Category: Human Rights

Spring has finally arrived and with it, the chance to once again witness nature at its best: sprouting! What better time to celebrate our planet and reflect on the many ways we can better the environment. This Earth Day, take the time to rethink old habits and take action! The following helpful hints can get you started:

Give up your love-affair with the printer
Not everything needs to be printed! The first step towards doing away with piles of paper on your desk is to adapt an organized and intuitive way of filing your electronic documents. Also, check your printer settings. Is your printer set to print double-sided by default? This alone could cut your paper consumption in half!

Think green… procurement!
Are you in charge of ordering supplies and printed documents? Choose products that come with minimal packaging. Ask your supplier about products made from recycled materials. When ordering printed material, opt for paper that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council; they are a widely respected non-profit organization that certifies certain types of paper as being both environmentally and socially responsible choices. They also play an important role in protecting old growth forests.

Rethink your lunchbox
Waste reduction can start in the very lunchbox you bring to work. Bring beverages from home in a reusable stainless steel bottle instead of purchasing plastic water bottles or juice boxes. Bring cutlery from home instead of using disposable plastic cutlery from the cafeteria. Get inspired by the University of Victoria who banned plastic cutlery in an effort to reach zero waste; they now provide biodegradable cutlery made from bamboo! Finally, give up the ready-made meals from your store’s freezer section; a homemade meal in a reusable plastic container will have less of an impact on the environment and will, most likely, taste much better too!

Go vegetarian once a week!
You may have heard Dr. David Suzuki mention this concept before. Meat-production has a very serious impact on the environment. A United Nations report from 2006 found that raising livestock creates more carbon emissions than the world’s transportation put together¹. In fact, the meat industry accounts for 18 per cent of global emissions.² Try going vegetarian or vegan once per week – get your family and coworkers involved! You’ll reduce your carbon footprint dramatically and feel healthier. Who knows, you may even discover a new favourite recipe!

There are many ways to reduce our impact on the environment. This Earth Day, take a moment to reflect on a few ways you can do your part. For more information on earth day events across Canada and ways to take action, please visit the Earth Day Canada Web site: http://www.earthday.ca

[2] Livestock’s Long Shadow (2006). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The Union of National Employees is strongly committed to the promotion of human rights. While all unions have a rich history of advocating for human rights, our members are especially proud of this cause.

The award is meant to recognize a member’s exceptional work promoting human rights. The Union of National Employees is looking for nominations – the due date is August 1. More information is available here.

The last member to receive the award was Cheryl Aucoin, in 2007.

Aucoin remembers her work trying to get people with disabilities, as well as gays and lesbians recognized as equity-seeking groups within the PSAC.

“It was a struggle at the very beginning,” said Aucoin. “They certainly weren’t jumping up and down for people who were gay and lesbian.”

Aucoin says it was easier for her to advocate on behalf of her gay brothers and lesbian sisters because she was straight.

“I was very happy to take some of that stuff on,” said Aucoin, quite proudly. “I was safe as a church! But for some other folks, that wasn’t the case at all. For some, it was really quite painful.”

The PSAC finally adopted a policy against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 1994. According to Aucoin, it was in large part due to the progressive leadership in our union.

“I think of all the components, we were the forerunner,” said Aucoin.

“In retrospect, it was probably some of the best times of my life.”

For those of you who may recognize Cheryl Aucoin’s name, she says hello! She says that while she is indeed retired, she still keeps in contact with all the PSAC members in Sydney, Nova Scotia. She still gets invited to local union events – and goes!

Imagine finding out that your resume ended up in the recycle bin because your name sounded “too ethnic”. It’s the kind of blatant discrimination you’d hope wouldn’t happen in this day and age, but according to one study, this sort of thing happens all too often.

In 2009, University of Toronto Professor Philip Oreopoulos conducted a study in which 6000 mock resumes were sent to recruiters in Toronto. In each resume, the level of education and experience was comparable; the only striking difference was that some applicants’ names were English-sounding while others sounded more Indian, Pakistani or Chinese. A further chunk of resumes featured experience and education acquired outside Canada.¹

An applicant with an English-sounding name who was educated in Canada had a 16% chance of getting called for an interview; an equally-qualified applicant with a more ethnic-sounding name and whose experience and education was acquired outside Canada only received a call 5% of the time.²

When only the applicants’ names were in play, “Alison Johnson” was still 40% more likely to get a call than “Tao Wang”.³

The study points to name-based discrimination being a key factor that could explain why immigrants often struggle in the Canadian job market despite their qualifications.

Oreopoulos conducted a similar study again in 2010, this time expanding the research to include Vancouver and Montreal. When the researchers later interviewed recruiters, they discovered that snap decisions are frequently being made; they end up assuming that a foreign name is synonymous with language difficulties or a lack of critical social skills, despite the resume suggesting otherwise. In other words, it’s a form of subconscious discrimination.⁴

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Racism. We thought we’d share this study with our members as a reminder that racism can take many forms.

We mustn’t forget that affirmative action programs are currently on the chopping block. These programs aim to reverse the pattern of earlier discrimination by giving priority to individuals who are socially disadvantaged.

Affirmative action is often a contentious issue. Conservatives such as Stockwell Day and Jason Kenney, for example, are of the opinion that merit alone should be considered when hiring public servants.⁵ But that approach fails to take into account institutional racism.

If “Tao Wang” is passed over for a job early in his working life because of his name alone, then isn’t he starting the race a few seconds after everyone else?

[2] Idem

[3] Idem

[4] Oreopoulos, P., Dechief, D. (2012) Why Do Some Employers Prefer to Interview Matthew, but Not Samir? New Evidence from Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network.

