Advocates mark Injured Workers Day at Hamilton City Hall

June 1 is Injured Workers Day in Ontario, a day set aside to raise awareness about the rights, compensation and dignity of workers injured or made ill on the job.

An advocacy group in Hamilton marked the occasion on the steps of city hall.

Typically, the Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group travel to Queen’s Park to meet with other injured workers from across Ontario, but due to mobility issues, they decided to keep their event close to home.

“I had two failed back surgeries. I had a lower spinal fusion. Unfortunately, the results were not good because it did not get me back to my regular self,” said Marvin Mulder who was injured at work.

It was just a regular work day, lifting furniture for a moving company, says Mulder. His back suddenly gave out and after multiple surgeries and treatments, Mulder’s doctor told him he would never work again.

“I’ve been fortunate my wife stayed with me and sometimes I wonder why,” Mulder said.

Mulder also tells CHCH News that in addition to his physical workplace injury, he has developed severe depression. Which is a workplace injury often overlooked and challenging to prove, according paralegal Chris Grawey.

“I would say definitely report, even if you’re not sure whether it’s considered a work-related injury or not. And if you think that it is, you can seek legal representation,” Grawey said.

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Since 2003, the Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group has been considered a vendor of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

The group says the WSIB gave them over $92,000 to provide free education and claim assistance each year. The group’s president Victoria Daniels says, not anymore.

“One hundred per cent of our operational funding to provide frontline services to injured workers, claim assistance, peer support, all of that funding will be gone,” Daniels says.

The Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group say they have enough funding to provide support services until September. But before then, they are actively looking for another source of income.

CHCH News reached out to the WSIB about the decision to pull the funding. It says the program was created over 25 years ago when the process was more difficult, adding: “Today, people in Hamilton can access over 400 local health providers and can easily log in to our website and submit a claim, see the status of their claim and payments made, their health care eligibility, or send us a message 24/7. We also have a team ready to help answer any questions over the phone.”

The Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group is still hoping to continue their work and are looking at funding options.

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