In June 1997 my husband fell over 30 feet to the ground while on a job site.  He was following proper safety procedures, but his safety harness failed.

He did lose consciousness, but only briefly.  He was taken by ambulance to Hospital .  They did x-rays on his neck and on his hand as a finger was obviously dislocated.   Although he was sent home that night my husband was in a hard neck Collar for 3 months and a soft collar after that – he had dislocated his neck but the bones had fitted back almost into place.  To this day his C6 and C7 vertebrae are off kilter.  He was in a lot of pain and discomforts which he blamed the collars for rather than the injury. 

Our lives had already started changing.  I was relieved we didn’t have to worry about money as at least we were covered by Worker’s Compensation. 

My husband starting drinking slowly working up to every day, then he started drinking a lot.  He wanted to go back to work.  He had always been a good worker, and although he had done other things he loved working outdoors or doing mechanics.  Growing up he had always worked on farms on weekends, and he had studied agriculture in college.  He was use to working 60 hour weeks and then working on a car, or helping a friend at the cottage or remodeling the basement on the weekend.  Sitting at home doing nothing was difficult.

Finally the Doctors gave him the Okay to go back to work.  They would not let him go back to the same occupation, but would allow him to work as a mechanic with reduced lifting.  Despite having his Doctor’s approval it took another 2 months to get WCB’s approval to allow him to go back to work.  It was during this time that WCB cut him off for the first time.  They said since the Doctor’s had told him he could work they weren’t going to pay him anymore, but that he couldn’t start the job he had lined up because they had to approve it first.  In one breath they said he could work, and in the next they said he couldn’t!  I tried talking to them to see logic; my husband had tried and hadn’t gotten anywhere.  With two months without his money Christmas was tough that year.  In January we got a cheque that was a little less than what he was owed.  I cashed it and paid bills.  Two days later WCB calls to say they issued the cheque to us in error.  It was suppose to pay someone that they had hired to treat my husband.  It told them I had paid bills and that they owed us money and to deduct it off the money they owed us.  After speaking with a Supervisor they finally agreed they owed us and that they would deduct the money.

 Finally he started training on the job program where the employer gets funding to partially pay for wages.  It was difficult.  He kept missing time due to pain, and he couldn’t do what he had done before.  He had hoped that if he built up his muscles again that he could get back to normal.  I could see that it wasn’t happening but didn’t want to discourage him.  I thought he would be able to figure it out on his on.  He still saw his neurosurgeon, and they considered operating, but then decided it was too risky.

My husband still received partial disability cheques, and received a non-economic loss payment to cover pain and suffering and non employment related costs.  It was a cheque for just over $3,000.  My husband that would never be able to snowmobile again, who had just the previous month been told by a WCB Occupational Therapist that he would be unlikely to survive any whiplash type injury, my husband that can’t play physically with his kids, can’t shovel the snow off the walk, and can barely work on his car, received just $3,000 for his non-economic loss.  If he had been able to sue, how much do you think he would have gotten?  If he had been in a car accident, how much do you think he would have received?

My husband went through a number of jobs, all the while trying to find employers that could accommodate work restrictions, reduced hours, and time off when the pain was too much.  The man that had never had trouble holding a job was having trouble doing anything.  My formerly ‘clean-freak’ husband couldn’t motivate himself to put his dishes in the sink.  And he was drinking very heavily.  His Doctor wanted to put him on pain killers, and finally he caved in and started taking Tylenol – 3’s – not a good combination with drinking 8-9 beer every day.  Things got worse..  He became depressed and started taking anti-depressants.  The doctor sent him to a Psychologist, who referred him to a Psychiatrist.  Once he started treatment he stopped drinking and joined a 12 step program.  The 12 step program was full of other people with Chronic Pain – a high percentage of them injured workers.

