Remembrance Day

with great appreciation to Heather Bouley for placing the COPE wreath at the cenotaph during the Remembrance Day services

Never Forget, Always Remember

Thank you Heather.

Election document

To be eligible to run for a position on the COPE Local 96 executive, the member needs to be a member in good standing and a member of one of the units represented by Local 96.

The election meeting is held every second year on the third (3rd) Tuesday of November.

The meeting will start at 6:00 pm.
Election year 2023 – next election year would be 2025

The positions that are elected on election night are as follows:
These positions are elected from the entire membership
President
Executive Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Sargent at Arms

These positions are elected from the individual units’ membership
Local unit VP’s- Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Lakehead University
Bargaining Chair – Northern Credit Union

The person conducting the nominations will ask three (3) times –
“are there any nominations for _____ position”

A member is nominated by someone in the audience, if that is the only member nominated for that position and the member stands for nomination – he/she is acclaimed

If there are multiple members nominated, the person conducting the nominations reads the list from the top down and then from the bottom up – asks if each nominated member wishes to stand for election.

For a member who can not be present at the meeting and wishes to stand for election – he/she will need to send an email, prior to the election night, to the cope96@tbaytel.net email stating – “if I am nominated for a position on the COPE Local 96 executive – I will let my name stand”
That said person is assumed to be a member in good standing.

After said meeting, the units’ VP will hold a unit meeting to elect Bargaining, Health and Welfare committee members and other unit committees.

The elected officials start their role on December 1st

The executive meets every second (2nd) Tuesday of the month – except July and August

Information on the positions and duties can be found on our website https://cope96.ca/
Look under the Committees tab – Constitution and By-laws for the COPE-96-Constitution-Bylaws-March-2021R document which outlines the duties of each position.

For the members who wish to post a bio and picture of themselves – please send the information to the cope96@tbaytel.net and I will make sure it gets posted to this page

Federal government must do more to fulfill its promises on reconciliation

Canada’s unions are marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day on September 30, by calling for greater accountability and action from the government to fulfill its promises on reconciliation.

“Today we must all take time to remember and honour all the Indigenous children taken from their homes, families, and communities to be sent to residential schools, where they faced mistreatment, violence and abuse. No child should have to endure these atrocities, nor should any community have to experience the fallout of these racist policies,” said Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

Approximately 80,000 residential school survivors are still alive today. The trauma inflicted by the residential school system has had far-reaching and devastating impacts on survivors, their families, and Indigenous communities more broadly.

“While residential schools closed, the impacts of the system remain, and the horrors of the residential school system are echoed in current government policies. This includes the use of birth alerts, the underfunding of child and family services on reserves, and the over-representation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system. Indigenous children, workers, and communities deserve better, and it’s long past time for these injustices to be righted,” said Lily Chang, CLC Secretary-Treasurer.

For survivors, their families, and the families of the children who never made it home, the traumatic impacts of the residential school system continue to be felt today. The ongoing discovery of the graves of thousands of Indigenous children at former residential schools, and the slow degree to which action has been taken to release records on residential schools to survivors and their families, creates
additional trauma for community members.

In order to redress the legacy of colonization and advance the process of reconciliation in a meaningful way, it is imperative that the federal government address the harms caused by the residential school system, as well as the colonial policies and practices that have and continue to have devastating consequences for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

This is why on October 3, 2023, workers from across Canada will be heading to Parliament to meet with Members of Parliament and Senators as part of CLC’s second National Indigenous Lobby Day. There they will urge lawmakers to take action on Indigenous justice, including:

– Addressing the harms caused by the residential school system by implementing, without delay, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 71 through 76: Missing Children and Burial Information;
– Providing appropriate funds and resources to support the development of essential publicly delivered water infrastructure and ensuring the elimination of all long-term boil water advisories in First Nations communities;
– Immediately creating a national Red Dress Alert system to notify the public when an Indigenous woman, girl, or Two-Spirit person goes missing;
– Releasing an implementation plan for the government’s National Action Plan, and accelerating fulfilment of all the Calls for Justice from the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and TwoSpirit people; and
– Along with the government of Manitoba, prioritizing and adequately funding a search of the landfills to return Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris of Long Plain First Nation, and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe to their loved ones without further delay.

Show your solidarity and join the calls by signing our action letter and letting your MP know that you want to see concrete action for justice for Indigenous communities!

