- 6/4/2025
This rally took place at queen's park. I had to use a ziplock at one point to cover the camera due to unexpected rain (lasted a short time).
Had I left much earlier for the charity ride, I would have arrived close to the start time, giving me a few minutes to set things up and find a good vantage point, however things didn't go according to plan.
Had I left much earlier for the charity ride, I would have arrived close to the start time, giving me a few minutes to set things up and find a good vantage point, however things didn't go according to plan.
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00Today, quote-unquote, look-up, Punjabi, Pakistani, Canadian women, i.e. look-up South Asian and a Canadian brand, I guess.
00:09I don't know if you call it South Asian, but we're vastly diverse.
00:13So, solidarity to my South Asian sisters and brothers who are here as injured workers.
00:18I am a daughter, a mother, a sibling of individuals with disabilities, an activist, an advocate, a systems disruptor, a social entrepreneur, and I happen to have a disability.
00:37I'm blind, so if you don't talk, you don't exist in my world.
00:41And that means for my deaf friends, they have to come and touch me.
00:46They're the only ones allowed to touch me, okay?
00:50So, I am here as National Director of Disability Without Poverty.
00:55We built a grassroots movement from sea to sea to sea when the federal government promised the Canada Disability Benefit in 2020.
01:04Today, the Canada Disability Benefit is law, is budgeted, is regulated, and is going to roll out on July the 1st, and it's too little for too few.
01:19It just ain't good enough.
01:21They didn't listen to us.
01:23So, we need to speak louder and clearer.
01:26Yes, we work together and change the system in a non-partisan way, galvanizing all-party support.
01:35We continue to work with that spirit of mobilizing all-party support.
01:44We are non-partisan.
01:46We are not funded by government.
01:48Let me make it clear.
01:50We are not funded by government.
01:53We are funded by philanthropy who believe in doing good and believe in doing right by disabled people in this country.
02:03And the reason we are here today is to show solidarity with our sisters and brothers who are injured workers and advocating for injured workers.
02:14We have a common goal around social justice.
02:18We need to build bridges of understanding amongst us.
02:22The system insists on dividing us by giving us different labels, like, you know, the workers, like WSIB, right?
02:36They categorize us in different categories, like ODSP.
02:42And we divide each other by the label that we carry.
02:46It doesn't matter if we were born with a disability or acquired it.
02:52It doesn't matter how we acquired it, whether it was an accident or illness.
02:58What matters is we share common language, share common barriers, and work together to eliminate those barriers.
03:09So our brothers and sisters, our injured workers, who meet the income thresholds and meet eligibility criteria, riddled with barriers, will be accessing the Canada Disability Benefit up to $200 per month, rolling out July 1st.
03:30You have to qualify for the disability tax credit, another barrier, a disability tax credit that needs medical forms.
03:39We are advocating, saying, hey, if people qualify already through rigorous medical assessments for WSIB, for ODSP, for any other program in this country where they've had to attest to their disability and go to a doctor to prove it by filling out forms, they shouldn't have to prove it again and again and again and again.
04:05I am blind, I am blind, I am blind, I am blind, I am blind, and I need no doctor to certify that.
04:13I just can't see you.
04:15Get it with the program.
04:17Okay?
04:19So, solidarity, folks, that's the way to change the system.
04:24Nothing about us without us.
04:27Let's stand together.
04:28We just wrapped up National Access Ability Week, and here we are standing in solidarity with International Injured Workers' Day, and celebrating the fact that it's been recognized in Ontario, commemorating the fact that we have lost so many lives in the pursuit of social justice, and the battle will continue.
04:52Together, only can we change the system.
04:58We would now like to invite Andy Ladeser to speak about occupational disease.
05:09Andy Ladeser is the United Steel Workers' District 6 Health, Safety, and Environment Coordinator covering Ordario and the Atlantic Provinces.
05:20Andy has represented injured workers at all levels of the compensation process.
05:26The work of Andy's advocacy and representation was focused on occupational disease.
05:32I'm an injured worker as well, and as much as I've changed roles, the advocate still exists to me.
05:45I'm still here to speak up for injured workers.
05:48I thank you for the opportunity to talk about occupational disease.
05:51Injured workers naturally includes victims of occupational disease, those who have suffered from or have died from injured workers.
06:11They're part of this day.
