Manitoba workplace deaths in focus on National Day of Mourning

Manitoba honoured those who were killed or injured on the job during a National Day of Mourning.

Manitoba politicians, union leaders and safety advocates walked along Broadway to Memorial Park on Tuesday to honour Manitobans killed or injured on the job.

The gathering was held on the National Day of Mourning, a federal observance that honours the lives lost and those injured at work.

The occasion comes on the heels of a deadly year in Manitoba workplaces, with 14 fatalities from injuries or illnesses suffered at work.

The province marked the occasion by announcing $100,000 in funding to the Preston Heinbigner Memorial Fund, an organization aimed at improving first responders’ access to mental health.

The fund is named in honour of a Winnipeg firefighter who died in April 2024 after battling undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to the province, the money will double the number of people who can access the Blueprint First Responder Resiliency Program.

“(The program) is allowing them to go into the bush with one another, spend the time that they need to heal, to open up, to connect with themselves, to other people who can relate to what it’s been like,” said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.

“They then come back to their families, come back to their coworkers and come back to their communities having had a chance to heal.”

Meanwhile, the Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL) used the occasion to call on the province to include support for all workers who suffer psychological injuries on the job and carry out proper enforcement of penalties and fines on workplaces that violate the law.

“An injury to one is an injury to all. Let’s do better for all working people and families and ensure every worker goes home safe and whole at the end of every shift,” said MFL president Kevin Rebeck.