The WSIB has announced major staff reductions, cutting hundreds of jobs across Ontario. These cuts raise important questions for injured workers: waiting times, the quality of decision making, and access to benefits and support that injured workers depend on.
In this latest episode of Labour Pains, staff lawyer Tebasum Durrani is speaking with Harry Gosslin, President of CUPE Local 1750, which represents WSIB employees.
Labour Pains: An Injured Worker Podcast (formerlyInjuredWorkerCast) features conversations in the field of health & safety and workers’ compensation in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
It is produced by Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic, and is not a substitute for professional legal advice.
For more information on workers compensation issues, campaigns, and resources, visit injuredworkersonline.org.
Music by David Newberry
Audio Editing by Hesham Ghobarah
21 May 2026
Episode 8 • Occupational Disease & WSIB Coverage
Occupational diseases can often seem invisible. Unlike a traumatic workplace injury, these illnesses often develop slowly, after years of breathing toxic dust, handling hazardous chemicals, or working in environments that cumulatively damage the body over time. And for many workers, by the time symptoms appear, proving that their illness was caused by work becomes an uphill battle.
In the latest episode of Labour Pains, we’re speaking with Janice Martell, one of Canada’s leading advocates for workers suffering from occupational disease. Through her groundbreaking work documenting the harms of McIntyre Powder exposure in miners, and now her advocacy around sarcoidosis and other emerging occupational illnesses, Janice has helped expose the gaps in how the WSIB recognizes diseases caused by workplace exposure.
Janice has launched a new voluntary registry open to all Ontario workers with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis. This is the first step in researching the relationship between work and this disease. Affected workers (or next-of-kin) can reach the registry by calling 705-822-3171.
Labour Pains: An Injured Worker Podast (formerly InjuredWorkerCast) features conversations in the field of health & safety and workers’ compensation in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
It is produced by Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic, and is not a substitute for professional legal advice.
For more information on workers compensation issues, campaigns, and resources, visit injuredworkersonline.org (http://injuredworkersonline.org/).
Music and Audio Editing by David Newberry.
28 Apr 2026
Episode 7 • Understanding Bill 105's Impact on Injured Workers
In this episode we break down the Ontario Government’s proposed amendments to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, as part of Bill 105, and the implications for injured & ill workers. If passed, these changes would be the most significant amendments to the compensation system in decades, and would impact how lost wages compensation is managed over time. The possible end of lock in provisions could have wide-ranging consequences for permanently injured workers and the security and stability of their compensation. While expanding coverage to include workers in private residential facilities and retirement homes, increasing the benefit rate to 90 per cent and getting rid of the age 65 cut off are steps in the right direction, the amendments do not go far enough in properly addressing and rectifying historic injustices faced by injured workers. Join IWC caseworkers Tebasum Durani, John McKinnon, Chris Grawey and Orlando Buonastella in unpacking the substance of the proposed amendments, and their potential impacts.
Labour Pains: An Injured Worker Podast (formerly InjuredWorkerCast) features conversations in the field of health & safety and workers’ compensation in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
It is produced by Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic, and is not a substitute for professional legal advice.
For more information on workers compensation issues, campaigns, and resources, visit injuredworkersonline.org (http://injuredworkersonline.org/).
Music and Audio Editing by David Newberry.
19 Nov 2025
Episode 6 • Expanding Drug Benefits in Ontario
MPP Robin Lennox discusses the scope of prescription medication coverage in Ontario and advocates for expanding the Ontario Drug Benefit in an interview about healthcare access.
8 Oct 2025
Episode 5 • WSIB's Age Discrimination
Legal experts John McKinnon and Chris Grawey from Injured Workers Community Legal Aid Clinic discuss the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act's policy of cutting off wage loss benefits at age 65, which raises concerns about age discrimination and fairness for older injured workers in this interview episode.
25 Jun 2025
Episode 4 • Who Killed Sir William?
Authors Steve Mantis and Marion Endicott discuss their book "Who Killed Sir William?" and how community-university partnerships can advocate for marginalized workers in this interview.
16 Apr 2025
Episode 3 • Toronto Protest Zone: What is at stake?
The City of Toronto is considering a bylaw that would restrict protest around what they are calling “vulnerable areas”.
Today, Tebasum Durani discusses the broader implications of this proposal on the community - and on injured workers - with Jack Copple and Bonnie Heath.
Jack Copple
Jack Copple is an Organizer with the Toronto & York Region Labour Council. The Toronto & York Region Labour Council represents over 200,000 workers from diverse sectors across the Toronto region. Committed to fighting for economic, social, racial and climate justice, the Council works tirelessly to create a fair and equitable future for all
Further reading and resources:
https://www.labourcouncil.ca/ (https://www.labourcouncil.ca/)
https://www.labourcouncil.ca/protect-our-charter-rights/ (https://www.labourcouncil.ca/protect-our-charter-rights/)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rally-against-proposal-for-bubble-zone-bylaw-1.7513363
InjuredWorkerCast features conversations in the field of health & safety and workers’ compensation in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
It is produced by Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic, and is not a substitute for professional legal advice.
For more information on workers compensation issues, campaigns, and resources, visit injuredworkersonline.org (http://injuredworkersonline.org/).
Music and Audio Editing by David Newberry.
13 Feb 2025
Episode 2 • Work & Weather
Today Tebasum Durani speaks to a worker named Margery about working in extreme temperatures, as well as to OFL President Laura Walton and MPP Peter Tabuns about the dangers of heat in the workplace and what needs to be done to keep workers safe.
Sources:
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safetyinformation on risks of working in the cold (https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/cold/cold_working.html).
Laurentian UniversityStudy on Heat Stress and Workplace Death (https://laurentian.ca/news/new-heat-stress-toolkit-prevents-worker-injury-illness#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAn%20estimated%20220%20Canadians%20die,heat%20illness%2C%20predominantly%20kidney%20disease.).
InjuredWorkerCast features conversations in the field of health & safety and workers’ compensation in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
It is produced by Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic, and is not a substitute for professional legal advice.
For more information on workers compensation issues,campaigns, and resources, visitinjuredworkersonline.org (http://injuredworkersonline.org).
Music and Audio Editing by David Newberry.
19 Dec 2024
Episode 1 • Employer "Rebates"
Today we’re hearing from Tebasum Durani and John McKinnon, who are both lawyers at IWC. John and Tabasum are discussing how Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance board - or WSIB - is funded, why it is funded that way, and also a controversial decision for Ontario’s WSIB to hand over $2.5 billion dollars to employers in the lead up to an anticipated spring election.
What Injured Workers Need (https://injuredworkersonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/What-Injured-Workers-Need.pdf) document.
InjuredWorkerCast features conversations in the field of health & safety and workers’ compensation in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
It is produced by Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic, and is not a substitute for professional legal advice.
For more information on workers compensation issues,campaigns, and resources, visit injuredworkersonline.org (http://injuredworkersonline.org).
Music and Audio Editing by David Newberry.
Who has been a guest on InjuredWorkerCast
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Robin Lennox
John McKinnon
Chris Grawey
Steve Mantis
Marion Endicott
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YouTube views
650
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Podcast Authority Score: 19 / 100
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Quality
11
Social presence
0
YouTube
66
Engagement
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