Concerns voiced about WCB system

"The WCB's denial of medical treatment and care has become one of the main negative social determinants of mental health in Canada . . . The mental/psychological damage caused by the WCB process itself, which has been cited as being adversarial from the beginning of a claim, is the main cause for the secondary wounding to the compensable injury, which has a far deeper, longer lasting effects than the original injury."

Sir: Decisions by the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) have become one of the leading causes of why so many Injured Workers are forced either back to the labour market while still injured or cut off their WCB benefits and forced to rely on the publicly-funded Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and welfare.

The abuse the WCB purports is absolutely draconian in today's day and age and, in my opinion, should not be allowed to continue.

The WCB's denial of medical treatment and care has become one of the main negative social determinants of mental health in Canada, not to mention the denial and delays of fair and equitable financial benefits.

The way WCBs interpret each and every provincial and territorial WCB Act tears at the very fabric of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The WCB will cite jurisdictional issues when WCB decisions violate human rights and, furthermore, the provinces and territory affected will threaten the use of Section 33 of the Charter (notwithstanding clause), thereby silencing the rights set out in the Charter Sections 15.1 and 15.2.

The mental/psychological damage caused by the WCB process itself, which has been cited as being adversarial from the beginning of a claim, is the main cause for the secondary wounding to the compensable injury, which has a far deeper, longer lasting effects than the original injury. Many injured workers never return to the workplace because of the secondary wounding alone.

In 2008, the Senate Subcommittee on Mental Health will be once again chaired by Senator Kirby and many witnesses will be coming forth and showing evidence of the horrific practice and the further psychological/mental damage the WCB perpetrates on the injured workers of Canada. Hopefully, with Senate approval, the federal government may be forced to look at the malicious treatments the WCBs have so far been able to get away with.

Peter Clare

Lambton Shores