THE BATHURST MONUMENT: The Day of Mourning Monument is situated in a park on Douglas Avenue, next to the Heritage Museum.

Rock, wood and steel – these were the materials chosen for the monument to represent the workers of the Chaleur region: rock for those who worked in the mines and smelters, wood for those in the forests and mills, steel for the builders of the community in other workplaces. The oldest industry of the region is represented by the wooden beams of fishing wharves – and scars are welded into the standing sheets of steel to represent the sacrifices of workers over many years of local history.

The Day of Mourning was already being observed in Bathurst in the early 1990s, when the Bathurst and District Labour Council established a Monument Committee, coordinated by John Gagnon, a member of Local 5385, United Steelworkers of America. Funds were contributed by unions and the public. Building materials were donated by Brunswick Mining and Smelting, and volunteers provided equipment and assisted in the work. The monument was designed by Petit Rocher artist Joël Boudreau.

UNVEILING, 1995: The monument was unveiled on Labour Day in September 1995. The picture shows John Gagnon (left), Louis Roy (centre) and Cleo Gallant (right) of the Bathurst and District Labour Council.

With cooperation from the city, the site for the monument was chosen in the park next to the Nepisiguit Centennial Library in the heart of Bathurst. Construction started in June 1995, and the monument was unveiled on Labour Day, 4 September 1995. The ribbon was cut by New Democratic Party leader Elizabeth Weir, who also participated in the Labour Day parade. She undertook to introduce a bill in the provincial legislature to give official recognition to the Day of Mourning in New Brunswick; this law is now on the statute books of the province.

In the years since 1995, the Day of Mourning has been observed at the monument in Bathurst with solemn ceremonies, including a minute of silence. In 1996, for instance, the mayor proclaimed 28 April a municipal Day of Mourning and flags were flown at half-mast throughout the city. Every year on 28 April union members present wreaths at the monument. The event has personal meaning for many families. In 2002 Jean Smyth of Bathurst brought her two children to the ceremony in order to remember her father, who lost his life at Brunswick Mining in 1980 and her grandfather, who lost his life at the Bathurst paper mill in 1964.

Blair Doucet, a Brunswick miner who became president of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour in 1999, has often spoken at the Day of Mourning ceremonies. In 2003, for instance, he noted that the Day is recognized in almost 100 countries around the world. “Workplace accidents are a serious matter” , he said, “Injured workers pay a heavy price for accidents that often are the result of insufficient training, poor employer safety practices, inadequate workplace inspection services, and weak or poorly enforced health and safety laws” .

DAY OF MOURNING CEREMONY, BATHURST, 2007: From left to right: Yvon Godin, MP Acadie-Bathurst, Sheryl Lavoie, MLA Nepisiguit, Brian Kenny, MLA Bathurst, and Stephen Brunet, Mayor of Bathurst at the Day of Mourning Ceremony, Bathurst, 2007.

In marking the Day of Mourning, the Bathurst and District Labour Council has made special efforts to educate young workers about their right to safety in the workplace. School classes have attended the ceremony, and labour spokesmen have visited classrooms and school assemblies. “Over the past ten years, we've been making a big focus on the youth” , said John Gagnon in 2004, “That's what we try to focus on because the youth are the future workers. We try to get the education of what their health and safety rights are – what are their responsibilities and what are the employer's responsibilities” . An additional monument was added to the park in 2001 by Local 5385 to pay tribute to 14 Brunswick Mine employees killed on the job. Their names are engraved on this second memorial. Acadie-Bathurst MP Yvon Godin, a former employee of Brunswick Mining, recalled several of the workers who were lost and stated: “We must continue to fight for the living and negotiate for better safety policies” .