Today CUPE Ontario celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day in recognition and commemoration of the history, achievements, and diversity of Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. This day is also about the power of resistance: the strength and courage of Indigenous communities who have withstood and survived, despite the massive weight of colonialism and the…
Safe, reliable water and wastewater services are a human right and the heart of healthy communities. But these rights are denied to many Indigenous communities in Canada. Water services and resources are also under growing pressure to privatize. The COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted just how important clean water is to our health and safety. Clean water…
Today, CUPE Ontario joins people around the world in celebrating International Human Rights Day. Seventy-three years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document that set the foundation for universal basic human rights. From its inception, the UDHR was a…
This National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was a powerful and momentous day, with so many from coast to coast to coast reflecting on the horrors of the residential school system, recognizing the ongoing colonialism on these lands, and recommitting to real and lasting reconciliation. But, underscoring the urgency of this work, CUPE Ontario’s 280,000…
WINDSOR, ON – Public sector unions are decrying the lack of initiative by the City of Windsor’s municipal government in not recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday on September 30. Three Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Locals joined the Windsor Professional Fire Fighters Association (WPFFA) Local 455 in…
When the Federal government legislated a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, CUPE Ontario saw this as a long overdue but important step toward reconciliation. As the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission indicate, the work of reconciliation is an enormous undertaking that requires deep commitment and careful reflection. Sadly, Canada…
“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:…
Dear Members, In 2019, the Indigenous Council of CUPE Ontario designed orange t-shirts with the goal of increasing awareness of residential schools. Since then, CUPE Ontario has continued to support the Indigenous Council with this effort by making orange shirts available to purchase in the months leading up to Orange Shirt Day. Recently, we made…
UPDATE: Our inventory and sizes have been restocked. Please click on the link below for the order form. National Indigenous People’s Day is June 21st. To purchase the Indigenous Council’s “Every Child Matters” orange shirts (for $20 each), please fill out this order form, linked here. If you would like to purchase more than 15…
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…
