75th PRC - Prairie/NWT Stewards Council - Nancy McCune, Regional Director
Report on the 2017 Steward Council
to the 75th Prairie/Northwest Territories
Regional Council, Edmonton
June 1-2, 2018
Submitted by Nancy McCune, Prairie/NWT Regional Director
Steward Council 2017 took place on September 29 and 30 in Edmonton.
The council started off by giving all the stewards in attendance hoodies, or in Saskatchewanese, bunny hugs. The region altered the logo to commemorate Canada’s 150th Anniversary.
Café Style Training
The council started off with café style training.
There were three topics presented:
- Understanding Workers Compensation Boards (WCB); Types of Workers Compensation Claims; Basics to Keep in Mind When Filing a WCB Claim, presented by Kris Hawkins, ERO Edmonton
- A Steward Toolkit for Respectful Workplace/Harassment Complaints; Grievances; Letters of Expectations vs. Disguised Discipline; Social Media Conduct, presented by Sean Kemball, ERO Winnipeg.
- Phoenix. Presented by Jeff Ryder, ERO Winnipeg; Grace Chychul, Manager of the Prairie/NWT PIPSC offices; Leslie Yasul, Steward, SP Group, Edmonton.
Grace Chychul’s Retirement
Steward Council was the last regional event before Grace was going to retire. Although she had a few more months, members wanted to say farewell and thank you for all her hard work. You will be missed.
Group Meetings
After the close of Day 1, the AFS, SP and CS groups had meetings with their members.
Charity Fundraising
In 2016 the Regional Executive made a decision that when we fundraise at our regional events, the money raised will go to a local charity or other organisation in need. The host branch chooses the charity and the Edmonton Branch chose the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). A short presentation was given by the CMHA, Edmonton Chapter.
Mental Health for Stewards
Perry Garvin, United Way Edmonton, gave a presentation on mental health for stewards.
Mindfulness
Maria King gave an introduction to mindfulness. Her presentation covered the following topics: overview of mindfulness; benefits of mindfulness practice; mindfulness & meditation... how do they relate, and how are they different; and practical techniques (and experiential practices) to bring mindfulness into daily life.
PIPSC Training and Education
Kieth Laing, Chair of the Prairie/NWT Regional training committee and member of the National Training and Education Committee (TEC). Kieth outlined some the changes that TEC is working on for steward training. In particular how there will be different levels of stewards and in the future those levels will determine what type of training you require. All stewards in attendance at the council were encouraged to fill out a card stating what level of steward they felt they were or would like to be or become.
Advisory Council (AC)
Mark Nicholson, member of the advisory council gave a presentation on what the advisory council function is and who sits on the advisory council.
Legacy Foundation
Here are the 2017 Prairie/NWT Regions scholarship recipients: Rachel Hughes, daughter of Mike and Maxine Hughes, both members of the AFS Group who work at the Canada Revenue Agency in Calgary. Rachel won the top award of $5,000. Rafid Javid, son of Abdullah Zabed, a member of the Computer Systems Group who works at Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada in Winnipeg. Jack Osiowy, son of Carla Osiowy, a Research Scientist who works at the Public Health Agency of Canada in Winnipeg. Mathew Wurzer, child of Richard Wurzer, a member of the Computer Systems Group, who works at the Department of Justice in Edmonton. Gurleen Randhawa, daughter of Mrs. Harpreet Randhawa, a member of the AFS Group who works at the Canada Revenue Agency in Calgary. The Professional Institute Legacy Foundation is a registered charity that gives scholarships to PIPSC member’s children and grandchildren. To date, more than $650,000 in scholarships have been awarded to more than 300 deserving students.
Steward Awards
The council concluded with the presentation of the Steward Awards as selected by the 2017 Steward Award committee consisting of Sharon Losinski, Bonny Manz, and Bonnie Pratt. Here are the Prairie/NWT Steward Award recipients for 2017:
Current Service – Leslie Yasul - PC, SP Group – Environment and Climate Change Canada, Edmonton
Career to Date – Angela Wachowicz – AU, AFS Group - Canada Revenue Agency, Calgary
Elected Official/Committee Member – Ron Goldberg – AU, AFS Group - Canada Revenue Agency, Winnipeg
Steward of the Year – Holly Ruryk – NU, SH Group – Canada Pension Plan Disability, Service Canada, Edmonton
Congratulations to all the award winners.
Thank You
I would like to thank the members of the training committee for 2017: Kieth Laing - Chair, Bobby Eiswirth, Sharon Losinski and Robert Trudeau. The training committee is responsible for setting the agenda for the steward council. The council would not be possible without all of the hard work and dedication of our staff. Thank you to Grace Chychul, Kris Hawkins, Sean Kemball and Jeff Ryder. Also a big welcome to new staff, Ernie Mclean, Manager Prairie/NWT Region (taking over for Grace) and new EROs John Hanrahan, Edmonton and Meira Gisser, Winnipeg. A special thanks goes to our administrative staff, Prashila Chand and Bailey Campbell, for their efforts in trying to keep everything on track. As the saying goes, it’s like herding cats.
The training committee is always interested in hearing from stewards about any training ideas or topics they would like to have presented at the steward council. If you have any suggestions you can forward them on to Bobby Eiswirth bobbyeiswirth@gmail.com or to me at nmccune@shaw.ca.
Steward Council 2018 will take place on September 28 and 29 in Winnipeg at the Fairmont Hotel.