Horrific stories of the deadly toll of asbestos exposure have been shared by the people left behind.
At a news conference hosted by the Windsor and District Labour Council calling for a total ban on importing the material, relatives left behind told of their pain.
The event is part of a national push by the Canadian Labour Congress to stop all imports.
Lois Comartin lost her husband to disease caused by asbestos in 1992: "Don wakened with a bloodshot eye a visit to the hospital X-rays to find 6 brain tumours and both his lungs were filled with asbestos and 2 and a half months after that asbestos stole the love of our lives"
Jo-Anne MacMillan lost 3 members of her family to diseases caused by asbestos: "why would you want to import this horrific material of asbestos when you know people are dying from this and they won't have the medical know-how to treat it. Please stop importing this deadly material"
Shannon Bellaire was only 10 when her father, Don, died of asbestos caused cancer at the age of 35: "because he never really got to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labour to see his daughters graduate their first job buy them their first car, his youngest daughter to go to university and become a nurse practitioner his oldest daughter to become a manager in her workplace he never was able to walk them down the aisle at their weddings he was never able to see the birth of his grandchildren"
CLC representative Lisa Bastien says the Trudeau government has a majority and could ban the import of asbestos immediately.
She says there are alternatives to asbestos available for products like brake linings that still use the material.