Right from the start of the coronavirus outbreak, there have been waves of accolades for nurses, personal care workers, cashiers, and workers in other trades – and rightly so. One blind spot in our collective view of the situation, though, has been the necessary but unnoticed contribution, every day, by men and women truck drivers.

During the afternoon of May 28, 1980, the Canadian Pacific, along with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way, were shocked, shaken and silenced to discover a bus loaded with Engineering Services employees known as the “Prairie Steel Gang,” was involved in a horrific three-vehicle accident.

We learned with regret and sadness that Brother Val Neal passed away from COVID-19 a few days ago.