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Randy Leiske vowed Wednesday to picket the NWT/Nunavut Workers Compensation Board headquarters in Yellowknife until the WCB recognizes his workplace injury and compensates him. - Jason Unrau/NNSL photo

'I'm not leaving' vows picketer

Jason Unrau
Northern News Services
Friday, June 1, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Randy Leiske said he will not end his picket of the Workers Compensation Board's Yellowknife headquarters until it provides him with retraining and a pension for a 1991 workplace injury that left him with erupted lumbar discs and chronic back pain.

"Money's not what I'm looking for," said Leiske while standing behind his makeshift sign. "I want them to fix me and acknowledge that my chronic pain was caused by a work injury."

Leiske said he was cutting wood in the summer of 1991and fell while carrying an eight-foot log, which pinned him to the ground. The WCB covered Leiske's medical and travel costs until 1994. After that, according to Liske, the WCB ended its assistance, "And tried to tell me (my pain) was from a pre-existing injury."

A recent change in WCB policy in April now allows claimants to seek compensation for chronic pain, retroactive to workplace injuries sustained from November 2000.

"It's another avenue for a worker to make a claim with WCB," said Dave Grundy, WCB spokesperson.

As with other types of claims, the process can entail medical evaluations, which are then reviewed by the WCB Chief Medical Officer before an assessment is made and the claim is either granted or denied. Grundy said in cases of chronic pain claims, the board will refer those who require assessment to the Canmore Pain Centre in Alberta.

"You can't just show up and say 'I have pain,'" he added.

Unfortunately for Leiske, the chronic pain policy is not retroactive to 1991, when his injury occurred. Grundy was unable to comment on Leiske's case as WCB policy forbids employees from discussing individual cases.