Hamilton advocates condemn WSIB decision to cut outreach funding

A contract funding a long-running support program for injured employees is coming to an end.

The WSIB’s Injured Worker Outreach Service was cut off on Tuesday, a move advocates say will leave Hamilton workers without the support they rely on.

“Today marks a significant, and troubling moment,” says Victoria Daniels, president of Hamilton and District Injured Worker Group.

For decades, the Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group has been a place where people hurt on the job could turn for help navigating the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s system.

“We don’t actually represent injured workers, what we do is we give them the tools to represent themselves,” says Carol Moore, officer manager and peer support worker with Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group.

But that support is now in jeopardy.

On Tuesday, the WSIB ended its contract with providers using the Injured Worker Outreach Services program.

In a statement to CHCH News, the board said the fund was set up 25 years ago when its processes were difficult to navigate.

“Today, people in Hamilton can access over 400 local health providers and can easily log in to our website to submit a claim … or send us a message 24/7,” says WSIB Public Affairs Manager Christine Arnott in a statement.

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But Moore says peer support can’t be replaced by a website.

“Part of that problem is the digital divide, like these people don’t have access. I’m currently helping a person that was unhoused,” says Moore.

Moore suffered a workplace injury back in 2018, causing her financial hardship, before eventually finding a position within the Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group.

“My claim was approved, but then because I couldn’t return to the job they wanted me to return to, then I was not approved. It was a battle, and that was a long, hard battle, I almost ended up homeless,” says Moore.

WSIB officials met with groups using its outreach program in early May to let them know it would be ending June 30, with funding continuing until September 30 to support a transition.

Hamilton and Injured Workers Group President, Victoria Daniels, says when this funding runs out in September, it’ll entirely change how they’re able to support injured workers.

“When the final payment is exhausted, we can’t pay rent on our office, and we can’t pay our staff. So, we would still exist as the Hamilton and District Injured Workers Group as a non-profit, but we wouldn’t have a brick and mortar, we wouldn’t be able to, let’s say, have social events,” says Daniels.

In a letter delivered to WSIB’s Hamilton office Tuesday, 246 individuals, unions, community groups and elected officials asked for the cuts to be reversed.

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