BCNU Update Magazine Spring 2023

PUTTING INJURED WORKERS FIRST COMPENSATION CHANGES WILL RESTORE FAIRNESS FOR WORKERS INJURED ON THE JOB

PLUS

CONVENTION

2023

PROPOSED BYLAW AMENDMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS

MAKING HEALTH CARE BETTER MAKING HEALTH CARE BETTER

It’s time to talk nurse-patient ratios for safe patient care

It’s time to talk nurse-patient ratios for safe patient care

APRIL 28

DAY OF MOURNING

FOR WORKERS INJURED OR KILLED ON THE JOB

Let’s honour their memory by committing to work together to prevent injuries, illnesses, violence, and fatalities in the workplace.

DELIVERING QUALITY CARE MEANS WORKING IN A SAFE AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

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MISSION STATEMENT

The British Columbia Nurses’ Union protects and advances the health, safety, social and economic well-being of our members, our profession and our communities.

BCNU UPDATE MAGAZINE is published by the BC Nurses’ Union, an independent Canadian union governed by a council elected by our 48,000 members. Signed articles do not necessarily represent official BCNU policies.

EDITOR

Lew MacDonald

CONTRIBUTORS

Juliet Chang, Tina Cheung, Laura Comuzzi, Neil Fisher, Jim Gould, Aman Grewal, Lexi Huffman, Kent Hurl, Hanif Karim, Kath Kitts, Caroline Flink, Shawn Leclair, Courtney McGillion, Moninder Singh, Michelle Wijesinghe

PHOTOS

Neil Fisher, Lexi Huffman, Kent Hurl, Shawn Leclair, Lew MacDonald

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A DEAL TO BE PROUD OF A

S YOU READ THIS, BCNU members across the province are participating in a ratification vote on the recently negotiated Nurses’ Bargaining Association collective agreement.

Your bargaining committee reached a tentative deal with BC health employers on March 31, and I’m proud to say this contract gives nurses much more of the respect they deserve.

In addition to providing record-setting compensation, the proposed terms of settlement includes significant improvements on job flexibility and leaves, and workplace health and safety.

This historic agreement was hammered out through months of intense discussions, and I’m confident it delivers on the key priorities identified by the thousands of members who responded to our bargaining surveys.

There is no question that the state of our health-care system has left many of you feeling exhausted, burnt out and morally distressed. Let me be clear: your bargaining committee heard you.

I and the rest of the committee, along with our chief negotiator and BCNU Interim CEO Jim Gould, brought your stories of sacrifice to the table. We made the employer’s negotiators aware that a lack of work-life balance and impossible working conditions have many of you considering leaving the profession. And we told them that nurses in all sectors and across designations have reached the breaking point as they try to hold up a health-care system in crisis.

I strongly believe this tentative agreement is a signal that the provincial government is listening.

I want to acknowledge your efforts. Throughout negotiations, I knew our members had our backs. While we were inside at

the bargaining table, nurses were outside at rallies in communities across the province, raising their voices louder than ever as they stood up for their patients, their colleagues and themselves to demand that the government make health care better.

This is a collective agreement you can be proud of. It recognizes your dedication and sacrifice, and opens the door to the renewed investment in nurses and nursing that we have been calling for.

Finally, I am proud to report that our NBA negotiators reached a groundbreaking commitment from the provincial government to support mandatory minimum nurse-patient ratios, a staffing model BCNU has advocated for more than 25 years. Last year, over 80 percent of members polled said nurse-patient ratios were a top priority for improving working and practice conditions.

This agreement will make BC the first province in Canada to implement ratios.

This is the beginning of a new chapter, and I’m excited to help lay the groundwork that will help retain the nurses we have in the system today and recruit the nurses we will need in the future.

To begin, the province has committed $750-million over the next three years to implement the model. A provincial executive steering committee with representation from BCNU, the NBA and the Ministry of Health will oversee implementation and ensure there is accountability on how the funds are spent.

This is your contract. Every member covered by this collective agreement has an opportunity to vote. Please visit the BCNU Member Portal to read the details of the proposed agreement, and take time to vote online between April 20 and 27.

ONE MONTH CAN’T HOLD OUR HISTORY

BCNU MEMBERS celebrated Black History Month at worksites around the province in February. Events included discussions about growing up in the Caribbean and Africa and what it means to be Black and living in Canada. There were also Black history readings and food compe-

titions comparing Caribbean and African cuisine.

Forensic Psychiatric Hospital infection control practitioner and BCNU Simon Fraser region mental health rep Tracia BatsonDottin headed up the efforts. She says it’s important to celebrate Black History Month as a way of educating staff and patients alike, and

to showcase the significant contributions Black people have made to Canadian society. “We also want to highlight anti-black racism since Black people are one a group that has been severely impacted by racial injustices,” she notes.

