If you are from Canada you have probably heard about the incident that just occurred in Edmonton at the WCB building (That is Workers Compensation Board for anyone who is wondering). I am speaking of course of the hostage situation where a man held eight workers hostage and demanded to speak with his caseworker.
If you are unfamiliar with the situation you can see a news clip about the incident here:

Many people are in an uproar that such a thing would happen to us fair-minded and decent Canadians. Few stop to think about the motives behind this act.

I am not suggesting that I condone such a thing of course, any hostage situation is a terrifying ordeal, and this world would be much better off without them. It is shocking and unfortunate that this happened, but not particularly surprising. Sadly, the WCB has a track record for not giving the greatest attention to cases that are brought before them.
If you are not familiar with the WCB, it is an organization that is supposed to help those who are injured in the workplace by providing them with compensation and helping them to maintain as normal a life as possible. Whether they spend one month off due to injury or are never able to work again.

As a result of their inattention and uncaring stance many people who deserve and need help from WCB are denied. The desperation that springs forth when your life is falling apart is terrible enough. Imagine how it would compound when you discover the organization you believed would help you in fact has turned their back on you. That could definitely lead to such a reckless and dangerous act as this hostage situation. The man who did this felt like he had no other option. Yes, perhaps he is now going to prison, which sounds terrible to some. But at the very least, there he will have three full meals a day and a roof over his head.

You may be wondering why I choose to burden you with this information because you never asked for it and most of you probably never thought about it one way or the other before.

I’m sending this out for my sister. She was injured at work in 2007, an unfortunate accident that could have happened to anyone. I’m not going to go into all the details but I will say that because of it she is no longer able to work, suffered a great deterioration in quality of life and has had to endure more pain than anyone should. She has recently been denied compensation from WCB despite her appeals and obvious need of assistance. Anyone with less strength than her would have given up a long time ago.
She needs help, and WCB should be standing beside her right now.

She is not the only one who is living with a long term disability from a work injury and has been denied compensation. There are cases all across Canada of the same thing.

There is a petition that has been created (Federal Public Judicial Inquiry into Wrongdoing by Workers Compensation Boards Across Canada) the goal of it is – “To promote fair and equitable compensation for injured workers in Canada, to address the mistreatment of injured workers and to voice the common concerns of injured workers across Canada.”

If you would sign the petition you will increase our chance of being heard and that would make a difference to so many people just like my sister. All you need to do is write your name. It’s as simple as that. The petition can be found at

http://www.gopetition.com/online/19942.html

Thank you for reading this, if you wish to forward this to anyone I would definitely encourage it. The more people that know, and sign their name, the more of a chance we will have.

Sincerely,
B.H. Hobson

This blog is written on behalf of Christy Petersen: Injured since 2007 – long term injury.
Compensation status: Denied.