{"id":4103,"date":"2018-01-17T14:14:02","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T19:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/central.bcwebinc.com\/~rightcan\/?p=4103"},"modified":"2018-01-17T14:17:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T19:17:38","slug":"quebec-asbestos-victims-association-re-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/?p=4103","title":{"rendered":"Quebec Asbestos Victims Association re-launched"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kathleen Ruff, RightOnCanada.ca<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"\" lang=\"FR-CA\">A Quebec Asbestos Victims Association (L\u2019Association des victimes de l\u2019amiante du Qu\u00e9bec, AVAQ), which was inactive for several years, is now re-launching its activities. The new President of AVAQ, Gilles Mercier, before his retirement, worked as a safety inspector for the Quebec government&#8217;s Occupational Health &amp; Safety Commission. In June last year, his father died of mesothelioma.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"\" lang=\"FR-CA\"><em>&#8220;The reason why\u00a0 I have become involved in re-launching AVAQ is very simple,&#8221; says Mercier. &#8220;I wish <span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><span title=\"Donc, comme mentionn\u00e9 pr\u00e9c\u00e9demment, je souhaite participer \u00e0 la cr\u00e9ation d'une association qui permettra de soutenir les victimes et leurs familles, de les mettre en lien, de faire b\u00e9n\u00e9ficier \u00e0 l'ensemble des victimes de chacune des exp\u00e9riences individuelles, les soutenir pour\">to participate in the creation of an association that will support asbestos victims and their families, put them in touch with one another and support them so <\/span><span title=\"que leurs droits soient respect\u00e9s, pour qu'ils re\u00e7oivent toute l'information sur leur \u00e9tat de sant\u00e9 et les possibilit\u00e9s de traitement. \">that their rights are respected and so that they receive all the information on their state of health and the possibilities of treatment.<\/span><\/span> I<span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><span title=\"e me base sur mon exp\u00e9rience personnelle.\">t is based on my personal experience. <\/span><span title=\"Si je n'avais pas \u00e9t\u00e9 pr\u00e9sent, si je n'avais pas \u00e9t\u00e9 impliqu\u00e9 directement en sant\u00e9 et s\u00e9curit\u00e9 du travail (exp\u00e9rience, connaissances, etc.), jamais, JAMAIS mon p\u00e8re aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 diagnostiqu\u00e9 comme victime de l'amiante en avril 2013\">If I had not been present, if I had not been directly involved in occupational health and safety, my father would <\/span><\/span><\/em><span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><em><span title=\"Si je n'avais pas \u00e9t\u00e9 pr\u00e9sent, si je n'avais pas \u00e9t\u00e9 impliqu\u00e9 directement en sant\u00e9 et s\u00e9curit\u00e9 du travail (exp\u00e9rience, connaissances, etc.), jamais, JAMAIS mon p\u00e8re aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 diagnostiqu\u00e9 comme victime de l'amiante en avril 2013\"><span title=\"Si je n'avais pas \u00e9t\u00e9 pr\u00e9sent, si je n'avais pas \u00e9t\u00e9 impliqu\u00e9 directement en sant\u00e9 et s\u00e9curit\u00e9 du travail (exp\u00e9rience, connaissances, etc.), jamais, JAMAIS mon p\u00e8re aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 diagnostiqu\u00e9 comme victime de l'amiante en avril 2013\">NEVER <\/span>have been diagnosed as a victim of asbestos in April 2013. <\/span><span title=\". Par la suite jusqu'\u00e0 son d\u00e9c\u00e8s le 20 juin dernier, c'\u00e9tait comme si tout \u00e9tait mis en place, TOUT, pour que son dossier tombe entre deux chaises pour qu'il ne pas soit pas, pour que la famille ne soit\">Later, until his death on June 20, 2017, it was as if everything was set up, EVERYTHING, so that his file would fall between two chairs, so that he would not be, so that the family would not be <\/span><span title=\"pas indemnis\u00e9e.\">not compensated. <\/span><\/em><span title=\"C\u2019est inacceptable. \"><em>This is <u>unacceptable<\/u>.&#8221;<\/em> (translation)<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"\" lang=\"FR-CA\"><span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><span title=\"C\u2019est inacceptable. \">Mercier is in particular hoping that Canada will set up a <\/span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"\" lang=\"FR-CA\"><span id=\"result_box\" class=\"\" lang=\"en\"><span title=\"C\u2019est inacceptable. \"><span title=\"Ensemble nous serons plus forts pour revendiquer un fond d\u2019indemnisation pan-canadien comme le FIVA en France et comparer la situation dans chacune des provinces et territoires .