April 13, 2007

2007 PSAC Pride Conference,
March 30 to April 1, 2007
Include and Be Included

At the opening of the Conference, aboriginal elder leader Phillipa Ryan said that the theme of the conference, “Include and be included”, calls upon each of us to participate in deciding how we will live, heal and work together. By doing so, she explained, we will work towards eliminating exploitation and oppression.

Ryan believes that a society is not a democracy when anyone is oppressed because of race, gender or gender identity, religion, class or sexuality. She said that our society may have a legal system, but we don't have a justice system.

Phillipa Ryan

The theme of legal protection for the minorities was also raised by Alex Munter, former chair of Canadians for Equal Marriage. “Our Parliaments have passed laws against discrimination,” he said, “but it does not mean that exclusion and discrimination are things of the past.”

For Munter, it just means that we now have some legal tools to build a society where everybody will be able to fully participate, but that most of the work still lay ahead of us. Brother Munter said that to achieve full participation in our society, first, we must be part of local efforts against discrimination, second, we must play a role within coalitions of groups with similar goals and that we must fight for quality public services.

Alex Munter, former chair of Canadians for Equal Marriage

John Gordon, the PSAC National President, was one of the main speakers at the conference. He thanked the participants for their help in making the PSAC a more progressive and inclusive union and he listed some of the progress achieved by the PSAC to better reflect the realities of the GLBT communities.

In spite of a long list of accomplishments in recent years, Gordon believes that we still have a long way to go and that we must continue the fight to make GLBT rights a priority at the bargaining table, in our union programs and in our political action campaigns.

During the conference, the delegates elected the new representatives of the GLBT community on the Equal Opportunity Community. The representatives are Denis Roy from the Atlantic region and Sharleen Patterson from the North. The alternate representatives are Carol-Anne Grenier, NCR, Carolyn Moffat, NCR, Julian Wilson, NCR and Toufic El-Daher, Quebec.

GLBT representatives to the EOC share a laugh with PSAC National President, John Gordon. Left to right: Carol-Anne Grenier, Carolyn Moffat, Toufic El-Daher, John Gordon, Julian Wilson, Denis Roy, Sharleen Patterson

During the second day of the conference, some delegates took part in a demonstration in Vancouver to protest the closing by the federal conservative government of the offices of the Status of Women in Vancouver as well as in other cities across the country.

PSAC Executive Regional V.Ps Jeannie Baldwin and Robyn Benson at a demonstration to protest the closing of Status of Women office in Vancouver.

PSAC Executive Regional V.Ps  Ed Cashman and Kay Sinclair at the demonstration in front of the Status of Women office in Vancouver.

In closing the Conference, the co-chairs, Ed Cashman and Kay Sinclair, congratulated the participants for their commitment to the democratic process and urged them to go back to their communities and continue the work started during the week-end.

PSAC Executive Regional V.Ps  Ed Cashman and Kay Sinclair closing the PSAC PRIDE Conference

Delegates at the PSAC Pride Conference enjoyed a break to stretch their legs