May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Since 2005, May 17 has been dedicated to the fight against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, marking the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. For decades, CUPE and the broader labour movement have been at the forefront in…
Every year, on the second Wednesday of April, we mark the International Day of Pink. We first began commemorating Day of Pink in Canada in 2007 when two students witnessed another student being bullied because he was wearing a pink shirt and appeared to be gay. In a show of solidarity and a display the…
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…
On November 20, CUPE Ontario’s 280,000 members join our communities in observing Transgender Remembrance Day and in celebrating our collective victories while recommitting to addressing the many challenges that still exist. We take note that, while the commemoration of this day began as a memorial for trans people murdered and brutalized because of their identities, this history is ongoing and certainly…
TORONTO, ON – The new bill, the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, is an essential piece of legislation that will save lives and ensure that make access to health care more equitable for all. And now that it’s passed second reading, it’s time to push it over the finish line, refuse to delay…
TORONTO, ON – Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is leaving front-line workers out of the new Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee and it must immediately stop its work until it’s fully inclusive, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario in a written letter to Minister Monte McNaughton. “The committee is comprised solely of business owners,…
In this special Pride month webinar that took place on June 9 at 6:30pm, panelists discuss the history of pride, the meaning of the Pink Triangle symbol, and the work of the CUPE Ontario Pink Triangle Committee. Guests: – Fred Hahn, a former Pink Triangle Committee member and the first out gay President of CUPE…
Statement by CUPE Ontario’s Pink Triangle committee on the Day of Pink: Today is the Day of Pink – an international commemoration reminding us about the need for solidarity with LGBTQ2+ people. This year it’s a particularly important issue, as COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted equity-seeking seeking people, including the LGBTQ2+ community. For instance, recent research shows that…
On Pink Triangle Day 2021 we embrace love’s diversity by celebrating LGBTQI2S+ people, families, and communities. We also reaffirm our solidarity with struggle against the oppression of the Ford Conservative government and wider homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in our society. In Nazi Germany, thousands of LGBTQI2S+ people were sent to concentration camps where they were…
TORONTO, ON – Workers at Egale Canada Human Rights Trust, the country’s leading LGBTQI2S rights organization voted today to join the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). “Advocacy work can be all-consuming, so it’s important that workers have a team that advocates for them as well. Today, workers at Egale who give so much of…
