Whose Deaths do We Notice?

Most of my blogs start with a conversation in my head while either carding, spinning or weaving. Sometimes those conversations have little or no substance and they quickly evaporate or morph into something more interesting. But every once in a while,  a thought flitters across my mind that is so embarrassing that I immediately try to suppress it. I know that if I put that thought to paper, it will offend most who read it. Frequently, however, the more I try to ignore that offensive bit of dialogue hovering on the edges of my consciousness, the more I am driven to think about it.

Such was the case with my internal conversation about the amount of press and air time devoted to the missing Canadian Armed Forces personal who died in a helicopter crash while on duty in the Mediterranean. It seemed a bit excessive. I do not doubt that the six individuals were fine people who did their job with professionalism and pride. I do not doubt that they were particularly proud to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces, to represent this country and if need be, to defend it. Their deaths are a tragedy for their family and friends and a loss to their communities. The fact that they were all relatively young makes the tragedy more profound.

But those six individuals were not the only Canadians who died in the performance of their duty. In fact in 2018 (the last year that I can find reliable statistics), just over a thousand Canadians died while doing their jobs including 199 people in construction, 182 in manufacturing, 63 in resource extraction and 18 in agriculture (1). I do not know any of their names, their deaths were not mentioned by the Prime Minister, there were no 30-minute long radio programs about their deaths. Their families and friends mourned them but no one else cared. Their lives were never celebrated on national television.

For those workers, all of whom were doing jobs that we as Canadians need someone to do if we are going to survive as a country, they had little job security, many had no government-backed pension plan, no long term health benefits, were not able to retire after twenty years working and they had, most likely, paid for their education and training. Were they less of being a proud Canadian than a member of the armed forces? As they raised their children, coached baseball or hockey teams, belonged civic groups and shared the life of their community, were their lives less worthy of celebration?

I am not suggesting that we should, as a nation, ignore the deaths of those six soldiers. They were working for all of us and therefore we should take a moment to reflect upon their lives and their deaths. But the over 1000 Canadians, including the 7 loggers in British Columbia, who died doing their jobs - their deaths are just as important. They too were working for their country.

It seems to me that we, if we are going, in a very public way,  to celebrate the lives of some Canadians - then we need to find a way to celebrate the lives of all Canadians. If we are, again in a very public way, support the loved ones of some Canadians who have died, we need to do it for all.

addendum: I am willing to be that more taxpayers money will be spent investigating the deaths of those soldiers than was spent on investigating the deaths of those 7 BC loggers.

(1) http://awcbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/18-2-F-EN-Ic.png