In honour of the late John Ball (1933-2018)

The John Ball Legacy

In honour of the late John Ball, the former steering committee of the Occupational and Environmental Health Coalition – Peterborough (OEHCP) has formed the John Ball Legacy Project, which is a group of volunteers dedicated to supporting and continuing John’s mission to provide justice for the ill and deceased former workers of Peterborough’s General Electric production facility. Having worked for General Electric in Peterborough from the early ’60s to the late ’90s, Mr. Ball was witness to a wide variety of dangerous chemicals being used in the local plant, despite the absence of any safety or education being in place for any of the plant’s workers. After he began to notice that many of his younger coworkers were dying from what he believed to be occupational illnesses, John took it upon himself to become an activist for General Electric workers. In order to support the plant’s former workers, and to provide guidance for planning and policies in the future, John utilized his acute memory and recollection of events as well as extensive and careful documentation of activities and meetings at the plant as a tool to seek justice and social change. And so today, the John Ball Legacy Project aims to document the work and efforts of John, so that they might be available to current and future generations.