[5] Rennie, Steve. (2010) Ottawa orders affirmative-action overhaul. Ottawa Citizen.

Today is the Francophonie Day. Across the globe, more than 220 million men and women speak French; that’s one person out of 32! ¹

In Canada, we often think of French being spoken primarily in one ‘belle province’; but there are actually close to 10 million Canadians who speak French.² In fact, outside Quebec, more and more people are reporting French as their mother tongue. As of 2011, 4.3% of Canadians outside Quebec report speaking French at home; more than 10% report being able to conduct a conversation in French.³

Earlier this month, the Franco-Albertan flag was raised by francophones across Alberta. The Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta has been organizing many activities to celebrate the French language, such excursions to sugar shacks, theatre shows and presentations.

“It’s so vibrant here and we’re one of the few provinces where the French population only keeps growing,” says Isabelle Laurin, director of public affairs for the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta.

“The francophone population that’s been here for many generations is very engaged,” she said. “Some of the challenges we have is getting new Franco-Albertans to recognize that there is a francophone community here .”

Each year, on March 20, the association holds a kiosk at Canada Place in Edmonton to encourage public servants to find out more about the francophone community in the province.

Meanwhile, in Quebec, there really is a continued struggle for linguistic equality rights. Yvon Beaudoin, a UNE Assistant Regional Vice-President for Quebec, recently attended the annual meeting of members of francization committees in Montreal. These committees are required by law; they aim to promote the French language within workplaces employing 50 or more individuals.

Beaudoin said francophones often have to fight to be able to work in the language of their choice. Sometimes, even access to French computer software can be a problem.

“We know it’s much cheaper to buy software in English[BR4] ,” said Beaudoin. “When we want the software in French, it’s always a bit late – it’s not always available. And it’s much more expensive.”

Beaudoin said that businesses in Quebec can obtain financial support from the provincial government to help them offset the cost of French-language software.

Another growing concern in Quebec revolves around the impact of globalization. As Quebec companies are bought out by larger American ones, francophones increasingly see the English language take centre stage.

Beaudoin is also a member of the UNE’s francophone committee. He says he’s seen a dramatic improvement in the quality of the French both during events and on the union’s website.

[2] French and the francophonie in Canada, Statistics Canada, 2011.

[3] Number of people and proportion of the population reporting French by selected language characteristic, Canada outside Quebec, 2006 and 2011, Statistics Canada, 2011

Last year, in honour of Black History Month, we shared with you the story of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, a pioneer of the equality rights movement in Canada. We did that primarily because Black history, especially Black women’s history, has largely been overlooked.

Dr. Audrey T. McCluskey, Professor of African-American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington, confirmed this sentiment when we corresponded with her last year.

“Black women’s history has been in the shadows for too long,” wrote Professor McCluskey. “So much more needs to be done to bring this history of struggle, courage, disappointment, and overcoming—continually overcoming—to a broader audience.”

So with those inspirational words in mind, we’d like to shine the spotlight on another brave Black woman. Her name was Viola Desmond – and in 1946, she caused quite a commotion.

Desmond was a Halifax-born Black woman who owned a hair salon. While on her way to Sydney on business, her car broke down in New Glasgow. After checking into a hotel, she decided to catch a movie. When she asked for a main-floor ticket, she was informed that she’d have to sit in the balcony (apparently, this was the theater’s version of making Blacks sit at the back of the bus).¹

“But Viola Desmond recognized instantly that she was being denied seating on the basis of her race. She made a spontaneous decision to challenge this racial segregation, walked back inside and took a seat in the partially-filled downstairs portion of the theatre.”²

That’s when the manager was called… and then the police… until finally, Desmond was dragged out of the theater. Oh, and then they threw her in jail for twelve hours.³

Enter the Judge

The Crown attorney must have dug really deep in the law books because they decided to charge Desmond with defrauding the Nova Scotia government. Yep. Fraud!

When Desmond slipped a dollar for her main-floor ticket, 70 cents were returned to her and she was told to sit in the balcony. A main-floor ticket in the “whites only” section would have cost 40 cents, 4 cents of which were tax. The prosecution alleged that Desmond’s actions amounted to trying to defraud the government out of that extra 1 cent in tax.⁴

Desmond wasn’t informed of her rights and didn’t have an attorney with her the next morning when she entered the court room. She was fined $26.⁵

The Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People raised money to fight her conviction and her case made it all the way to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, justice didn’t prevail. Desmond lost her case on a technicality.

She may have lost her legal battle, but she lives on a part of our history that deserves be remembered. Our country is often remembered for being a haven for escaped Black slaves. For free Black men and women, it was a place that guaranteed their freedom while the Fugitive Slave Act in the U.S. had been putting their brothers and sisters back into slavery. That’s a part of our legacy that we can be proud of.

But we mustn’t deny the darker parts of our history. Segregation did exist on this side of the border.

Viola Desmond lives on because her story reminds us of the countless Black men and women who were victims of discrimination – and to this day, continue to fight ignorance and prejudice. She lives on because she was a strong, brave, progressive woman who took a stand – who refused to accept the status quo – who refused to be told that she was a second-class citizen.

Viola Desmond is a Canadian hero. Let’s honour her and countless others who fought in the name of equality.

Viola Desmond was post-humously pardoned in 2010.⁶

[2] Backhouse, C., Racial Segregation in Canadian Legal History

[3] Bingham, R., Viola Desmond, the Canadian Encyclopedia

[4] Backhouse, C., Racial Segregation in Canadian Legal History

[5] Idem

[6] Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia