“Memorial ride to honour late miner who inspired McIntyre Powder Project” / Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business, Mar. 9, 2018)
The 2018 Justice for Injured Workers’ Bike Ride , this year in Northern Ontario, will include the route between Massey and Elliott Lake that miner Jim Hobbs regularly took from 1978 to 1990 when travelling to work in the region’s undergound uranium mines. The Bike Ride, held annually since 2015, is organized by the Ontario Network of Injured Workers’ Groups (ONIWG). This year it focuses on the high toll of occupational disease – “the other workplace fatality” – and the need for better claim recognition by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
The memorial ride on May 26 will honour Jim Hobbs, who died in May 2017, and the many other miners who, like him, have suffered long-term health impacts from their mandatory exposure to McIntyre Powder. Used for decades from 1943 until discredited, the toxic aluminum dust was required to be inhaled by miners before their shifts as a protection against the lung disease silicosis.
Welcoming the riders will be Jim Hobb’s daughter Janice Martell who, with her father, established the McIntyre Powder Project to gather information from those exposed, promote research into the health effects, respiratory and neurological, and advocate for fair workers’ compensation – and the right to answers. Janice and the Project are currently teamed up on a research study with Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW), which is working also to have cases for claims denied – or not already filed – put before the WSIB.
A reception is being planned for the Justice Bike riders on Friday, May 25 at the Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre in Elliot Lake and on May 26 at the Massey Arena.
- More details on this and other events in the 2018 Ride will be posted on this website. Read how to support or participate in the Ride, and in the Workers’ Comp Is A Right campaign. For additional information, email: peter_page@hotmail.com or phone: (905) 745-1003 ; or contact Janice Martell email minersinfo@yahoo.ca or phone 1 (800) 461-7120