Published
|
Last updated
1 hour ago
Date: October 17, 2025
Place: PIPSC HQ Office
Meeting time: 9:00PM to 5:00PM ET
Meeting minutes taken by: Marielle Nadon
| Present: | Regrets: |
| Katie Francis – PIPSC VP – NCR – ChairNiraj Nitheanandan – CP – ATL – MemberHarry Timla – AFS – ONT – MemberSally Hanna – SP – NCR – MemberMadeeha Choudhry – CS – B.C., Yukon- MemberChinyere Okafor – SH – Prairies, NWT – Member Marielle Nadon – PIPSC Admin. Assistant | Mary Lycett – AFS – NCR – Friend of the Committee Sean Stiff – CP – NCR – Friend of the Committee Richard Gaboton – PIPSC Staff Ressource |
| Guests:Nick Pernal- Senior advisor to the president of PIPSCDave Sutherland – V.P. at PIPSC, Chair of TEAM Committee | |
| Words of Welcome, approval of the agenda and previous meeting minutes |
| Katie opens the meeting with words of welcome. Niraj performs the land acknowledgement. Katie presents the agenda. The agenda is carried by consensus. Everyone reviews the previous meeting minutes from September 2025. They are approved without changes by consensus. |
| Equity Caucus update |
Women’s Caucus (Chinyere): Not much update. The next meeting will be at the end of November with a guest speaker that will talk about nutrition. Indigenous Caucus (Sean): No update for the moment as Sean is on vacation. Workers with disabilities Caucus (Mary): Mary is organizing a DTA session with an ERO. Mary isn’t here to confirm at today’s meeting. 2SLGBTQIA+ (Stacy & Gordon): No update. Black Caucus (Jennie & Dime): Dime will reach out to Jennie next week to see what are the next steps to co-chair with her. Workers of Colour Caucus (Harry & Sally): Harry had to resign as a co-chair of the caucus as he has new responsibilities. |
| Term of References (ToR) for HRDC |
It was brought to Katie’s attention that all the other Committees of the Board have Terms of References except HRDC. Katie made a draft document to be reviewed by all HRDC members for this meeting. Everyone reviews the document and makes some modifications. Katie to send this document to get approved. |
| Legacy Foundation (Nick P.) |
| The HRDC members were asked to review a request from the EC to support the Junior Black Achievement Award. They asked Nick to join the meeting to explain whether this would be something that could be considered through the Legacy Foundation. Nicholas’ team takes care of the applications of the Legacy Foundation, which is a registered charity at PIPSC. He shares the by-laws related to the HRDC members. He mentions that PIPSC gave out some money this year for: Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose which provides scholarships to Queer and LGBT community.Workers History Museum which has a scholarship for disabled individuals going to university. Coalition of Black Trade Unionists for scholarships specifically earmarked for black males at risk of joining gangs.The Ontario Federation of Labour where PIPSC gave out two scholarships for First Nation Inuits and Metis Circle He also adds that about 1 out of 3 PIPSC scholarships are attributed to equity seeking students. Katie asks what would be the process to apply and request another scholarship or money to be donated toward one. Nick mentions that this year, it may not be possible as everything is wrapped up but next year, the HRDC can reach out to him with suggestions. The application starts during summer, therefore spring would be the ideal time. Harry proposes scholarships that would be awarded to someone contributing and promoting diversity in their school and not based only on their grade marks. |
| Education (Dave S.) |
| Dave is another Vice-President at PIPSC and also Chair of the training, education and mentoring Committee. He would like to hear from the HRDC Committee about what is working and what isn’t in term of Education. In his Committee, they have been reviewing a policy that he would like to discuss and see if HRDC members approve. He is aware that changes to this policy will increase costs. A lot of their training is meant to be workshop style – it can be hard to get the same participation in these courses online. Katie explains that there is a lot of misunderstanding amongst members. She proposes to make equity training a priority, especially for stewards in the case they have to represent someone from an equity seeking group. She also points out that training on organizing, strategic planning and advocacy training would be helpful for members of all the Committees to do a lot more in their role. She completed with a suggestion for an equity caucus symposium, including workshop and facilitators. Harry adds that an unconscious bias training would be really helpful Dime raises an important point – Quebec region is often receiving training from FTQ. Those trainings are sometimes outdated and given to stewards, which transmit this outdated information to members. Dave suggests letting his regional training chair know about this when he flags outdated contents. |
| HRDC accomplishments |
