When Isabelle Bonnici stood in silence outside parliament, her tears welling up, staring at Robert Abela with a look of disappointment as he walked past her after voting down a call for a public inquiry into her son’s death, she won over the sympathy of an entire nation.

Just six months earlier, Bonnici’s world came crashing down, as her 20-year-old son, Jean Paul Sofia was crushed to death in a construction collapse at Corradino. From that moment, Bonnici was thrust into the limelight, determined not to let her son’s death be cemented over like many other construction victims before him.

While many victims’ relatives often understandably barricade themselves in a wall of grief, Bonnici decided to rise above the darkness, becoming a beacon of hope and a catalyst for change.

The unassuming woman had no public aspirations but, driven by the love for her son and an innate sense of justice, she stepped forward, vowing that Jean Paul’s name would not fade away.

The construction industry, a sector often tainted by tragedy and shadowed by the pursuit of quick profit, once again revealed its harsh reality on that tragic morning in December 2022.

For too long, the many victims of construction accidents have remained nameless, their stories buried beneath the rubble of negligence and indifference. But Bonnici refused to let her son become just another statistic.

She transcended the boundaries of her private life, morphing herself into the face of justice and an unwavering voice demanding accountability.

She shared her grief with the nation, breaking down the walls that too often separate the personal from the public.

She transcended the boundaries of her private life, morphing herself into the face of justice and an unwavering voice demanding accountability

Bonnici met with politicians and activists to rally her cause, she invited the media into her home to explain why she would not let go and to explain why she was demanding a public inquiry.

In a society where the powerful often escape scrutiny, she stood alone outside parliament, facing the cold indifference of bureaucracy.

While the opposition backed her calls, government MPs shamefully turned down that request but Bonnici kept fighting. And when thousands gathered for a vigil she called, it was enough to force the prime minister to do a U-turn and order a public inquiry.

While the prime minister initially insisted that the magisterial inquiry would be enough to establish what went wrong, the public inquiry has proven Bonnici right. It has exposed a series of shortcomings in an industry which often resorts to shortcuts at the expense of safety and common decency. Most importantly, it has sparked a public debate about the importance of human life above profit and why tragedy should be met with accountability and reform.

Bonnici’s resilience and her journey from grief to activism should be a wake-up call to many of us who have not had the misfortune of losing loved ones through carelessness. It shows the importance of speaking up when faced with injustice and greed. Too many of us persist in complaining within our own (social media) bubbles, scared of retribution or even pointless fear.

Individual resistance can spark a movement for change and Bonnici is a prime example of that.

And this is why Times of Malta has chosen her as 2023’s Person of the Year. But there is a thread in common between all the other nominees who made it to our shortlist – all have shown persistence and hard work in their own field, despite the odds stacked against them.

Let’s hope we see more individuals taking up such important causes in 2024.