06:11Many of them couldn't be here, but this is an important topic, and occupational disease isn't new for the workers' compensation system.
06:20It's been around since its inception.
06:22At that time, it was referred to as industrial disease, and in fact, industrial disease existed hundreds of years before there was workers' compensation.
06:31In his final report on workers' compensation laws, Sir William Ralph Meredith stated that it would be a blot on the system if victims of occupational disease weren't afforded the same benefits as every other injured worker.
06:49And I'm here to tell you, the WSIB has created many blots on that system, the way they deal with victims of occupational disease.
07:01The problem isn't the legislation, but the administration of the Act, the managers and those above at WSIB.
07:11It's clearly stated in the Act that occupational disease will be adjudicated just like every other injury, like Meredith envisioned.
07:18Some occupational diseases are covered by presumptive legislation.
07:24There's 31 diseases in Schedule 3 that are afforded the presumption that it's work-related unless the contrary is shown.
07:31There's four in Schedule 4 that have no rebuttal regarding work-relatedness.
07:38The benefit of the doubt is prescribed by the Act, which means that if the evidence on an issue is equal in weight or approximately equal in weight, they're supposed to decide in favour of the worker.
07:47When you combine that with the rule of liberal interpretation prescribed by the Legislation Act, clearly there is room for improvement in legislation, but it's not the problem.
08:00WSIB is mandated to monitor generally accepted advances in scientific information and have those reflected in services and benefits.
08:08Have they done that?
08:09Have they done that?
08:10No.
08:11Yet despite that mandate, experts have estimated there's 3,000 occupational cancers diagnosed in Ontario every year.
08:21And only about 15% of that is reported to the WSIB.
08:26Of those cancers reported, excluding presumptive cancers for firefighters, less than half are allowed.
08:36So that's 85% of estimated occupational cancers that never get reported to WSIB, and less than half of the 15% that's reported are allowed.
08:48Clearly, clearly a lot of work to be done in reporting and in adjudicating.
08:54Last year, WSIB allowed 210 fatal claims. 210 workers died. And out of that, 140 of those deaths were from occupational disease.
09:08So we have a small reported number of cancers and a large number of deaths.
09:15So that tells you that the state of the problem is much larger than we know.
09:19And, you know, far too many workers and retirees aren't getting the benefits that they should be entitled to receive.
09:25WSIB also has the authority, subject to the approval of the General Government Council, to add diseases to Schedule 3 and 4.
09:35Now, they did that once, even though they had that authority for decades.
09:40They added Parkinson's disease and related to McIntyre powder, you know, aluminum dust, thanks to a lot of hard work from Janice Martel.
09:48And it sounds like they're doing something good, but they were actually reversing a policy that they had in place since 1997
09:56that was not authorized by the Act.
10:00That policy directed adjudicators to simply deny those claims.
10:04The Act requires every decision be made on its merits and justice.
10:09The WSIB has the mandate to administer the Act.
10:12The very agency that's in charge of administering the Act was failing in that duty and failing with impunity.
10:19This was not the only time WSIB violated the Act.
10:26They had a practice of offsetting permanent impairment awards in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases if the person was a smoker.
10:34So, the Act clearly states that the WSIB has to use the American Medical Association guides when determining some permanent impairment.
10:44They don't get to make up the rules, write their little binder and deduct, but they did that for years.
10:50So, any adjustments that they were making, they had to follow the AMA guidelines and they failed to do that.
10:57In 2016, some decisions came out of the Tribunal on that very subject and seemed to settle the issue.
11:04Because they all said, no, it's wrong. Well, the majority said.
11:08Now, I was involved in some of those decisions and I can tell you one came out at the same time as two came out saying, no, you can't do it, one said you can't.
11:19I had the opportunity to talk about that one before they made a decision.
11:23And I simply said, just because the previous decision came out agreeing with the board,
11:30doesn't mean that it was the Rep's job to tell the Tribunal they have to make a decision consistent with the Act.
11:36Now that I've done that in that appeal, that panel could have ignored it and they agreed.
11:41And I can tell you the other decision was overturned on reconsideration.
11:46But the problem didn't end there. WSIB drew a line in the sand.
11:51They said, if you didn't, you know, get your decision before April, if you got your decision before April 16, 2020,
11:58and you didn't object, we're going to keep that money.
12:01There's no reason in law for them to keep that money.
