Day of Mourning marchers honour Manitoba lives lost on the job

Barry Swan hoisted his sign higher as he marched down Broadway Tuesday.

He’d driven two hours from Lake Manitoba First Nation for this: to honour his late son Todd Maytwayashing, whose name and years lived — 1995 to 2018 — were displayed on the signage.

Ahead of Swan, marchers wore black “Day of Mourning” armbands and stickers, an homage to the annual day of remembrance for people who died while working.

Maytwayashing died on a Manitoba Hydro worksite. A bundle of steel fell on top of him, Swan said.

“It’s nice for people to go to work, but you want them to come home alive too,” he said. “We just try and remind people… to always be safe, no matter what the boss says.”

Fourteen Manitobans suffered workplace-related deaths last year. Half were classified as “acute traumatic,” which includes falls and motor vehicle collisions.

The other seven resulted from occupational diseases. Asbestos continues to be a prominent killer, noted Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

Approximately 25,000 workers are injured in Manitoba annually, Rebeck said.

“There’s a lot of areas where we could do better,” he said after the walk, which began at the Union Centre at the corner of Broadway and Smith Street, and ended seven blocks west at Memorial Park.

Rebeck was among dozens of labour advocates and politicians who heard the names of the deceased workers read aloud there.

Companies get off the hook too easily when employees die or are injured on the job, Rebeck said.

“You got a $5,000 fine? That, to me, seems woefully inadequate,” he continued.

The fines are, generally, larger, although one employer was charged $5,000 for a work-related death in the past year. Last month, Manitoba Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures received a $100,000 fine for the 2022 death of a worker killed in an all-terrain vehicle mishap.

Wintec Building Services was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine, and $20,000 for public education, earlier this year after a 2022 workplace death.

Chief executives can be criminally charged with negligence in workplace deaths under a rarely used piece of legislation.

Violence against front-line staff has risen, further amplifying a need for workplace safety measures, Rebeck said.

Premier Wab Kinew announced $100,000 for a fund supporting firefighters’ mental health during a speech at the park.

He later told reporters the provincial government would work to include law enforcement, paramedics and other first responders.

“In our common era, we’re starting to understand (post traumatic stress disorder) and other workplace injuries to mental health that can actually take the life of somebody, even after they come home from their shift,” Kinew said.

Meantime, at city hall, municipal officials and union leaders spoke of past workplace tragedies and efforts to improve safety.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the day is a personal one for him; his brother died in 1998 while working on a job site for Manitoba Hydro.

He said the city was adding two new names to its memorial roll — Dennis Lloyd and William Clark, Winnipeg firefighters who recently died.

Nick Kasper, president of the United Firefighters of Winnipeg union, told the crowd three active Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel have been diagnosed with occupational cancer in the past month.

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“It’s devastating news… and we’re supporting them through that,” Kasper said after the ceremony, adding the union has made strides in addressing occupational cancer over the years but “there’s more work to be done.”

The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba accepted 22 fatality claims in 2024, a number that includes deaths prior to that year. Six deaths were newly counted as workplace-related in 2025, bringing the year’s total count to 20.

Rod Murphy, a former New Democrat MP involved in the memorial day, applauded Manitoba Labour Minister Malaya Marcelino and the government for their work on re-establishing an advisory council on workplace safety and health looking at protection measures.

— With files from Carol Sanders and Erik Pindera

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Gabrielle Piché
Reporter

Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.

Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.