New Pathway.
Labour issues have never received as much attention in the independent Ukraine as in the West. Despite, or perhaps because of, the long history of communist rule, ever since the hyperinflation and economic crisis struck the country in 1990s, Ukrainians have had a very unassuming attitude towards all kinds of labour issues. Today, the war in the Donbas is further complicating Ukraine's economic situation which is not conducive of raising the profile of such issues as safe working conditions. In this context, it is remarkable that the recently signed Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement contains a labour chapter.
To deepen collaboration between the two countries on jobs and safety, Canada’s Minister of Labour, the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, visited Ukraine on November 1-3, 2016. In Ukraine, she met with Ukraine’s Minister of Social Policy, Andriy Reva. Minister Mihychuk, herself a geologist with many years of experience in the mining sector, started her mission with a visit to the Sosnivskyi Granite Quarry in the Kyiv region, a private sector mining site that produces granite for construction and highway industries. During the visit to the Quarry, the Minister shared Canada’s best practices in safety as Canada's mining industry has a strong safety record and common vision for zero fatalities. The Ukrainian mining sector, in turn, has a grim safety record with dozens of workers killed in deep mines annually, mainly from methane explosions. Although nowadays all Canadian mines are open-pit, Canada has a lot of experience in worker safety in deep mines. Canada already has some history in helping Ukraine master best practices in mining safety – a Ukrainian team of mine rescuers participated in the International Mines Rescue Competition in Sudbury this summer.
In Kyiv, Minister Mihychuk met with the International Labour Organization (a United Nations agency), to develop a workplan on a tripartite project for training to create safer working conditions in Ukraine’s mining sector. During the media conference on November 3, MaryAnn Mihychuk said that her Ministry is preparing an agreement with Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy on occupational health and safety focussed on the extractive mineral sector. During the visit, MaryAnn Mihychuk convened a roundtable on labour challenges and opportunities, hearing from academics, non-governmental organizations and regional and international organizations.
While in Ukraine, Minister Mihychuk also toured the Chornobyl nuclear reactor site and observed the construction of New Safe Confinement which is due to be completed this year and for which Canada contributed $3.6 million. In her interview with the New Pathway, she said that it was a “very positive thing to see that the natural ecology of the Chornobyl site has done a remarkable re-vegetation and the wild life has re-populated. That still does not mean that the contamination is gone, in fact, it’s on the ground, but the nature is cleaning up what has been a human disaster.”
In Kyiv, MaryAnn Mihychuk held a working meeting with members of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, exploring ways for Canadians to play a part in the economic reconstruction of Ukraine. To conclude her mission to Ukraine, Minister Mihychuk met with the Ukrainian acting Minister of Health, Dr. Ulana Suprun, on advancement of occupational health and safety standards. Minister Mihychuk told us that the parties discussed Canada’s cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health in the mineral extraction sector, like respirators and emergency rooms for mine workers. The ministers also discussed the recent Canada’s donation of ten ambulances to Ukraine which are going to be distributed to certain locations, including the front lines.
At the end of her visit, Minister Mihychuk laid a pot of grain at the Holodomor Memorial in Kyiv to honor those who perished during the Soviet genocide of 1932-33.
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