| The Committee reviewed a draft document (below) mentioning their accomplishment for the year. Sally proposes that they print it and distribute it at the AGM. Harry also suggests having a QR code for people who would like to sign up on an equity caucus. Extract of the document on accomplishments: Current issues: ● The HRDC is tasked with solving systemic issues. This is a huge ask for 6 volunteers to take on in the absence of training, a budget, the ability to hold workshops, and the ability to come together in a forum with the broader community to share perspectives and discuss solutions. Asking 6 people to speak for their representative communities is limiting (for example, having one Indigenous member limits us to the perspectives of one Nation, having one racialized worker limits the perspectives to one community or culture). While we do our best to represent our communities well, it is essential to meet in a broader context to include more voices if we wish to achieve successful outcomes. ● HRDC accomplishments this year: ○ Discussed/planned focus areas for this year and the feasibility of implementing recommendations based on the results of a 2022 equity survey delivered to PIPSC members, which had not been previously actioned ■ These results revealed an alarming resistance to EDI efforts and some respondents went so far as to threaten the survey administrators, which the administrators indicated was significant, extraordinary and unusual in their experience ■ As such, we focused largely on resisting hate speech and shifting the culture of the union to be more inclusive and to truly celebrate diversity ■ Another area of interest is investigating and addressing the high reported rates of harassment ○ Heard from GC and acting GC on PIPSC’s anti-discrimination efforts and the merit criteria guiding LR support to better inform the committee members who will share this information with their caucuses/colleagues ○ Nominated equity leaders for citation certificates to recognize their contributions to PIPSC ○ Had a discussion with the president on our desired future for EDIA at PIPSC and how to get there. Through this discussion, HRDC recommended to implement a standard response to hateful emails that would be issued from the President’s office when these emails come in ○ Drafted the Terms of Reference for the HRDC as they previously did not exist ○ Partook in a resolution writing training to set us up to write the 6 resolutions that we presented to the board ○ Supported/provided feedback on the Gender Transition Guide published this year by PIPSC○ Revised the PIPSC equity statement to better affirm our commitment to EDIA initiatives ○ Developed a statement in support of international solidarity, proposed anti-hate awareness training for areas seeing rising incidences, and to recommend the development of an international solidarity caucus to keep the board better informed on emerging issues ○ Reviewed and provided feedback on policies, proposals and more as requested by members, consultation presidents, the BoD, and the EC (including policies from gov departments) ○ Met with the TEAM chair to discuss how to advocate for equity-based courses through our current structure and how to broaden the structure to allow for more opportunities ○ Developed and implemented the programing for our AGM booth to promote the HRDC and to advocate for equity issues with members ● The HRDC accomplished the above without formal training in mobilization, strategic planning, and advocacy. Training in these areas will allow for the committee to flourish, to be more effective in supporting our diverse membership, and building structures that will lift them up. ● The HRDC is limited by a lack of resources to implement large initiatives. With more staff support, we would be able to initiate larger initiatives such as planning a symposium for members of equity groups, building a mentorship program for members of specific communities, etc. to work towards building a more inclusive space and to show that this is a priority ● Equity caucuses, which have proven to be valuable spaces for members to feel included and discuss issues in a safe space, have been slipping through the cracks due to lack of staff support in organizing the meeting, getting documents translated, recording minutes, etc. Also, the lack of funding and lack of training has limited their ability to extend their effectiveness and mandate. There is a desire for these caucuses to be spaces where members can come up with bargaining demands affecting their communities, develop training ideas for the broader membership, administer a mentorship program and develop leadership opportunities for members of equity groups to include diverse voices in all spaces, among other things. Training is required to set members up for success. Staff support is required to expand the mandate and assist with planning meetings, finding speakers of interest and training opportunities, assisting the chair in the meetings, etc. ● In the absence of funding, the HRDC and caucuses do not have the ability to hire guest speakers to host webinars on areas of interest to members of equity deserving groups. These webinars would help attract new members to the equity caucuses/broader advocacy movement and would show these members that their issues are important to the union ● PIPSC has a diversity problem where our leadership and delegates tend to not be reflective of the broader membership. We need to create a space where members from equity deserving groups feel valued so that they are more inclined to step up for leadership roles. To support these members, who belong to historically and systemicallyexcluded communities, we need to provide intentional leadership training and mentorship opportunities ● Formal training on EDIA issues is not currently required and is rarely requested for steward schools. Without this, we are not able to open minds to the issues these communities face and are therefore unable to shift the culture to be more inclusive |
| Resolution Arguments |
| The committee discussed arguments to defend their 2 board sponsored AGM resolutions. |
| Round Table |
| Harry – This is his last meeting as he won’t be able to attend the December one. He appreciated being part of this Committee and all the hard work they are doing. Chinyere – Nothing to add, she is currently out of town. Madeeha – Nothing to add. Sean – Absent. Mary – Absent. Niraj – Nothing to add. Sally – Nothing to add. Dime – Nothing to add. Richard – Absent. Katie – She thanks Harry for all his work in the Committee this year. |
The meeting is adjourned.