SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - More than 100 people gathered in the Great Hall of the legislative assembly at noon hour on Wednesday to mourn the loss of three Northern workers last year, two of whom were NWT residents, and to remember those lost in years before.

Four candles are lit by Tim Laity, regional vice-president of the NWT Federation of Labour for the Tlicho and Somba K'e regions, during the Day of Mourning ceremony at the legislative assembly on April 28. Three candles were lit for the three people in the NWT and Nunavut who died in the workplace last year, and one was lit in remembrance of all who've died in the past. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

"Two losses in our territories is unacceptable," said Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Robert C. McLeod to the crowd of people gathered in the Great Hall. "It is my sincere hope that next year I will stand in front of you reporting zero loss. People know that workplace incidents are preventable and unacceptable."

David Le Gros, a Yellowknife resident, died at the Colomac Mine site, 220 km northwest of Yellowknife, on March 1, 2009. He was 49-years-old.

Le Gros fell through the ice at a tailings pond while working as an inspector for Tli Cho Logistics, and was found dead beneath the ice.

Another NWT resident, Jason Wiebe, died in a helicopter crash in the Liard Mountains on August 4.

There has been a 35 per cent rise in workplace accidents in the last decade, according to Josh Campbell, constituency assistant to Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington.

"Workplace safety is important now more than ever," Campbell said in a speech during the ceremony.

Mary Lou Cherwaty, president of the NWT Federation of Labour, was the MC for the event.

"The trend over the last 17 years has been an average of about between 6 and 7 workers killed in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut per year," Cherwaty told Yellowknifer after the ceremony.

There were eight deaths in 2006, nine in 2007, six in 2008, and five last year. This year there was three.

"Whether that's a trend or not, I'd hate to say based on one year, but we're sure hopeful it is," said Cherwaty.

The ceremony started with a prayer given by Sandra Lockhart and the Mildred Hall School choir performed two songs. There was a minute of silence to recognize the dead, and four candles were lit - one for each who died in the North this year, and one in remembrance of all who have died in the past.