The theme of Black History Month 2023 was ‘Black Resistance.’ “At out worksite, we held a staff poster competition, and we also had art and paintings made by the women patients,” BatsonDottin reports.

Batson-Dottin is also the provincial chair of the BCNU Mosaic of Colour caucus. She says it’s important for all BCNU members to be aware of the history of the Black community in BC and beyond. “Few Canadians are aware of the fact that African people were once enslaved in territory that is now Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritimes, or how those who fought enslavement helped to lay the foundation of Canada’s diverse society,” she says. “Black History Month is a time to learn more about these Canadian stories and the many other important contributions of Black Canadians to the settlement, growth and development of Canada, and about the diversity of Black communities and their importance to the history of this country,” she adds.

African descendants have been a part of Canada’s heritage and identity since the arrival of Mathieu Da Costa, a navigator and interpreter, whose presence in Canada dates back to the early 1600s. In December 1995, the House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month in Canada, following a motion introduced by the first Black Canadian woman elected to Parliament, the Honourable Jean Augustine. •

CELBRATING BLACK RESISTANCE Coquitlam’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital was one of the facilities celebrating Black History Month this February. Top (l-r): Spiritual health practitioner Obadiah Kariuki Ndung’u, RN Tracia Batson-Dottin, Director of Allied Services Ayesha Sackey, Recreational therapist Ibrahim Abubakar and Clinical Services Manager Shaman Ishak. Bottom (l-r): RN Tracia Batson-Dottin –RN, Recreational therapist Ibrahim Abubakar and RPN Chinwe Ezeilo. Artwork created by women patients at Forensic Psychiatric Hospital

PINK SHIRT DAY

LIFT EACH OTHER UP!

BCNU MEMBERS joined people across Canada on Feb. 22 to raise awareness about bullying and harassment, and promote equity and inclusion in our workplaces and communities.

The event was Pink Shirt Day, and this year, BCNU regional OHS and mental health representatives were at worksites across the province to promote the union’s message of mutual respect, and to remind members and employers that, while all people can be the target of bullying, persons identifying with equity-seeking groups often encounter more bullying than others.

BCNU Thompson North Okanagan (TNO) region executive members visited four worksite in Vernon on Feb. 22. “It was a lot of fun – our pink-

shirt presence was well-received, as was our information on workplace psychological health and the effects of bullying in the workplace,” reports BCNU TNO region OHS rep Leah Takats.

At UBC Hospital, BCNU stewards and workplace Joint Occupational Health and Safety committee reps toured inpatient, critical care and long-term care units to provide information on bullying and harassment. “Members were happy to snack on some sweet treats as we handed out Workplace Health Call Center lanyard cards and bookmarks on how to report bullying and harassment at the workplace,” says BCNU Central Vancouver region full-time steward Salima Adatia.

Bullying and harassment are prevalent in health care, and workplace bullying is associated with nurses leaving their

job or the nursing profession. Some 60 percent of new nursing grads leave their first position within six months, partly due to bullying.

Aida Herrera is BCNU Executive Councillor for health and safety. She says exposure to workplace bullying can negatively affect the health of individuals, their co-workers, and their family, resulting in symptoms such as increased stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, fatigue, and depression. “This can negatively affect team communication, job satisfaction, motivation, morale, recruitment and retention and patient care,” she warns.

New as part of this year’s Pink Shirt Day events, BCNU’s Embodying Your Practice webinar series presented a live Feb. 23 event that saw participants exploring practices to help promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, and to better recognize how people

from underrepresented or marginalized groups often bear a heavier burden than others when promoting DEI.

WorkSafeBC created new policies in 2013 to address bullying and harassment. Their aim is to define what they are and to explain the duties of employers, workers and supervisors in order to prevent these kinds of acts from occurring in the workplace.

