Half-mast for every Canadian who dies on the job
Submitted by Rob on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 11:23.
Big news item in my country this week: When to lower the flag to half-mast on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Should it be only on Remembrance Day (as it is now) or every time a Canadian soldier is killed overseas?
I respect the men and women who help keep the peace in strife-torn regions around the world; they are amazing people, and they risk their lives doing their job. But if the government cannot decide on this, I've got an alternative idea...
Let's lower the flag to half-mast every time any Canadian dies on the job.
Maybe that might finally draw the nation's attention to the crisis around preventable accidents and fatalities that continue to happen in our workplaces. Unnecessary tragedies - despite government legislation, safety knowledge and equipment available in one of the most progressive industrialized nations in the world.
Five deaths a day
The latest statistics reveal that five people die on the job in Canada every day. The Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards put out an eye-opening 155-page study at the end of 2005 that I highly recommend you at least scan.
Five deaths a day - and that doesn't include the hundreds of thousands of injuries!
National Day of Mourning
Every April 28th, the Peace Tower flag is lowered to honour the National Day of Mourning (aka Workers Memorial Day)- an event also recognized in other nations.
But Canada can set itself apart - by becoming the only nation to publicly mourn these workplace victims every single time they die. Keep hoisting down that Maple Leaf on Parliament Hill until enough people notice - and get mad about - all these preventable deaths!
Think about it. If you have any objections, please post your comment, in the space provided below. I'd love to know how this is not a respectful and appropriate use of our most high-profile flag in our nation's capital.
I like your idea in
I like your idea in principle Rob, but if the flag went up and down a minimum of five times a day, the significance would be lost very quickly and it would just be ignored before too long. Consider Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan. Many people can probably still some or all of the first casualities from this conflict in 2002, or perhaps even the first woman killed in combat there in 2006. But today when we hear news of another death in Afganistan, most feel a twinge of sadness for a few moments, and then we go on with our lives. While every death is tragic, it's not always easy to feel emotional about a death that occured thousands of miles away.
I feel the memorial would be more effective at the city or town level than at a national level. I believe people have a greater response to events that happen in their community. The city or town hall could take the lead, and companies committed to workplace safety (such as your 'safety champions') could follow. Small town memorials might not make the national news, but they would be much more effective at rallying communities around the cause of workplace safety. (And of course cities and towns should honor their hometown men and women fighting in Afghanistan too.)
Half-mast at Town Hall or
Half-mast at Town Hall or City Hall - good idea for getting a grassroots movement going. It could make enough local folks angry at the loss of their neighbours, coworkers, relatives that they would write, call, protest march, whatever at the national and provincial level...
Cause I think municipal governments don't wield much, if any, power to effect changes around workplace safety; most, if not all, of the legislative changes, inspection of workplaces and penalties (fines, jail terms) levied at offending companies are done at the provincial and/or federal level...
But we humble folks in our own communities can get good and MAD about five deaths a day and hundreds of thousands of injuries on the job in Canada each year!! We can make some noise!!
I do not beleive the flag
Post new comment