Unit 1 examines the compensation of workplace injuries in Canada via provincial Workers’ Compensation Boards (WCBs). The WCB system was developed during the early 20th century to compensate work-related injuries that were mostly acute, that mostly occurred in resource extraction and manufacturing work, and that happened mostly to men. The growing importance of non-acute injuries, the gendered-nature of injury recognition, and alternative models of compensation, such as New Zealand’s broad accident compensation system, all raise the question of how well-adapted Canada’s workers’ compensation systems are to modern demands.
After completing Unit 1, write a 500-word response to each of the following four questions. This assignment is worth 20% of your final grade.
- Why did the state begin regulating the compensation of injury at the beginning of the 20th century?
- In what ways is injury compensation “gendered”? In what ways is it racist?
- How and how well do workers’ compensation systems cope with “new” forms of injury?
- How do Canada’s Meredith principles differ from New Zealand’s Woodhouse principles? How do these differences manifest themselves in the operation of their respective compensation schemes?
Sample Solution