Day of Mourning: Workplace safety isn’t just a concept for victims’ families
Mary Jane Doucet and her brother Danny Nowlan know all too well the importance of Monday's Day of Mourning event.
The national Day of Mourning is observed annually on April 28 to remember those who died on the job or were injured at the workplace, and to fight for a healthier and safer workplace. For Mary Jane and Danny, that message hits very close to home as they have lost two brothers to a workplace tragedy.
"It's very important that people like my brothers have died doing their job, that we remember that, that there's a day to remember these people," said Mary Jane in an interview.
On Aug. 22, 1974, City of Bathurst casual employees Roger and Robert Nowlan were killed after succumbing to toxic gases from working with the city's sewer system. Roger, 25, and Robert, 21, were college students.
Last week, Mary Jane and Danny helped the city unveil a memorial plaque to honour of the only City of Bathurst employees to be killed on the job. The brief ceremony took place at the April 21 regular monthly meeting of city council.
The occasion opened up old emotional wounds for Mary Jane and her brother.
"It's going to be 34 years this summer and it's way overdue,"she said. "We appreciate it...but it was difficult for us because it brought everything back. What happened 34 years ago was a tragedy and it should have not happened if things were handled the way they should have been."
John Gagnon, president of the Bathurst and District Labour Council, is the local Day of Mourning coordinator. He has been fighting for worker safety since the 1980s and said while education on the issue has improved, not much else has changed.
"There's no significant progress made since I've been doing this for the last 20 years," said Mr. Gagnon. "There's something wrong when I can give the same stats 10 and 20 years ago and they're very similar or worst (compared to today)."
He said in New Brunswick, roughly a dozen people on average are injured or killed on the job. The national average per year is roughly 1,000 people, most of whom are young people in their first two months on the job.
Mr. Gagnon said those statistics have to change and Bathurst Mayor Stephen Brunet agrees. He said it was a tragedy to lose the Nowlan brothers and much has been done and must continue to be done to ensure that never happens again.
"The City of Bathurst has the infrastructure in place where health and safety is very, very important. Since the death of those two brothers, things have changed greatly with safety equipment and procedures and backups, etc. Hopefully they didn't lose their lives in vein and people have their work conditions improved upon because of what happened to them."
As for Mary Jane and Danny, they carry on without their two brothers and while nothing can bring them back, she hopes something positive has come from their passing.
"The only positive thing that I can think about from the outcome of that tragedy is that people who are now working for the City, they've changed a lot of things...and made things a lot safer for the people working there."
The Day of Mourning Ceremony was held at the Day of Mourning Monument, adjacent to the Nepisiguit Cultural Centre on Douglas Avenue.
Various dignitaries spoke and memorial wreaths were placed at the monument in honour of those workers injured or killed on the job.
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