12:05They just drew that artificial line in the sand and they were still keeping money away from injured workers that deserve it.
12:11I've seen other lots and I'll just briefly cover a couple. There's too many. I could be here all day.
12:20One I saw was a hygienist in his assessment at the WSIB made a statement that had absolutely no evidence to support it.
12:30There was evidence to the contrary on file.
12:33And it wasn't until it got to the tribunal that the panel there said what the WSIB occupational hygienist had put in that file was speculative.
12:44That's the polite way of saying it was a lie. It was based on no evidence.
12:51In another appeal, WSIB had their own scientific review about kidney cancer.
12:58And as much as I say cancer is fatal, kidney cancer has a high survival rate.
13:03Their scientific paper focused on mortality rates and they were denying claims on that basis.
13:10And when it got in front of a tribunal medical assessor, he made it clear that what the WSIB was doing was wrong.
13:20You should not rely on mortality rates to deny claims because that doesn't prove the risk of getting it from work.
13:26And that worker was successful, but far too many others have had their claims denied because of WSIB paperwork.
13:35So there needs to be real change. Real change for victims of occupational disease.
13:40We need people with a genuine understanding of the proper legal test for entitlement.
13:44Not just using the terms to incorrectly deny claims.
13:48And the list of presumptive diseases needs to be greatly expanded.
13:51Cumulative effect, combined exposure and individual susceptibility need to be considered.
13:57Workers deserve a compensation system that is fair and just and they deserve it now. Thank you.
14:05Thanks so much Andy. Andy is an incredible advocate. I've admired his work over many years.
14:15I want now to ask you to join me in a little chant.
14:20Workers' compensation is a right. We will not give up the fight.
14:25Workers' compensation is a right. We will not give up the fight.
14:27This is the 42nd Injure Workers' Day and the first to be officially proclaimed in the province.
14:34Its future is already at risk because the City of Toronto recently passed a by-law that could deeply and dangerously restrict our right to gather in public spaces like we are today.
14:48Here today to speak about this is Howard Green from the Coalition of Charter Rights.
14:56Howard has lived and worked all over the country and has both been a worker and activist on issues relating to education and Indigenous people among many other things.
15:06Howard, nice to have you with us today.
15:09Thank you very much and thank you so much for the invitation to speak.
15:18It's pretty humbling to come up now after all of these amazing speeches by workers and injured worker protectors and labor unions.
15:28And so what I have to talk about is something a little bit different but it relates and it has to do with a recent by-law that was passed by the City of Toronto on May 22nd.
15:41That was ostensibly to protect social institutions like places of worship, childcare and schools of which there are in the City of Toronto 3,000 of these institutions.
15:53And what they place as a by-law is that it will create bubble zones in which it will restrict protest around these institutions.
16:03And it passed by a vote of 16 to 9.
16:07And it will infringe on our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
16:12Absolutely a freedom of expression and our freedom of assembly.
16:17This by-law passed despite fierce community opposition from labor groups, workers, non-government organizations, civil liberties groups, progressive Jewish and Palestinian organizations across the city who came together for a coalition for Charter of Rights.
16:35And we fought for those rights and we fought for those rights and Bonnie Heath who is part of that coalition from injured workers and others joined together with us to fight this by-law.
16:48So how could a threat like this happen in the City of Toronto? A threat to our right to protest?
16:54As Canadians, we hold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as dear.
16:58And unlike those in the South, we don't believe about challenging our democracy and authoritarian rule.
17:06That is a slippery slope as we see Mr. Trump apparate every day.
17:11Toronto has been a center for protests for decades.
17:16You have been leading many of these protests over the years to fight for worker rights, against racism, against environmental challenges and a whole bunch of other issues.
17:27That demand challenging the wealthy and the powerful.
17:32No by-law has ever been passed to curtail these actions.
17:36Yet over the last 18 months in the City of Toronto, as you may know, there have been a number of peaceful protests in favor of pro-Palestinian liberation and against Israeli genocide.
17:53These have created inconveniences, yes.
17:57They have created uncomfortability, yes.
18:01But they have not been subject to any arrests.
18:06And no violation of hate speech has ever been charged against any protester.
18:12Despite this fact, the City Council last December directed people in its bureaucracy to develop a by-law to limit these demonstrations.