\">pan-Canadian compensation fund like the one that exists in France<\/span><\/span><span title=\"que leurs droits soient respect\u00e9s, pour qu'ils re\u00e7oivent toute l'information sur leur \u00e9tat de sant\u00e9 et les possibilit\u00e9s de traitement. \">.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>AVAQ&#8217;s secretary is Micheline Marier, one of the original co-founders of AVAQ.<\/p>\n<h3>AVAQ calls on Quebec government to amend compensation regulations for asbestos victims<\/h3>\n<p>AVAQ is calling on the Quebec government to amend its workers compensation system regarding compensation for workers who were exposed to asbestos on the job and who subsequently contracted asbestos-related diseases.<\/p>\n<p>An investigation by the Radio-Canada program, Enqu\u00eate, in March 2017,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ici.radio-canada.ca\/nouvelles\/special\/2017\/03\/amiante-indemnites-sante-malades-laisses-pour-compte-ouvriers\/\">Malades de l\u2019amiante\u2026 et laiss\u00e9s pour compte<\/a>, showed that health institutions in Quebec have been paying millions of dollars to scientists who put forward inaccurate scientific information at worker compensation hearings claiming that chrysotile asbestos is less harmful than amphibole asbestos and that chrysotile asbestos does not cause harm to health at certain exposure levels.\u00a0 Consequently, workers who were exposed to asbestos on the job and who contracted asbestos-related diseases have had their compensation claims unjustly dismissed by Quebec&#8217;s Occupational Safety Commission (CNESST).<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"\" lang=\"FR-CA\">In a letter sent to Quebec&#8217;s Minister of Labour, Dominique Vien, on January 15, 2018, AVAQ calls for more in-depth training on the medical and epidemiological evidence regarding asbestos-related diseases to be given to administrative judges and medical assessors at Quebec&#8217;s compensation tribunals and that the law on Occupational Accidents and Diseases be amended so as to specify certain types of work for which exposure to asbestos fibres is recognized and that no threshold of exposure be required.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Norman King, a scientific adviser to AVAQ, states: &#8220;In addition to supporting victims and their families, another important goal of AVAQ is to put pressure on the Quebec government, the CNESST and its labour tribunals so that decisions are based on current scientific literature, not partial, biased information, so that claims of asbestos victims are not unjustly dismissed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Legacy of asbestos harm<\/h3>\n<p>While asbestos mining stopped in Quebec in 2011, the legacy of asbestos harm continues. Many serious issues remain to be addressed. Millions of tons of asbestos tailings surround towns in the asbestos mining region; Quebec&#8217;s occupational standards for asbestos exposure are appalling; asbestos victims are denied justice, to name just a few issues.<\/p>\n<p>Unions and health experts in Quebec have called on the government to take action. Now with the re-launch of AVAQ, the voices of asbestos victims and their families will also be heard.<\/p>\n<p>We wish AVAQ every success in achieving its important goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kathleen Ruff, RightOnCanada.ca A Quebec Asbestos Victims Association (L\u2019Association des victimes de l\u2019amiante du Qu\u00e9bec, AVAQ), which was inactive for several years, is now re-launching its activities. The new President of AVAQ, Gilles Mercier, before his retirement, worked as a safety inspector for the Quebec government&#8217;s Occupational Health &amp; Safety Commission. In June last year, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[154,93,335],"class_list":["post-4103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asbestos","tag-asbestos-victims","tag-quebec","tag-worrkers-compensation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4103"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4106,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103\/revisions\/4106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}