“The theme of this seminar is: go with the flow,” joked Saskatchewan’s Regional Vice-President, Omar Murray, during the Manitoba-Saskatchewan regional seminar.
What do you do when all your seminar material is lost somewhere between Toronto and Regina? As the old union adage goes: “the seminar must go on.” Thanks to a lot of last minute printing (*cough* thanks a lot, Purolator! *cough*), the seminar was a great success.
“The event started off a little shaky,” admitted Manitoba’s Regional Vice-President, Martin Kaminski. “But with a positive outlook on things, we managed to roll with the punches.”
This is the second time that the Manitoba and Saskatchewan regions chose to host a joint regional seminar. “We figured the more people, the more fun,” explained Murray.
Kaminski says he particularly enjoyed the presentations by UNE staff. Among other things, participants were treated to workshops on local finances, communications and grievance handling.
There was also an eye-opening lecture by Idle No More co-founder, Sylvia McAdam and invigorating speeches by UNE National President Doug Marshall and PSAC’s Regional Executive Vice-President of the Prairies Region, Marianne Hladun.
“Sylvia’s presentation on Idle No More and Doug’s presentation on the evil Bill 377 were topical and right out of today’s headlines,” said Murray.
Finally, we were all very fortunate to receive a surprise visit from Holly Serle, Manitoba’s former regional vice-president. Sister Serle drove over 200 kilometers to surprise us – and we’re very glad she did!
“I really enjoyed the opportunity to touch base with some familiar faces and some new ones,” concluded Kaminski.