18:25Despite the fact that no by-law, no protest, had ever prevented anyone from accessing any of these institutions.
18:34So why did they do it?
18:36So why did they do it?
18:38One, it was unnecessary.
18:40The police already have the power to protect institutions.
18:44You don't need another by-law to do this.
18:46Two, it was undemocratic.
18:4886% of Torontonians who were consulted said no to a by-law.
18:56Shame!
18:57Shame!
18:58It's unenforceable.
19:00They have by-law officers who will be going around trying to figure out how to charge people for crimes that are things like booing or shaming people for going into institutions
19:15that could be selling land on Palestinian land.
19:18Shame!
19:19Shame!
19:20Shame!
19:21And of course, most importantly for us as the Charter Protectors, the city's top lawyer said this by-law is not likely to stand up in court if it's ever challenged.
19:35Yet, City Council passed it.
19:38So what does this thing mean to us?
19:41It's going to create a bubble zone around these institutions of 50 meters.
19:48Yay!
19:49Access zones, they call them.
19:51Of which peaceful protests on July 2nd will be under scrutiny within these by-law areas or these access zone areas.
20:00You can be fined up to $5,000 for an act of discouragement.
20:06But I don't know, no one knows what an act of discouragement really is.
20:11It could be shaking your head.
20:13It could be booing someone.
20:14It could be saying you're against genocide.
20:17What is an act of discouragement?
20:19Anyway, we're saying it's probably unenforceable.
20:22So, really why did the City of Toronto do this?
20:27Nine city councilors voted against.
20:30Sixteen voted for.
20:33Yay!
20:34The idea being maybe they considered voting against it that they would be supporting hate.
20:40Maybe they voted against it because they would be supporting intimidation.
20:45Maybe they voted for it because they were insensitive to the fear and emotion that people have.
20:54But most importantly, some people voted for it because they were afraid of being considered anti-Semitic.
21:01For voting against something that would support people's access to institutions.
21:09As Councillor Matlow said, the opposition to the bylaw, I could not support a performative measure that would do nothing to keep us safe and would do nothing at all that would be able to be protected by the courts.
21:24So, we agree we need to stop hate crimes.
21:27We need to stop racism.
21:29We need to stop prejudice against Jews and Muslims and other people.
21:33But this bylaw only does one thing.
21:36It prevents and infringes on your charter rights to protest.
21:40So, over the course of the next months or so, we will be looking at ways to challenge this bylaw legally in court.
21:49We will be communicating with people within our coalition of over 110 organizations in the city.
21:55But one of the things that's most important about this bylaw, it creates a chill.
22:01A chill about protest.
22:02You could be fined for protesting by a bylaw officer within 50 meters of an institution that is doing things that you may not agree with.
22:11And that is, in fact, a very slippery slope on our rights to protest.
22:15Thank you very much.
22:17We have one more thing left to do today, which is enjoy the music of the Justice Singers.
22:29The Justice Singers are a collection of injured workers coordinated by Kate Lushington.
22:35They have performed their original songs at rallies for over a decade.
22:40And we are delighted to have them here today.
22:45Hello.
22:46We are so excited to be finally able to sing for you.
22:51And I'm going to invite Heather Chiron-Vonatskin, who is one of the founding members of the Justice Singers, to the microphone.
23:02And Alicia, who has recently joined us but is a great advocate for migrant workers.
23:10And we are going to sing, the choir was formed by Beryl Brown, who is the most marvelous injured worker advocate, who sadly is not well enough to be with us now.
23:21But we are going to sing one song by Beryl Brown, one song by Heather, and a special guest appearance by Alicia.
23:28By the chant.
23:29The letter is over there.
23:30Justice for injured workers.
23:31Justice for injured workers.
23:32All of our allies and partners.
23:33It's been very special.
23:34You've all been wonderful.
23:35We started with that sun.
23:36And you've stayed through with the clouds and the cold moving in.
23:40Solidarity to all of us.
23:41Join our fight and join the fights of all of our allies as well.
23:42I love you all.
23:43Have a great day.
23:48joints.
23:52The nen, z auto i am, you very proud to keep people started, with the climate change in the
23:57making of the country.
24:02We have much more energy.
24:03Thank you for acknowledging all these challenges and Notes of it, by such aantasial.
24:07This week, we have a great theš, and I have any support for you.
24:08Sabs how are you