinjuredworkers.com/tuesday-events/
https://www.facebook.com/ThunderBayInjuredWorkersSupportGroup/