Workplace safety has been an issue for as long as most can remember.
As recently as 1987, miners regularly used canaries in coal mining as an early warning system. Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and methane in the mine would kill the bird before affecting the miners and ideally give them enough time to get out.
Today, many workers exposed to dangerous substances have no canaries to provide a warning.
Situations such as this is the motivation behind organizations committed to ensuring workplace safety - and remembering those who died on the job.
"The numbers across the country are staggering," Carl Walker, Squamish and District Labour Committee member, said during a council presentation on April 19.
"In 2009, 939 workplace deaths were recorded in Canada - down from 1,036 the previous year."
Walker asked council to proclaim Thursday (April 28) as the Official Day of Mourning in the District of Squamish and asked council members to attend the memorial ceremony on Sunday (May 1), a request council was more than happy to grant.
The Day of Mourning memorial has been going on in Squamish for the past 11 years and was instigated by Ralph McGinn, then-president of the Worker's Compensation Board (WCB) of B.C.
In a letter to the mayors and councils of B.C., he wrote:
"The Worker's Compensation Board was formed in 1917. Since that time more than 11,000 workers have died in B.C. as a result of work-related accidents or disease and today there are approximately 150 deaths each year."
It went on to explain that WCB, the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Business Council of British Columbia were working together to create memorials to honour deceased workers. For municipalities, WCB offered to provide the plaque or contribute $500 toward the local memorial monument.
Local Paul Harrington took it upon himself to work toward constructing a memorial monument, but started with a tree-planting ceremony in Pavilion Park in 2000.
Afterward, he started collecting donations for the actual monument and was astounded by the local support, both in volunteer time and money. Local, provincial and federal unions and businesses donated more than $6,000 for the monument, only to have local people and businesses donate the material and labour.
"I was never prouder to be a Squamite than when we received such generous funding towards such an important cause," Harrington said.
The monument was finished in 2001 and the first plaque had 26 names - 20 of them forestry workers.
Because the initial cost of the stone, installation and plaque was covered by local donations, the Squamish and District Labour Committee has kept the funding and has been using it to advertise the Day of Mourning ceremony and add names to the monument.
Thanks to Harrington's dedication and community support, fallen Squamish workers are memorialized at the worker's monument in Pavilion Park.
According to Harrington and Walker, this year's Day of Mourning Memorial is particularly important because a plaque with eight new names is being added to the monument. They include that of Laurence St. Laurent, who died in the 1963 Woodfibre explosion but hadn't been acknowledged until now.
"This year's ceremony will be special as we will be unveiling a new plaque with eight additional names and we anticipate that many of their family members will be in attendance," Walker said.
Harrington said everyone has her or his own way of honouring those who died, whether it's a flower, a card or no gesture at all.
The National Day of Mourning, which is recognized internationally, was Thursday (April 28) but the ceremony will occur on Sunday (May 1) at 12:15 p.m.
"It is as much a day to remember the dead as it is to protect the living," Walker said. "We hope the annual observance of this day will strengthen the resolve to establish safe conditions in the workplace for all."
