Date
August
20
2007
Members Present
ITEM 1: PRAYER
Assembly Members
Debates of August 20, 2007 (day 13)
Topics
Statements
Member’s Statement On Longstanding Workers’ Compensation Claims
Bill Braden
Great Slave
Merci beaucoup, monsieur le president. One of the most frequent issues that I have raised in this House and had a little bit of an inventory done 50 times, Mr. Speaker, in the last eight years, has been the plight of injured workers. It’s not about those people whose injury or disability has been expeditiously handled by the WCB and the vast majority of cases have, indeed, been handled this way. Rather, my concern has been for those injured workers that have complex, unconventional injuries who have challenged the WCB for years. In their quest for justice, some of them have lost virtually everything in their personal and professional lives, everything that is except their dignity and their belief that the wrong that’s been committed against them must be made right.
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General’s review in the performance of the WCB in this area discovered some 30 injured workers with longstanding, regrettable, unresolved cases. In the case of one worker, Ivan Valic, I was full of optimism in December of 2005 when the Supreme Court of the NWT ruled that Mr. Valic, whose injury dates back 19 years, ruled that Mr. Valic had indeed been wronged, his Charter rights have been violated and his right to natural justice denied. Even today, 18 months after this ruling, he still waits for justice. He’s not alone. Longstanding unresolved cases like his will, I am certain, continue and should come before this Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, on a forward looking basis, this Assembly, committees, the Auditor General for Canada, the Governance Council and Ministers have done excellent progressive work on new legislation that is now before this Assembly. This is a cause for optimism that our WCB will indeed improve in the way it meets the needs of all workers and employers.
It is important for this Assembly, Mr. Speaker, for workers and for employers who pay the cost of this vital part of the society to stay engaged and involved as the WCB moves through the important changes that it faces in the future. Merci beaucoup.