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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Marvin Belcourt had two posters tied in sandwich boards over his shoulders and two tied to parking sign poles as he petitioned outside the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission headquarters in downtown Yellowknife.

Marvin Belcourt petitions outside the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission on Oct 15. Belcourt suffered a workplace injury in 2009 and says he has been poorly cared for and compensated since the accident. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo

He spent three days on the city's rain-soaked sidewalks in temperatures that hovered around zero and slept in his car at night.

His posters pointed fingers at his past employer and the WSCC for what, in his opinion, was a paltry payout and broken promises when it came to covering the costs of his recovery and health care.

"I would like the WSCC to own up to looking after me," he said. "I paid my share of expenses over the years."

Belcourt said he began working as a trucker in the NWT in 1972 and was working in Wrigley on Sept. 16, 2009, when his accident happened.

"We were off-loading a huge, huge fuel tank off of my trailer on to a barge in (Wrigley)," he said. "When the tank came off of my trailer, it hung up on the barge's inspection plate and the truck driver did not stop winching and, of course, the chain broke and I was hit with the broken chain and the winch line."

The accident left him with five broken ribs, a collapsed lung, his left leg broken in two places, a shattered kneecap, a dislocated left hip and a broken pelvic bone.

Belcourt, who walks with aid of a cane, said he is no longer employable as a trucker because his leg and knee can give out without notice. Also, his hip and knee joints are quickly inflamed, making standing, long walks, or walks on uneven terrain a strain.

He said he also suffers from internal injuries which still plague him three years later.

Belcourt said the last straw, and what motivated him to make the drive from his home in Grimshaw, Alta., to petition in Yellowknife, was when his benefits were cut back in January following a course he completed which would qualify him has a safety officer. However, the liability insurance he was required to pay in order to work in that capacity was more than Belcourt could afford.

After completing the course, Belcourt said the WSCC offered either $90.97 per month or a pay out of $15,000.

He says he's appalled at the offer and chose the $15,000 payout, although his hope now hangs on an appeal he's filed against the WSCC decision.

Dave Grundy, president and chief executive officer of the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission, declined to comment as legislation prohibits the WSCC from commenting on claimants or employers.

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