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‘I had to learn heartbreaking things’
Day of Mourning pays tribute to workers killed on thejob
Charelle EVELYN Citizen staff cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca
Just as important as remembering those who lost their lives to a work-related incident is supporting those who are left behind to pick up the pieces, according to speakers taking part in the local Day of Mourning ceremony Tuesday afternoon.
A few dozen people gathered over the lunch hour at the workers’ memorial on Queensway Street to remember those dead or injured as well as to call for changes to the way workplace safety is handled.
Lynne Rozenboom knows all too well the lingering effect a work-related death can have on a family, as she is still reeling from the death of her husband Dirk in 2008.
Rozenboom volunteers with WorkSafeBC, sharing her story and the benefits of the organization’s peer support program that gives those who find themselves in similar situations, among other things, a resource for handling their grief.
A B.C. Hydro line technician,
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Prince George fire fighters served as an honour guard at the annual Day of Mourning ceremony at the Workers Memorial on Tuesday.
Dirk never came home after the helicopter he was in to do line patrols crashed one afternoon, killing the four people aboard.
“In the ensuing years, I have had to learn so many things I didn’t think I’d need to,” said Rozen-boom.
After losing her partner of 22 years, Rozenboom said she had to learn to find a reason to get out of bed every day, eat healthy meals for one and learn practical things such as operating the brand new
tractor mower Dirk had purchased mere weeks before his death.
“I had to learn heartbreaking things, like how to explain to my grandson that every helicopter he saw in the sky was not going to fall out of that sky.”
Observed on April 28 nationally, the Day of Mourning was first recognized in 1984 by the Canadian Labour Congress before becoming a national observance in 1990 through the passing of the Workers Mourning Day Act.
“The symbol adopted for this day is the canary, long sacrificed by miners to warn them of oxygen deficiencies so they can get out of the shaft before suffocating,” said Aaron Ekman, secretary treasurer of the B.C. Federation of Labour.
In the modern day, there’s no need to make such sacrifices, with advancements in technology.
But last year, there were still 173 claims accepted for work-related deaths, 98 of which were the result of occupational disease
caused by exposure to asbestos.
“We don’t need a canary to tell us there’s an epidemic in our province,” said Ekman. “It’s time the killing stopped, it’s time injuries were prevented, it’s time negligent employers were sent to jail for their negligence and it’s time workers and our families get the justice we deserve.”
As with every Day of Mourning marked in Prince George since 2012, those affected by the Jan. 20 and April 23 explosions at Babine Forest Products and Lakeland Mills, respectively, were not far from mind.
The coroner’s inquest into the Prince George explosion was suspended March 26 and is set to resume on May 11.
While Ekman repeated the call for a public inquiry, the president of the United Steelworkers Wood Council, Bob Matters, simply expressed a desire to see the proceedings come to an end.
“I’m not heaping criticism upon the process or upon WorkSafe or upon the work site, but simply to remind everybody of the critical need for this process to come to a timely conclusion,” he said.
“The inquest is not about finding fault as you all know, but rather as an attempt to isolate the cause and/or contributing factors to what happened in these events.
It’s a process where just maybe - just maybe - we can prevent something similar from happening in the future.”
Teachers stressed, angst-ridden
Burns Lake man charged in triple murder
Citizen staff
Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca
If the outgoing president of the local teacher’s association has one word to describe how teachers in school district 57 are feeling, it would be angst.
“Angst is running rampant,” Tina Cousins told the school board at Tuesday night’s meeting.
She was reporting back after the Prince George District Teachers Association’s meeting Monday, where teachers reported problems with workload, stress and support. Cousins said schools across the district are having problems filling spots when teachers are sick.
“We have a problem in our district with replacement workers,” she said, adding
there simply are not enough available teachers on call, especially in rural schools “I heard about it in spades last night.” “That’s a problem. We went on strike for 23 days because we needed more support,” she said. “I need you to know that this is a major problem and the subtleties are over.” The board also heard that the association is recommending teachers don’t support an ongoing student data program called MyEducation BC, which was supposed to be in place this coming September.
“We are trying to work together but the district has asked for lead teachers to assist with that implementation,” said Cousins, but teachers’ workloads won’t allow it.
“The members have spoken and the members said we can’t do any more voluntary time.”
— see RURAL TEACHERS, page 4
A 54-year-old Burns Lake man has been charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of three people Monday in the community of about 2,000 people west of Prince George.
Crown counsel approved the charges against Reuben Buhler yesterday and he’s scheduled to appear in Burns Lake provincial court today.
In a press release, North District RCMP Cpl. Dave Tyreman said Burns Lake RCMP were called to a home in the 200 block of Fifth Avenue at 8:25 a.m. to find one woman and two men dead inside.
Police did not release the victim’s names Tuesday afternoon.
Sources and social media postings indicate that two of the victims are Ridge Vi-enneau and Ehr Anderson and the deaths
were related to a domestic dispute. The other man’s name remained unclear.
The North District RCMP’s major crime unit, Prince George forensic identification unit and members from the North District RCMP’s general investigative unit out of Terrace and Prince George are assisting the Burns Lake RCMP in their investigation.
“The investigation is still in its very early stages and no other information can be released at this time in order to protect the integrity of the investigation and the upcoming court process,” Tyreman said.
According to court records, Buhler has convictions for taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, flight from a peace officer and willfully resisting a peace officer from two 2003 incidents in Liard River and Fort Nelson.
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