“This must be a time of reflection not celebration”: Indigenous Council and CUPE Ontario to spend July 1 reflecting and recommitting to fighting ongoing colonialism

Aboriginal Council, Solidarity

“This year, Canada Day should be nothing more than a day of reflection. I will not celebrate the birth of a nation that destroyed our children.” The words of Sol Mamakwa, NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong and a member of Kingfisher First Nation, are ones people living in what we call Canada must hear and must contend with. He continues by asking:…

Rideau Transit Maintenance workers join CUPE

Municipal

OTTAWA, ON – Workers at Rideau Transit Maintenance in Ottawa voted almost unanimously yesterday to join he Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Rideau Transit Maintenance has a 30-year contract to maintain the Confederation Line, Ottawa’s new light rail transit system. “This group does the same work as our members in transit systems across the…

“No encampment clearings”: CUPE Ontario’s statement of solidarity with unhoused Trinity Bellwoods residents

COVID-19, Governmental, Municipal, Solidarity

CUPE Ontario condemns the City of Toronto’s decision to clear encampments at Trinity Bellwoods Park where unhoused Torontonians have been living. The use of over 100 police officers and dozens of private security would be a completely unjustified display of forced removal at any time. Toronto’s one of the most expensive cities in the world and far too many of our neighbours can’t afford…

Region of Waterloo’s mismanagement is negatively impacting EMS services and harming the community, say CUPE 5191 paramedics

COVID-19, Health Care, Municipal, Paramedics

REGION OF WATERLOO, ON – The Region of Waterloo’s mismanagement is harming the quality of paramedic services and putting the community and its workforce at risk, according to paramedics represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 5191 (CUPE 5191). Luke McCann, an active paramedic and president of CUPE 5191, said emergency calls had increased…

“From reckoning to resistance”: CUPE Ontario commemorates the ongoing forms of resistance on Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Aboriginal Council

We’re in a moment of mourning and reckoning, confronted in a way that can’t be avoided by the very worst of ongoing colonialism. 215 Indigenous children’s remains were found in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, or Kamloops, British Columbia. While the Ford Conservatives applaud their vaccination plan and take steps towards reopening, we’re witnessing the unfolding crisis…

Supportive housing for women fleeing domestic violence at capacity in North Bay; workers issue a call to action to expand programs to meet need for services

Social Services, Women's

Toronto, ON—As instances of domestic and intimate partner violence continue to spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of emergency frontline workers at North Bay’s Nipissing Transition House issue a call for expanded programs and enhanced workplace protections to better support women and their children. “We simply don’t have the resources or space we need…