Pink Shirt Day was started by two Nova Scotia students who organized a protest to support a Grade 9 boy who was subjected to homophobic bullying for wearing a pink shirt. Since then, Pink Shirt Day has become an annual event to speak out against bullying in schools, communities, and workplaces.•

PEOPLE IN PINK Top left: Abbotsford Regional Hospital stewards Crystal Andrew (l) and Lily Osekre (r). Top middle: BCNU Thompson North Okanagan region executive members Brenda Childs, Liana Cole and Leah Takats hand out Pink Shirt Day brochures in Vernon. Top right: UBC Hospital complex activation medical unit health-care team. Back row from left: Uma Minhas, Makie Anahara, Michelle Pasasadaba, Jaspreet Battu, Jessie Ureta, John Intendencia, Sukhdeep Mann, Janet Cao, Janica Abando, Christine McNulty-Lewis, Laura Hamwi, Fe Queriza and Dmitri Fiodorov. Front row kneeling: Vienna Kan, Kamaldeesh Deol and Michelle Rooney. Bottom left: UBC Hospital members (from left) fulltime steward Salima Adatia, Jaypee Rarogal, Vienna Kan, Alfonso Lindong, Hanah Benjamin, Mark Minglum, Jenny Sapon, Milagros Quigao and Manju Bajracharya. Bottom right: BCNU’s Provincial Executive Committee celebrates the day.

HONOURING THEIR MEMORY

THE 32ND annual Women’s Memorial March took place on Feb. 14 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.

Held on Valentine’s Day each year to honour the memory of Indigenous women, including trans and two-spirit women, who have died as a result of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual violence, the event is organized and led by Indigenous women in the DTES because

women – especially Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people – face this violence on a daily basis.

Thousands of people, including BCNU members, attended the march as it wove its way through the neighbourhood – pausing in ceremony where loved ones were last seen or found. For those who gathered and walked together, the solemn event was a reminder of the ongoing harms of gendered violence, poverty, racism and

colonialism, and the need to redress these harms through ongoing acts of care and solidarity.

The first Women’s Memorial March was held in 1992 in response to the murder of a woman on Powell Street in Vancouver. Out of this sense of hopelessness and anger came an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community and caring for all women in the DTES. •

MEMORIAL MARCH BCNU Indigenous Leadership Circle members and their allies, including members of the union’s provincial executive committee, council, and the NBA bargaining committee joined hundreds of community members at this year’s Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

NOTICE: UNION DUES AND YOUR INCOME TAX RETURN

If you are contacted by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regarding the union dues amount you have claimed on your income tax return, or if they request a signed dues letter from the union secretary treasurer, you should provide them with the following:

1. Your T4 (or T4s if more than one was received); this shows the amount of union dues your employer has deducted from your salary and submitted to BCNU for the tax year indicated.

2. The receipt you received from the BC College of Nurses and Midwives as proof of payment of your annual membership fee.

3. Other eligible dues or fees receipt that you received. The total from the receipt provided above should match the dues amount you have claimed on your personal tax return. This should help you satisfy a CRA investigation audit requirements if you undergo one.

If the CRA requests proof that the union dues noted on your T4 were paid to BCNU, you should contact your employer’s payroll department and request a brief letter noting that they remitted the dues on your behalf to BCNU for the tax year in question. BCNU does not issue receipts or letters of proof of union dues noted on your T4. Please visit the CRA website for information regarding union dues and professional fees claimed on your tax return.

BACK ON TRACK

Benefit program begins plan design review project

THE INNOVATIVE Nurses’ Bargaining Association Retiree Benefit Program (RBP) that once provided support to retired nurses will again be offering benefits to NBA members following a plan design review set to begin this year.

Following the review, retired nurses will again receive support paid through a program designed to provide eligible members with better inflation protection and post-retirement benefits. It’s a valuable nest egg funded from the diversion of one percent of a market adjustment wage increase negotiated as part of the 2006-2010 NBA collective agreement.

Other retired health-care workers do not have this benefit because it was negotiated by BCNU for members of the NBA. Until the end of 2019, RBP benefits took the form of BC Medical Services Plan (MSP) premium subsidies. Up to 50 percent of the premiums were subsidized. However,

the subsidy payments were ended after the province eliminated MSP premiums in 2020.

The RBP Committee began exploring future benefits options, but two major factors caused further payments from the program to be considerably delayed: a pension governance review process negotiated as part of the NBA 2019-22 collective agreement, and a global pandemic that delayed this review along with many other priority projects.

Cognizant of the ongoing delays, in November 2022, the RBP Committee announced a one-time payment of $500 to eligible members. The first payment was made on Dec. 5 and a second was made Feb. 27. To date, over $4.4 million has been paid out to nearly 9,000 eligible retired members.

BCNU Treasurer Sharon Sponton is chair of the RBP Committee. “With delays in the review spanning 30 months, the committee approved a one-time payment to help provide some

relief to retirees, and to offset out-of-pocket expenses incurred in their dental or extended health-care costs,” she explains. “Retirees have inferior retirement benefits and pay greater costs out-of-pocket than working members.”

Last year the RBP committee passed the motion to begin the plan design review project to consider benefit issues and options for future use of the fund. An actuarial firm was contracted to undertake the project, and the committee expects to receive a report this April.