Other ways to take action on this day and beyond:
– Visit CLC’s Indigenous Rights and Justice Resource Centre, for information and resources on tangible actions you can take to support Indigenous workers in your workplace, union, and community.
– Find and join an event or action in your area to commemorate Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (example in Ottawa).
Wear orange to show your support for Indigenous communities impacted by residential schools.
– Donate to and support Indigenous organizations and Indigenous community supports such as the Indian Residential Schools Survivor Society, and First Nations Child & Family Caring Society.

ReconciliACTION Plans

In 2015, the NCTR released the 6 Actions of ReconciliACTION that were developed to assist the public in supporting their work towards Reconciliation.

These actions are:

Learn the history between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples;
Understand the history and legacy of residential schools;
Explore the unique intersections we have between treaty, constitutional, Indigenous, and human rights we have in Canada;
Recognize the rich contributions that Indigenous peoples have made to Canada;
Take action to address historical injustices and present-day wrongs; and
Teach others.

more information on the ReconciliACTION Plans can be found here

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

No Space for Hate Counter Protest!

As some of you may know, we have unfortunately see the far-right push to not have 2SLGBTQIA+ material included in schools as well as unsafely out children who disclose at school. This causes immense harm to children in so many ways. This hateful group has organized protests across Ontario and we want to show them that is unacceptable and we want to protect these children from further harm.

Join us for a counter protest across Ontario to show that COPE-SEPB Ontario does not condone this innate harm.

Counter protests are being organized in Toronto, Hamilton, Burlington, Kitchener, Niagara Falls, London, Windsor, Orangeville, Barrie, Sudbury, Whitby, Ottawa and more to come. (Full list will be sent to those who RSVP using the link below)

No Space for Hate counter protests – RSVP here

If you are unable to make it to a physical event, please share the event widely within your networks and share the social media images created by the OFL (accessed via link above).

Healthcare Campaign launch!

Good Afternoon everyone,

I am please to reach out and inform you that our healthcare campaign has begun; We are working hard to fight the attack on our public healthcare!

The first phase of this campaign is our landing page with an email campaign for folks to share their concerns with local politicians and leaders. We would really love to see as much support for all of our locals on this as this is an issue that will affect all of our members in the long run.

We are kindly asking folks to circulate and spread this campaign to their members, on your locals’ socials and within your networks.

To find more info, visit our landing page with info visit: www.copeontario.ca/health

Check out the landing page to find the link to our email campaign and additional information!

Please also find social share images (in both English and French) for folks to share on their own social medias.

Keep an eye out for more details and next steps coming to this campaign.

Labour Day Picnic

its that time of year again when the unions of Thunder Bay get together and have a picnic

again this year, COPE local 96 will have a tent set up with swag to be given out

please come and enjoy the activities and meet your fellow union brothers and sisters from all unions of Thunder Bay

Unifor Metro Boycott Calls

To: Members of the CLC Canadian Council
Ontario Labour Councils

Greetings,

As you are all likely aware, the membership of Unifor working at 27 Metro stores in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario began strike action this week.

In an effort to support those workers on strike, we have seen a few calls for people to either boycott Metro stores in those geographic locations or across the entire chain, including other banner stores such as Food Basics.

While those calls for a boycott are well intentioned, they ignore the fact that there are multiple unions who represent workers at Metro stores that remain at work, covered by active collective agreements. Instead, calls to respect picket lines at the specific struck workplaces is the more appropriate message.

As a reminder, the CLC has a boycott policy which is designed to avoid any potential conflicts between affiliates.

Workers across Canada (and the world) have been feeling the downward pressures against them and are exercising their power – the right to withdraw their labour. We in the labour movement will continue to support workers in their rights, in solidarity with each other.

Workers, united, will never be defeated!

In solidarity,

Bea Bruske
President

Meet the new COPE Ontario Political Action Campaign Organizers

We are pleased to introduce ourselves to you as the new Political Action Campaign Organizers for COPE Ontario. We’re here to work with local leaders, stewards, committees, and members (of course!) on the pressing issues in our union.

We’re currently focused on (but not limited to) four main areas :

– Violence in Education
– Privatization of Healthcare
– Pay Equity
– Bill 124

We’ve already started working on these campaigns and, over the coming months, you’ll be hearing from us (and seeing us) more often as we roll them out across the province. We’re also restarting the COPE Ontario Political Action Committee, which you can sign up for below.