Callaghan, Patricia

Patricia Callaghan has dedicated her time, energy and money to assisting thousands of people in BC who can no longer work because of injuries suffered on the job. The organization she founded, the Canadian Injured Workers Society (CIWS), often proved to be the only source of help for many people denied services through normal channels, such as the governmental Workers Compensation Board (WCB).

CIWS’s services included food, shelter and clothing plus information and moral support. “We’ve had people say if it hadn’t been for us, they would have committed suicide,” Callaghan reports. A nonprofit charity, CIWS relied on donations to keep their services available.

Callaghan’s connection to the plight of injured workers began when her brother suffered a serious injury at work. Callaghan and her husband paid his medical bill at the Mayo Clinic after the WCB refused to pay. While negotiating with the WCB, Callaghan reports finding evidence of inefficiency and corruption. Realizing that the system so many people were depending on didn’t work, she used her own funds to create CIWS.

Working long hours with no pay, Callaghan’s relentless advocacy for others earned her considerable pushback from the people and agencies she was challenging. She was once physically removed from a doctor’s office for insisting on a CT scan for an injured worker. Her telephone has been tapped and her reputation sullied.

Despite all such opposition, she was instrumental in bringing about the first Royal Commission investigation of a province’s WCB in more than 30 years.

When her own health began to fail, she turned CIWS over to a person who agreed to continue the work but, instead, shut it down. Callaghan has gone to court to regain control of CIWS. Despite the negative effects on her health, Callaghan also returned to the task of championing and assisting injured workers, operating as an individual.

She says such advocacy is vital to everyone who works. “It affects everybody because anybody could be injured on the job or be caring for an injured family member,” says Patricia Callaghan. “Everyone is vulnerable.”