News – Page 83

2011/09/25

Remembering their sacrifice

The sullen buzz of bagpipes reverberated in Ottawa’s downtown, last Sunday, as police and peace officers gathered on Parliament Hill to remember their fallen comrades.

The memorial service drew hundreds of officers from across the nation, and an equally large number of onlookers who came to show their support. Governor General David Johnston was among those in attendance.

“By ensuring our safety, at times risking your own lives to do so, the members of the extended law enforcement family are helping to maintain harmony in our communities and contributing to Canada’s enviable reputation as a peaceful nation,” Johnston said.

Doug Marshall and Karoline Klüg came to support nine union members who work at Parks Canada as Peace Officers. “Most Canadians probably aren’t aware that four Park Wardens have died in the line of duty since 1980,” said Marshall. “Park Wardens, like all members of the vast law enforcement community, put their lives at risk to protect their fellow Canadian citizens. It’s great that they are being honoured here today,” he added.

Also spotted among the crowd were Jennifer Ho (RVP-BC & Yukon), Marc Danis (HR-Rep-Manitoba), Yvon Beaudoin (A/RVP-Quebec), Angela Decker (RVP-Atlantic), Geoff Ryan (ARVP-AB, NT & Nunavut) and Sandra Bello (ARVP-Ontario) who were in town for a planning committee. Several union staff members also were present: Suzanne Boucher, Susan Phillips, Franco Picciano, and Ben René.

A number of memorials were also held across Canada.

For more pictures from Sunday’s memorial, please visit our Flickr site.

2011/09/19

A national tragedy: our stolen sisters

September 19, 2011 – A march that started in Vancouver on June 21 reached Parliament Hill where activists demanded that the Harper government address a national tragedy. Walk for Justice has marched throughout the country to call attention to the approximately 4200 missing and murdered women. Walk for Justice activists were hosted by Families of Sisters in Spirit, a group that aims to inform the public about the impact of violence against native women.

Theresa Ducharme, formerly of Sisters in Spirit, noted that the number of missing and murdered women has only increased since she became involved with the group five years ago. In fact, since the march started in June, 36 more native women have gone missing.

“Rona Ambrose, a few weeks ago, said that she’s with us in spirit…. Well that’s nice! As our numbers grow of missing and murdered native women across this country, that’s all that’s going to be left if nothing is done,” said Irkar Beljaars of the Montreal Families of Sisters in Spirit. Beljarrs says their commitment to this issue is unwavering and called on Harper and his government to create a national task force on missing and murdered native women.

Several family members of missing and murdered women took part in the march. Gilbert Gauthier, of Winnipeg, was walking on behalf of Claudette Osborne-Tyo who has been missing since July 2008. Gauthier said the situation is especially hard on Claudette’s mother who wakes up every morning not knowing what has happened to her daughter. “[The police] say that just because she was a streetwalker or a prostitute that she decided to leave and go on her own – but that’s not true. She would always keep in touch with us every day,” he added.

Alaya McIvor of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation (200 km northwest of Winnipeg, MB) took part in the rally to seek justice for the murder of her cousin, Roberta McIvor. “She was murdered 47 days ago on July 30th. She was decapitated on the reserve,” McIvor said. A 15-year-old and a 17-year-old were arrested, but McIvor and his family believes there are more individuals involved in the murder. Despite the demonstrably violent nature of the crime, the individuals arrested were only charged with manslaughter.

Walking for her younger sister was Sharon Johnson of Thunder Bay. Sandra K. Johnson was raped and murdered in 1992; her case remains unsolved. “We just had our seventh annual memorial walk in Thunder Bay,” Sharon said. She has received much support from local media and Lakehead University students; however there still are no leads on her sister’s case.

Families of Sisters in Spirit will be holding vigils across Canada on October 4th. For more information on how you can get involved, please visit the vigil’s Facebook event page. Families of Sisters in Spirit also issue alerts of missing women on their Facebook page.

To view pictures from the walk, please visit our Flickr site.

2011/09/15

Congratulations are in order!

A few months ago, we featured an article that put the spotlight on four Union of National Employees members whom had been selected to attend the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Labour College. Today, we are proud to announce that these four superstars have graduated (with high honours, most likely!).

The grads are: Sandra Bello (Assistant Regional Vice-President, Ontario Region), Layne Carr-Wyatt (Occupational Health & Safety Representative for Local X0150 in Nunavut), Jennifer Chieh Ho (Regional Vice-President, BC & YT Region), and Michèle Milotte (Regional Vice-President, NCR-Separate Employers Region).

Each year, the CLC hosts thousands of union members seeking to enrich their knowledge of labour issues. The CLC Labour College offers an intensive program aimed at labour activists who wish to improve their leadership skills.

In his book Canadian Labour in Crisis, David Camfield notes that: “[…] union education provides an introduction to critical ways of understanding society that are almost never on offer in other forms of adult education or in the corporate media.”

Congratulations to our Labour College grads for having completed this most unique and worthwhile opportunity.

2011/08/28

Meet Camilla Vallejo

It’s being called the Chilean Winter: a protest movement not unlike recent events in the Middle East commonly referred to as the Arab Spring. Protesters have united to call on the government for better and more affordable education. The uprising recently led to a two-day nationwide shutdown, in which many public service employees joined the students in protest.

At the centre of the movement is Camila Vallejo, a 23-year-old student and activist. Her leadership has led the government to agree to substantially lower interest rates on student loans and invest over a trillion pesos ($2 billion dollars) into education.