Working members are encouraged to share information about the RBP with retired members. For more information, visit bcnu.org/RBP •

LPNs were previously ineligible for the RBP as these nurses were not NBA members when the benefit fund was negotiated. However, BCNU recently reached a tentative agreement with health employers that will see LPNs included in the RBP. Visit the BCNU Member Portal for more information.

RETIRED NURSES

FIVE MEMBERS SPONSORED TO ATTEND ICN 2023 IN MONTREAL

BCNU IS celebrating National Nursing Week (May 8-14) by sponsoring five members to attend the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress being held in Montreal July 1 to 5. One of the five sponsorships is dedicated to an Indigenous member and another is for a student member, who will attend the congress’s June 30 student assembly.

The theme of this year’s ICN congress is “Nurses Together: A Force for Global Health.” The in-person event will see nurses from around the world come together to share lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include protecting nurses’ rights, ensuring fair pay and decent working conditions, optimizing nurses’ scope of practice, promoting respect for the profession and advancing nursing lead-

Our Our Nurses Future

ership for greater impact on health policies at all levels.

BCNU notified members in March about this exciting professional development opportunity. There was a terrific response, with over 170 expressions of interest (EOI) received. It’s the highest level of interest the union has ever seen for an ICN congress sponsorship.

EOIs were accepted until early April. The five successful

applicants who met eligibility requirements were selected by random draw. Conference registration, travel and accommodation will be paid in accordance with BCNU policy.

The five successful applicants will be announced during National Nursing Week. Watch BCNU’s social media channels and subscribe to member eNews to find out more. •

All BCNU members are urged to immediately check their safety lanyards to ensure that break-away clasps are working properly. Plastic clasps should release immediately when the lanyard is subject to forceful pressure.

No member should be using a lanyard without three quick-release clasps. If you are using an old lanyard without a three-point release, please discontinue use immediately ask your steward for one of BCNU’s berry-coloured lanyards

If you test your lanyard and it does not release as it should, do not continue to use it. Periodic re-checking of the quick-release clasps is also advised.

This National Nursing Week, join a live webinar and explore tools that help you prioritize your health.

ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER FEE INCREASE

BCNU seeks meeting with college board on behalf of beleaguered members

IN WHAT CAN BE characterized as a form of unrelenting financial torture, the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) announced last December a 15 percent increase to the annual registration fees nurses must pay to practise in the province.

paying the same amount as registered and registered psychiatric nurses – despite the wage difference between the designations.

BCNU President Aman Grewal has sent a letter to Yvonne Savard, chair of the BCCNM board responsible for approving the increase, to question the decision and out the extraordinary burden shouldered by working nurses in recent years.

The hike of $78.29 brings the cost of the 2023-24 registration year to $600.24. It’s just the latest chapter in a troubling story that has seen nurses subjected to registration fee increases of almost 50 percent over the last five years.

To make matters worse, the fee is now levied at an inequitable flat rate, with LPNs

“The high cost of registration adds further strain to nurses already feeling overwhelmed, having worked critically short-staffed and under the extreme demands of a crumbling health-care system,” says Grewal. “This additional financial strain only adds insult to injury for nurses given these realities.”

Grewal says the ongoing additional costs and fees for nurses run counter to the province’s efforts to retain and recruit nurses in the face of a critical staffing crisis. By the government’s own projections, more than 26,000 nurses will be needed by 2032 to staff the health-care system at its current level.

“Premier Eby has acknowledged the significant financial barriers for internationally educated nurses wanting to pursue a nursing career in BC and for those interested in returning to practice,” says Grewal. “We support the recent funding to support these individuals and call on the government to extend the same consideration to all working nurses and do what it can to bring some muchneeded relief.”

The latest fee bump amounts to nearly $4 million dollars in additional revenue for the BCCNM. Grewal reports that she has sought a meeting with the BCCNM board to review its strategic priorities for the 2023-24 registration year and to better understand the regulator’s justification for such a staggering increase.

She says she fully understands the financial impact that rising fees and other professional costs are having on BCNU members, and notes that the union negotiated a partial reimbursement of registration fees during the previous round of provincial

bargaining.

This contract improvement means most nurses no longer have to bear the full cost of registration renewal, and now receive a partial reimbursement that is paid by employers. “This has certainly helped relieve the burden,” says Grewal, “but nurses shouldn’t be subjected to continually rising professional costs they must pay for out of their own pocket.”

Members are encouraged to take action and write to Yvonne Savard, BCCNM board chair, at governance@ bccnm.ca to join the call for more consideration of working nurses when it comes to annual registration fees. •

FINANCIAL HIT Ongoing professional fees run counter to the province’s efforts to retain and recruit nurses in the face of a critical staffing crisis.

