Welcome to the website of the Canadian Injured Workers Association of Alberta.
Are you looking for videos from our events? Information about our current and past actions? Visit How to Use This Site.
News from Alberta will be updated on this main page. We also have news pages for B.C. and Ontario that are updated regularly.
The Canadian Injured Workers Association of Alberta would like to thank the Alberta Federation of Labour for their sponsorship of this website.
Check out the latest post on our Ontario page to see how workers are building community. It is a shame that Alberta does not have the kind of support as other provinces.
Lawyers/Legal Help Wanted
Injured workers in Alberta face a daunting challenge in finding legal representation to navigate the complex workers’ compensation system. With legal aid and lawyer referral services unavailable for these cases, many are left to navigate the system alone. We urgently need lawyers specializing in workers’ compensation law to step forward and offer their expertise.
The struggles injured workers face include:
– Delayed or denied claims, leading to financial hardship and mental health struggles
– Navigating a complex system without proper support
– Lack of accountability and transparency within the WCB and AC
– Personal stories of struggle and resilience
If you are a lawyer willing to take on these cases or an injured worker who has found legal support, please share your story with us. Together, we can:
– Advocate for change and ensure injured workers receive the legal support they deserve
– Encourage legal professionals to specialize in workers’ compensation law
– Establish a legal clinic or resource dedicated to supporting injured workers in Alberta
Let’s unite to create a safer, more supportive system for injured workers. Share your experiences, recommendations, and ideas with us. Together, we can make a difference!”
Wealth Inequality
Underlying so much polarization in Canada is income and wealth inequality. What’s happening with injured workers is in this broader context, where whole segments of the population are slipping further and further behind. In their economic desperation, some of them turn to promises by people like Trump.
Here’s an excellent piece that provides insights on some of the basics.
This shows that there is tremendous potential of improving the situation of poor and working people just by restoring some balance in the distribution of wealth.
Workers compensation is one of the tools governments are using to increase income inequality. The recent announcement of $2.5 billion being sent to corporations while injured workers fall further into poverty makes the intentions of the Ontario government clear.
It’s time to speak out and stand up for those being left behind. Here is a recent article from Thunder Bay along these lines. You can do it too.
Injured Workers call WSIB announcement ‘totally unfair’
Reform Alberta
Ontario has taken a significant step towards protecting workers’ rights with their new act, which aims to provide justice, accountability , oversight and respect for workers rights. In Alberta there is no oversight or accountability when WCB and AC don’t comply with policy or the law. They are not held accountable even when they intentionally break the law or intentionally because they are ignorant of their own policies and law. Because they are not held accountable they been telling the government you’re arm’s length to what we do to the vulnerable citizens of Alberta
How Ontario’s legislation compares to Alberta’s – Key Features of Ontario’s New Act include:
– Strengthening political accountability
– Increasing transparency in government
– Giving more power to workers ³ ⁴
This development helps vulnerable citizens
Meredith Act Released in Ontario
The Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG) is proud to announce the release of the Meredith Act!
Collaborating with the Ontario NDP Critic for Injured Workers, WSIB and Seniors, Lise Vaugeois, ONIWG took the lead to create a A New Workers’ Compensation Act, called the Meredith Act. MPP Vaugeois plans to introduce it as a private members bill in the Spring of 2025.
The new act is based on the Platform for Change, a position paper developed by the injured worker community, revised and updated over the last two decades. ONIWG worked together with community partners to take the principles outlined in the Platform for Change into legal language. Retired lawyer Kendal McKinney did amazing work as the secretary and writer on the new act that is named after the founding father of workers comp, Sir William Meredith.
Congratulations and thanks to the many workers who participated in this process to create a vision for the future. A future that could include Justice for Injured Workers.
Former Crown lawyer files Charter challenge over workers’ compensation system
Even the doctor has had enough.
Injured workers don’t stand a chance to get medical care when the whole system is flawed. The WCB office clerk in charge of your medical care consistently makes the wrong medical opinion to deny desperately needed medical care, and has no boss to help change their unqualified medical decisions.
No one is watching. The doctors don’t have time to advocate on behalf of the injured worker to teach the office clerk how to practice medicine in 20 seconds or less. Government and WCB refuses to provide oversight so these office clerks continue to abuse their power. The government should not allow office clerks to have this kind of medical and legal power without oversight.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1839745972844327004.html
Important Articles for Albertans
WCB in Alberta still practices deeming Alberta workers into pretend jobs that don’t exist and which the workers would be too disabled to work at if these pretend jobs did exist in Alberta . Why don’t Alberta workers have people wanting to get involved to help their fellow Albertans to put a stop to the case managers (clerks) from treating Alberta’s workers carelessly by deeming them to work in pretend jobs, forcing them into poverty, disabled from work injuries? The people in Ontario got involved.
This article is about the deeming of migrant farm workers: Despite Ontario workers’ compensation reforms, migrant workers are still being left behind
This second piece is the Montreal Manifesto on Precarious Work, Workforce Diversity, International Migration and Occupational Health and Safety (PDF). This comes out of a gathering last year with a large contingent from Quebec.
INJURED AT WORK = HOMELESS IN ALBERTA
BEST KEPT SECRET OF WCB
– WCB representatives, lacking medical qualifications and legal training, are unlicensed to practice medicine or law, yet they wield absolute power to decide injured workers’ fate.
– Despite their lack of expertise, they create their own medical opinions and law, contradicting factual evidence and legislation, and deny compensation to injured workers.
– These unqualified representatives claim to be in charge, with absolute authority over injured workers’ claims, yet they have no apparent boss or oversight, raising questions about who grants them this power and why they are unaccountable.
– Injured workers are told that these representatives have the final say, with no possibility of escalation or review by a higher authority, despite being employed by a government organization that supposedly answers to the public.
– This lack of accountability and transparency allows them to make life-altering decisions without any checks or balances, leading to predictable errors and abuse of power.
– The Workers Compensation ACT requires the board to weigh all evidence and provide compensation entitlement based on medical probability, but unqualified clerks are allowed to ignore the existence of the WCA , prioritizing denial of compensation.
– If injured workers become unemployable, it’s a no-win situation, trapping them in a long-term cycle of denial and appeal, until they eventually succumb to their injuries or die waiting for justice.
In summary, it’s absurd to grant unqualified individuals the power to make critical medical and legal decisions, leading to a system where injured workers are denied rightful compensation, forced into poverty, and left to suffer. This systemic failure highlights the urgent need for reform and accountability within the WCB. Moreover, it is appalling that the people of Alberta and organizations who are aware of this abuse have remained silent and inactive, allowing this injustice to persist.
Recent media coverage supporting injured workers in other provinces. Alberta needs more media coverage on this topic.
Legislative amendments aim to improve benefits for injured workers
Ontario to change how it compensates injured migrant agricultural workers
Read the KMPG Value for Money Audit
To see activity and justice in another province look under News – Ontario. We apologize for no updates in Alberta regarding the WCB and Appeals Commission. There appears to be not much interest in workers dealing with injuries, homelessness, and death – it’s been frustrating to garner support.