Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group rallying in front of MPP Kevin Holland's office - (CJ Goater/Acadia Broadcasting)

The Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers Support Group held a rally in front of Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland’s office on Wednesday in response to a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) rebate for safe employers.

On April 7, the Ford government announced that they would be issuing a $2 billion rebate to safe employers through the WSIB.

The announcement was made while the province was highlighting new protections for the provincial economy amid the trade war with the U.S.

“Well, last week the Ford government announced that they’re going to give $2 billion away from the WSIB accident fund that is exclusively collected to provide benefits for workers who are injured, disabled and ill on the job,” explained Group Treasurer Steve Mantis. “What we see is that more and more workers are ending up with mental health disabilities, (and) 92% of those people who put in a claim for their mental health disability are denied.”

According to the group, roughly 500,000 Ontarians end up accessing disability funds every year, 20,000 of whom have sustained a lifetime disability.

“When we look at people with a permanent impairment, A lifelong disability from a serious injury, pretty well half of them are going to end up in poverty with a subsequent mental illness because of how they’re treated through the process,” added Mantis. “When you talk to staff at the WSIB who have been there for their whole career, they say everything’s changed.”

“In the old days, we were trained to look to allow, not to give away money, but to say this is what the law says and we want to ensure that the people that deserve it according to the law get it.”

A safe workplace is determined by how many disability claims are approved involving a business.

If claims are frequently denied, it would increase the likelihood of a business being determined as safe.

“Now everything’s changed and it’s look to deny. Look to find any way you can to save money so that we can then use it as a political tool to give it back to the corporations who are supporting this government, and it’s got to stop.”

The group is hoping to see the provincial government support their call to action, and support injured workers as long as the individual’s disability lasts.

The support group has the following requests of the provincial government:

• Stop deeming
• Listen to the healthcare provider of the injured individual
• Seeking to have the WSIB refer workers to specialists for assessments
• Increase the loss of earnings benefit rate
• Stop discriminating against mental health claims
• Restore the loss of earnings benefits for injured migrant workers
• Reform to the response to occupational disease