The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
The province’s ongoing mining review was a hot topic at Day of Mourning ceremonies at Laurentian University on Monday.
United Steelworkers International president – and Greater Sudbury native – Leo Gerard said it was “a damn shame” that Vale and GlencoreXstrata officials did not appear before the review committee when it held hearings in the Nickel Capital earlier this year.
The committee is looking as way to make mining safer in Ontario. “Enough is enough is enough,” said Gerard, his voice rising before about 350 people in the Fraser Auditorium. “Appear before the inquiry and make your case. If you don’t have a case, admit it.
“Far too many workers are getting killed. Far too many workers are afraid of opening their mouth … If you ignore health and safety conditions, if you can’t manage, if you send someone into a dangerous circumstance, you should be held responsible.” Gerard was one of more than half a dozen speakers at the 30th-annual ceremonies that are intended to honour the memories of workers killed on the job, or who died from workplace injuries or disease. The day is now marked in more than 80 countries.
Gerard also expressed concern he did not see many young faces in the audience.
“We owe it not just to mourn for the dead, not just to fight for the living, but we need to leave a legacy – that we have left a better, safer, more productive, more efficient workplace, so, the next generation can go to work, earn a living, raise their family, and retire with dignity,” he said.
“I believe we can lead that from Sudbury.”
Nickel Belt New Democrat MPP France Gelinas also cited the mining review, saying that deaths in the mining sector have to stop.
“Things have to change,” she said. “Things have to get better. The lives being lost of people who work in the mines has to change. I encourage every one of you to speak up, find the courage.
“The knowledge we have in our community is incredible. If you take the time to share with the panel what you know, you will have taken that small step so that down the road, a miner who goes to work comes home that night, like everybody should.”
Gelinas did note that on May 1, it becomes law in Ontario that a minor cannot use a tanning salon’s services.
“They won’t be admitted in,” she said to applause.
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