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Canada's Day of Mourning takes on special meaning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic

New Democratic Party of Canada leader Jagmeet Singh on election night, Oct. 21, 2019 in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Craig McCulloch
/
KNKX
New Democratic Party of Canada leader Jagmeet Singh on election night, Oct. 21, 2019 in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Tuesday marked the National Day of Mourning across Canada for workers killed on the job. This year’s memorials were especially poignant due to the novel coronavirus.

This year, different memorials that usually attract thousands to public squares across Canada had to be moved online because of COVID-19.

Nationally, there are about 1,000 people who die each year on the job. In 2019, in the province of British Columbia, there were 140 people who died either on the job or because of their work.

The pandemic of COVID-19 brought added attention to the risks and sacrifices front-line and essential workers are taking every day.

In one Facebook event, Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, spoke about meeting a Vancouver-area health care worker who said he sleeps in his brother’s backyard to reduce the chance of spreading the virus.

“Far too many health care workers right now are having to do the same thing living, they're sleeping in their car or sleeping in tents,” Singh said. “And that is not the way health care workers should be treated.”

April 28 started as the Day of Mourning in Canada back in 1984. It has since spread to more than 100 countries.

According to the Department of Labor and Industries, 55 workers died last year due to work-related issues in Washington state; 43 died due to lingering illnesses related to their occupations.

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