The demonstrations she has organized have drawn hundreds of thousands of supporters. While a few demonstrations have turned violent, Vallejo is clear on their intent: “We don’t want violence, our fight is not versus the police or to destroy commercial shops … our fight is to recover the right to education.”

Vallejo is now receiving police protection, having recently received death threats. One of these came from a government official who was subsequently fired. Despite these threats, her fight has the support of 80 percent of her fellow citizens, according to a recent survey.

For more information on Camila and the uprising in Chile, please consult this article in the British paper The Guardian or this article in the French newspaper Le Monde.

Finally, a sincere word of thanks to our Union’s newest Chilean friend, Marcelo Moisan, who graciously allowed us to use the above picture for this article. Take a moment to visit Marcelo’s Flickr site, leave a comment or a thank you on his picture or add him as a Flickr contact: he has many great photos!

2011/08/25

In Honour of Jack Layton

Jack Layton

Like all Canadians, we at the Union of National Employees are deeply saddened by the passing of Jack Layton. We identify with the words of Bruce Cameron of The Barrie Examiner when he dubs Mr. Layton “the best prime minister we never had”. But as Jack reminds us, the future is not bleak. In his letter to Canadians, Layton wrote:

My friends, love is better than anger.
Hope is better than fear.
Optimism is better than despair.
So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.
And we’ll change the world.

As Layton was carried out of Parliament today, the Peace Tower bells rang the song Imagine by John Lennon. If you were unable to attend today’s ceremony or were in a different part of the country, this video is intensely poignant. There is no footage – only sound. If I may momentarily drift into active voice: I must express my deepest thanks to my sister, Stephanie René, for shooting this video for me – and doing a great job as impromptu Communications Officer – whilst I was away.

Describing the video, Stephanie wrote:
“I just wanted the sound so I covered the lens with my hand – I didn’t want to film his family during their time of mourning.”

2011/08/12

International Youth Day

This year’s theme for International Youth Day is: “Change the world”. Our youth delegates and observers at the Union of National Employees’ Triennial Convention are certainly on that path; their commitment to fairness and justice is helping make the world a better place for all.

International Youth Day, first observed in 2000, promotes the benefits young people bring into the world and aims to promote ways to engage them in becoming more actively involved in making positive contributions to their communities.

“Failing to invest in our youth is a false economy,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message for International Youth Day 2011.

That’s a message taken to heart by the Union of National Employees. This convention saw the attendance of youth delegates from every region and a motion concerning youth members move up the agenda and pass overwhelmingly.

2011/08/07

Convention News

The Triennial Convention is keeping everyone very busy here! If you wish to keep apprised of Convention News, we have a lovely bulletin for you to read:

	Convention News – Day 1
	Convention News – Day 2
	Convention News – Day 3
	Convention News – Day 4
	Convention News – Day 5

2011/08/07

International Day of the World’s Indigenous People

August 9, 2011 marks the eleventh commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. This year’s theme is: Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting our own future.

In conjunction with this day, and the important principle of self-determination, we wanted to promote the movement for tribal peoples and encourage you to join it. Survival International works with hundreds of tribal communities and organizations across the globe. They are “funded almost entirely by concerned members of the public and some foundations” and refuse national government funding “because governments are the main violators of tribal peoples’ rights”.

In keeping with their work of achieving recognition and respect of tribal people, they work to protect the lands of uncontacted tribes. Oil industries and illegal logging pose a serious threat to these tribes; namely, contact with outsiders could expose them to infectious diseases and wipe them out. It’s for this reason that uncontacted tribes should be left alone and their lands should be protected.

You can help by going to Survival International’s website. There, you can write a letter to President Garcia of Peru, President Rousseff of Brazil and Prime Minister Singh of India, urging them to protect uncontacted tribes. You can also donate to Survival International on their website.

In honour of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, Survival International has also compiled a list of nine tribal facts.

2011/07/22

Convention E-Binders!

The staff at the National Component has been working like little bees to bring you the coolest Convention binder you’ve ever seen. The print shop is busier than Santa’s workshop, the policy wonks are screening documents for the ever-elusive Catch-22, and computer geeks are having a battle royale over the use of Helvetica.

With that said, you’re not off the hook! These binders are huge: ergo, you’ve got a lot of reading to do. It is definitely a good idea to glance through these and make a few notes before Convention.

Oh yea! Don’t print these at home!

Reason 1: your printer will plot its revenge against you – it’s an 800+ page document.
Reason 2: we’ll be printing these for you and shipping them to St. John’s…. That way you don’t have to worry about impaling someone when your binder drops out of the aircraft’s overhead bin.

Enjoy!

	Convention Agenda (updated on: August 4, 2011)
	Convention Information (updated on: July 27, 2011)
	National Component Bylaws
	Proposed National Component Bylaws
	National Component Policies
	Constitution & Bylaws Committee Report (updated on: August 4, 2011)
	Finance Commitee Report (updated on: July 27, 2011)
	Definitions of Financial Terms (Budget Explanation) (updated on: July 27, 2011)
	National Component Financial Statements
	General Resolutions Committee Report (updated on: July 27, 2011)

2011/07/12

Today in Labour History

July 12, 1933 — The Screen Actors Guild holds its first meeting. Among those attending: future horror movie star (Frankenstein’s Monster) and union activist, Boris Karloff. (via our friends at the AFL-CIO and unionist.com)