GLACE BAY, N.S. -- The annual Davis Day ceremony in Cape Breton has been cancelled this year because of COVID-19 concerns. Instead, participants will celebrate the day, which honours the sacrifices of miner and protester, William Davis, individually. Additionally, miners aren't just remembering Davis, but are also taking a stand in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

Every year in June, miners reflect on the sacrifices made by Davis, a fellow man of the deep. However, this Thursday, many will celebrate solitarily.

"It's sad. I think this is the first time this has ever happened," says Cape Breton's Miners Museum executive director, Mary Pat Mombourquette. "This is an important day in Cape Breton history, and the fact that we can't get together to commemorate the loss of miners in the underground mines is very sad."

Davis, a 37-year-old father of nine children, was shot and killed by coal company police during a miners' strike in New Waterford, N.S., in 1925. At the time, the coal company that Davis worked for wanted to cut miners' wages by 33 per cent. When miners decided to picket for fair wages, the coal company cut their power and water.

"There was a hospital in town, there were sick people in the hospital," says retired miner, Sheldon Gouthro. "They had to try something to get power to their town. Kids were starving, and people were dying. It was just terrible."

Gouthro worked as a coal miner for years and says protests around the world in support of Black Lives Matter mirror the struggle faced by miners all those years ago.

"The miners were just treated like slaves back in them days. You went to work, you were told what to do, how to do it, and paid very little," says Gouthro. "If you opened your mouth and lived in one of those [company owned] houses, you were thrown out on the street. It's very similar to what was taking place back then and the protests today."

While there won't be a ceremony on Thursday, Mombourquette encourages people to visit the newly constructed Miners Memorial Park at the Cape Breton Miners Museum on Davis Day, which also honours other miners who have died on the job.

"I encourage anyone who wants to come over and use the Miners Memorial Park to do that," says Mombourquette. "We have 15 acres here; we have lots of room for social distancing. People need to take a minute and remember their past and their ancestors."