Hanging on a wall in the SASCU Rec Centre for close to a decade, a plaque in memory of those who have lost their lives as a result of a workplace accident or occupational disease is about to see the light of day.The ‘temporary site’ was chosen in the mid-1990s when WorkSafe BC delivered the plaque.Following a request by two city workers, equipment operator Kevin Hansen and bylaw officer Marcel Bedard, city council agreed to cover the cost (up to $200) of moving a large rock into a garden at Marine Peace Park to display the plaque where it will be highly visible.Hansen says he and Bedard have been involved with the Shuswap-Columbia Labour Council for several years, a place where the subject of moving the plaque from its obscure place on a hallway wall had been discussed previously without result.With one million workplace injuries in Canada every year, Hansen and Bedard believe the plaque should be more accessible and visible.Hansen says every seven seconds there’s a workplace-related injury in Canada. He notes WorkSafe statistics report 142 workers lost their lives in B.C. in 2011 – 50 per cent through occupational disease, 29.6 by traumatic injuries and 20.4 per cent in motor-vehicle incidents.In his request to council in March, Hansen noted the death by electrocution of a young worker in Armstrong last fall and the recent death of an Enderby firefighter.“We believe the timing of this event around the day of mourning could not be more critical,” he says, pointing out a high percentage of incidents involve young workers and the city has seen its share of serious injuries. “People who have been impacted by this will have the opportunity to go to Marine Park and… do their thing in a bit more private fashion than where it is by the bathroom in the community centre.” An official dedication of the plaque in its new home behind the Brighouse Nature Centre will take place at 11 a.m. on Canada’s National Day of Mourning, Saturday, April 28 and will include a moment of silence and short speeches by Mayor Nancy Cooper and RCMP Staff Sgt. Kevin Keane.Hansen says he and Bedard are honoured that Doug and Corinne De Patie will attend the ceremony. It is their son, 24-year-old Grant, for whom a statute known as Grant’s Law was introduced after he was dragged to his death in 2005 as he tried to stop a “gas and dash” in Maple Ridge.“We we are not pushing this as unionized workers at all; it’s all about workplace health and safety,” says Hansen of the ceremony he hopes will attract many residents. “This is a day of mourning for the 1,000 deaths that occur across Canada every year. It’s a day to remember all of them.”The formal ceremony will be followed by a community barbecue and Hansen and Bedard hope it will become an annual event.

Salmon Arm Observer