'I never thought in my life that I would be part of something like this'
Every day in Canada, three people die from a work-related fatality.
But these workers are not simply numbers, and viewing them as statistics does little to reflect the richness of their lives – and the families they leave behind.
“I don’t want Paul to be just a statistic on a board. He has a name. He had a purpose in life. I don’t want my husband to be just a number,” says Virginia Campeau.
Virginia met her husband Paul in 2012. “But a couple of years before then, I laid eyes on him for the first time. And I knew that was the man I needed to be with,” she says. “Paul was a very humble man; family was everything to him.”
The couple were married in August 2014. Paul’s fatal accident happened in January 2015. “We didn’t even get to celebrate our first year anniversary together.”
The day of his accident started like any other normal day. “We always told each other we loved each other, and he left for work,” says Virginia. And every day, throughout the day they would text each other to check in. That day, she says that she spent hours trying to get a hold of him but he wasn’t picking up.
Paul’s occupation at the time was driving a sand truck to maintain the roads for the winter. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be in the bush without any signal, so Virginia didn’t worry at first.
“But as the afternoon and the evening wore on, I just wasn’t hearing from him,” she says. “I knew there was something wrong, but I didn’t think that he wasn’t coming home.”
The next morning, Virginia heard a knock on the door.
“Automatically, I thought it was Paul so I sprung out of bed and ran to the door. And when I looked out the window there were two cops. When I let them in, they proceeded to tell me that Paul had an accident and he passed away. From there, it was a total whirlwind. Complete shock.”
To this day, Virginia says that with the trauma, she has blocked some of the memories out. She had to be taken to the emergency room, because she was simply not able to cope.
Paul was working alone, so Virginia does not know the exact time he took his last breath. “I will never know. I got robbed.”
According to the autopsy report, Paul got stuck in an auger. At the back of the sand truck, there was a hopper inside of which was an auger which helped filter through the sand. On really cold days or nights, it would stick. As a temporary solution, workers would use a shovel and jam the auger with the shovel to get the sand going.
When they found him, Virginia says that he was “completely frozen solid.” The truck had to be dismantled to dislodge him, and medics had to do a partial amputation on his leg to be able to remove him from the truck.
He was only 45 years old when he died.
As for the company he was working for? They simply received a fine, and are still operating today.
After Paul’s death, Virginia says she received very little support. “I didn’t understand how there was nothing for the families. Families have to deal with this in the long run. And it affects everyone. And it just seems like [the system] is really protecting the company, and doing nothing for the families.”
A year after Paul’s accident, Virginia became involved with Threads of Life. The Association for Workplace Tragedy Family Support – more commonly known as Threads of Life – is a charity dedicated to supporting families after workplace fatalities, injuries and occupational diseases.
She was connected with a family volunteer guide, who helped her work through her grief. She says that it was a relief “just knowing that I wasn’t alone in my feelings and my thoughts, and in my anger.”
From there, Virginia decided to become a volunteer speaker for the organization. “I decided that I wanted to become a volunteer speaker. I wanted to share my story, and if I helped just one family in despair, the grief and pain that I went through – that I’m still going through – then Paul’s death wouldn’t be for nothing.”
Each year, Threads of Life organizes a walk called Steps for Life. The 5km walk is to raise awareness and funds for the organization. It takes place in a number of communities throughout Canada. This year, Virginia is a family spokesperson for Steps for Life in Winnipeg. Due to the pandemic, the event in Winnipeg will be virtual (though some Steps for Life events in Canada are once again in person).
She has been involved with the walk for a number of years and says that seeing all the families and volunteers walking together is a wonderful thing.
“To see the whole sea of yellow walking is quite powerful,” says Virginia (participants wear yellow shirts when taking part in the walk). “You’re looking around the crowd, and thinking that these people have suffered either fatality, injury or illness. We’re all walking for the same cause. It’s really powerful,” says Virginia. And it really brings home that this is a cause that will probably never end. She says that one day, she hopes that Steps for Life or Threads of Life will no longer have to exist – but she isn’t hopeful.
As a family spokesperson, Virginia shares her story with the crowd before the walk starts. “Hearing people’s stories, it gives a sense of realness. It brings it home that this is a family that’s been affected, and this is what a workplace tragedy is.”
“I never thought in my life that I would be part of something like this, but I am. And I will continue to be, because I want to make sure these families know the realness. I want workers to know that if they’re hesitant on doing something [at work] they have the right to say no. Because death is final. There’s no coming back from it. Your families will be the ones left wondering why. Grieving.”
Employers need to make sure that employees are well trained, she says, and that they come home to their families every night. “You shouldn’t have to worry about your husband coming home in the evening.”
Virginia says that Paul’s death hasn’t gotten easier to talk about with time. Far from it. “But I know that it needs to be done, it needs to be said, it needs to be heard. The only way that change is going to happen is hearing these real stories, and seeing these real faces.”
