Eugene Lefrancois was injured on the job on June 5, 1985.
That injury has affected his life every day.
Lefrancois was one of about a dozen protesters outside of Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle’s office early Thursday afternoon.
The Thunder Bay and District Injured Workers' Support Group, along with Poverty Free Thunder Bay, rallied against cuts made to benefits for injured and disabled workers over the last several years.
The Injured Workers Support Group says Ontario businesses have had their assessment rates lowered by $1 Billion a year since 1997.
Lefrancois said while big businesses have been receiving cuts, injured workers are living in poverty.
“We’re falling farther and farther in the poverty trap,” he said. “We can’t get out and it seems no matter how hard we protest, not matter how long we protest, it’s just getting worse.”
A change in corporate breaks is what Lefrancois wants to see.
“It is all slanted in favour of the employer,” he said.
Poverty Free Thunder Bay chairwoman Terri Carter said they wanted to support the injured workers group because people living on Workplace Safety and Insurance Board incomes usually are not receiving adequate benefits.
“They get denied their claims and end up on social assistance. Without adequate benefits, they don’t have enough money for food and housing,” she said.
