Too many Alberta workers killed on the job, ceremonies hear

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees paid tribute to the 125 workers in the province who lost their lives and the countless others hurt onthe job last year in a national day of mourningceremonyin west Edmonton.

The ceremony comes one day after two workers died in separate accidents in the province.

It also falls on the heels of areport released Tuesday by the Parkland Institute whichcriticizesthe government and workplaces in the way they report workplace injuries to the public.

It alsochastisesthe province for having one of the highest rates of workplace injury in the country, a statistic LabourMinister Christina Gray says the government is working to reduce.

"There's 125 people who lost their lives last year I'm glad to see the trend is going down since 2013, but any life lost is too many and we all need to be working to try and improve that," she said.

"It's made worse by the fact that so many of them are preventable," shesaid.

Thursday'sceremony is a reminder for workers and employers to make it a priority thateveryoneget home safe to their loved ones at the end of the day, saidAUPEpresident Guy Smith.

"Certainly that is something thatAUPEcommits to everyday," Smith said.

Nightmares and anxiety

Former RCMP officer Deanna Lennoxattendedthe ceremony.She took a voluntary medical discharge from the Redwater detachment in 2013 after a shotgun blast left her without hearing in one ear.

The post traumatic stress she suffered following her discharge was something she was left todeal with by herself. As nightmares and anxiety took over her life, there were no services available to her at the time, she said.

"There's progress that's been made, but I think there's a long way to go, " said Lennox, who wrote a book about her experience.

InDamage Done, A Mountie's Memoir,she details the trauma she suffered as a result of her work, and the healing she found through working with horses.

And thanks to that healing, it's helped her reach out to other first responders who are suffering through similar stress.

"It's still frustrating for me to hear stories of people who are not only suffering from these types of injuries but also suffering the stigma of the injuries,Lennox said. "That is huge in keeping people coming forward in the first place."

'No one has been held accountable'

Meanwhile in Calgary, wreaths were laid at the Workers' Memorial beside city hall, with firefighters and trade union members in attendance.

Alex Shevalier, president of the Calgary and District Labour Council, highlighted the case of two men who died on a Canadian Natural Resources work site in 2007when a fuel tank collapsed.

Crown prosecutors laid 53 charges against CNR and two sub-contractors in connection with the deaths of Hongliang Lui and Genbao Ge. But all charges were either stayed or withdrawn, and $1.5 million was paid in fines.

"Two people died and two were seriously injured and no one has been held accountable," Shevalier said, noting that the health and safety report was only released in February 2016, almost nine years after the accident.

"We enforce laws against animal cruelty more effectively than we enforce our health and safety laws," Shevalier said.