During this time we happily had a set of twins, and I become pregnant with our third child.  It was difficult living far from home.  We were originally from back East, and our parents were still there.  Now with the kids it seemed to make sense to make the move.  My husband had tried staying home and looking after the twins, but even that didn’t work out so well.  Even when they were babies he had difficulty lifting them, and going out anywhere with them was impossible.  We took advantage of my year long maternity leave and moved back East.  It was an expensive move, and I took a big cut in Salary and benefits when I found my job in the East, but at least we were close to family to help us out. 

In 2003 WCB finally got around to review my husband’s case – they had been promising since 1999.  We had asked them to pay him full benefits different times that he had been unable to work.  Their suggestion had been to get EI sick benefits which we did out of necessity.  One time they tried to open up a new claim even the doctor specifically said it was the result of the original claim.  Not that it mattered as they refused to pay more than $300/month either way.  One thing we did get them to cover was my husband’s drugs.  When we moved East the benefits at my old workplace stopped.  For 6 of the 7 years since my husbands accident private insurance coverage through my work has paid for my husbands prescriptions.  Now who do you think is really paying for that?  Don’t you think it’s the middle class people who buy insurance that paid for his drugs instead of WCB?

Paying for the prescriptions this time was short lived.  In April 2003 when my husband was flown west for his WCB assessment he saw many medical people.  One of them was a Psychiatrist with a Medico-legal specialization.  I think you can probably guess what his findings were.  This Psychiatrist, whose specialty clearly indicates he gets involved in legal matters, was paid well for his opinion.  The opinion supported the people that were paying him.  Are you surprised?  He also discredited the other Doctors that had treated my husband.  The WCB took the opinion of someone they hired; who saw my husband for 90minutes, over the opinion of the Doctor’s that had been treating him for 6 years.  My husbands benefits were cut off, We appealed.  We were denied.  We went to the final level of appeal – we were denied.  Despite all kinds of Dr’s saying this is all linked to falling and dislocating his neck.  Despite the Canada Pension Plan saying he cannot work in any job and that his injury is severe and prolonged.

Our life is different than it would have been.  Our cars are beaters, and we would have been bankrupt long ago if I was not well-employed, and now since this final decision we are just bankrupt.  My husband can’t look after our kids so they go to daycare.  I don’t have a choice about whether to stay home with them or not as my husband can’t work, I have to work.  I can’t decide to work part-time.  I have to work full-time in a job that will provide benefits to cover prescriptions and other medical expenses. I have 2 hrs travel time to get to a job that offers good benefits.  We have trouble making end meets, but it’s not only us that this affects financially.  It also affects every Canadian tax-payer. 

Our family gets more Child Tax benefit, because WCB doesn’t pay my husband compensation he deserves.

Our family gets more GST Tax credit, because WCB doesn’t pay my husband the compensation he deserves.

Our family pays less tax because my husband doesn’t get the compensation he deserves.

Our family gets daycare assistance because my husband doesn’t get the compensation he deserves.

My drug plan from work is charged more because my husband doesn’t get the drug coverage he deserves.

We are lucky in some ways as I can work.  Who do you think ultimately pays for families that have to go bankrupt because they aren’t paid what they deserve?  Who do you think ultimately pays for families that must go on government income support programs, or Canada Pension Disability plans?

Society as a whole subsidizes compensation by providing all these benefits, and yet still the injured worker is still not getting as much financial compensation as they deserve. 

What would it do to you if you or your spouse was injured at work and you could not get what was justly due you?  How long could you last?  Would your kids still be able to play hockey and take their dance lessons?  Would you still be able to invest in RESP’s and RRSP’s?  Would you have to take on more work hours or a new job, or perhaps give up pursuing more education.? 

These are all things that have been sacrificed in our family.  Not due to the injury, but due to WCB not paying what they are there to pay out.


The WCB system is unfair.  The leave they onus on the Injured workers to prove their injury beyond a shadow of a doubt. The WCB takes no note of Human Rights Violations.  The Business world and the rich get richer…all on the backs of the rest of us.