“This additional financial strain only adds insult to injury.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

MAKING HEALTH CARE BETTER

It’s time to talk nurse-patient ratios for safe patient care

PATIENTS IN BC EXPECT and deserve safe, competent health care when they need it. But untenable working conditions resulting from short-staffing and high workloads continue to take their toll on BC’s nurses, driving many away from the profession they love while leaving others burnt out and morally distressed.

The recently negotiated Nurses’ Bargaining Association collective agreement, once ratified, will go a long way to address the nurse-staffing crisis, with compensation and flexible scheduling provisions that will help to recruit the nurses our health-care system so desperately needs, retain those nurses currently working and encourage nurses to return.

During NBA contract negotiations, a major breakthrough was achieved at a separate table in discussions with the provincial government. An agreement in principle has now been reached that will see the implementation of mandatory minimum nurse-patient ratios at healthcare worksites across the province.

BCNU has advocated for nurse-patient ratios for over 25 years. Until now, however, provincial governments had resisted the staffing model.

“Our position on nurse-patient ratios hasn’t changed,” says BCNU President Aman Grewal. “We believe mandatory ratios create safer care, more satisfied nurses and save health-care dollars, as seen in California and Australia where mandated ratios are in place.”

“This agreement is a long time coming, and once implemented, BC will be the first province in Canada to commit to a standardized staffing model,” she notes. “Our sister nursing unions in California and Australia engaged in years-long campaigns to achieve ratios for their members, which were implemented in 2004 and 2001 respectively.”

Grewal says it’s hard not to get excited and optimistic about the potential difference mandatory minimum ratios will make on the lives of nurses and the patients in their care. She recognizes, however, that staffing ratios alone will not solve the staffing crisis, and ratios don’t produce the working nurses our health-care system so desperately needs. But she stresses that ratios create the practice conditions that are critical for attracting people to nursing and keeping them in their nursing careers.

“It just makes sense that if we have regulations in place that protect patients and respect nurses, then we’ll see more job satisfaction,” she says. “This will have a positive impact on the nurse recruitment and retention strategies we are currently focused on.”

Grewal notes there is also plenty of research on the impact to patient care when there aren’t mandatory ratios. Patient mortality significantly increases, as does nurse occupational injuries and incidents of missed care. Patients also tend to stay in hospital longer and there are more incidents of complaints from family members, she reports.

She says the significance of the agreement cannot be overstated.

“For too long, nurses have struggled to provide care as they jump from patient to patient, doing their best to provide care amidst a dire staffing shortage,” she remarks.

Grewal says a standardized staffing model will be a major improvement over the staffing language contained in the NBA collective agreements of the last 10 years. The workload assessment process in these contracts saw nurses face ongoing challenges reaching agreement with managers when attempting to align staffing levels with patient care needs, and frustration when compelling employers to follow through with their

STAFFING

“This will have a positive impact on nurse recruitment and retention.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

staffing commitments.

Over 80 percent of BCNU members polled last year said nurse-patient ratios were a top priority for improving working and practice conditions – the third highest after wage and staffing increases.

To begin, the province has committed $750-million over the next three years to implement the model. A provincial executive steering committee with representation from BCNU, the NBA and the Ministry of

Health will oversee implementation and ensure there is accountability on how the funds are spent.

For Grewal, the agreement is a new chapter in BCNU’s history.

“Mandatory minimum nurse-patient ratios, together with effective retention and recruitment strategies, will help nurses safely manage their workloads and help employers better achieve critical health delivery objectives.” •

WHAT’S THE IMPACT OF INSTITUTING MANDATORY MINIMUM

MORE:

LESS:

Nurse retention

2/3 of nurses say they’re more likely to stay in their jobs because of ratios

Quality of patient care and nursing care hours

74% of staff nurses agreed that quality of care increased as a result of ratios

Simplicity and transparency in staffing

Job satisfaction

Ability to take breaks

Patient mortality

Patient length of stay and readmission rate

Nurse occupational injuries

Complaints from patients and families

Nurse concerns about quality and safety

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

A NEW PROFESSIONAL HORIZON

THERE’S A NEW LAW OF the land for health professionals in BC. The ink has yet to dry on the recently enacted Bill-36 – the Health Professions and Occupations Act – but in the meantime nurses and others have many questions about how the implementation of forthcoming regulations could affect their working lives.

There are many aspects to the new legislation. Some of the changes address past concerns nurses have brought to the government, while others have prompted new questions over issues like nurses’ professional autonomy, their ability to effectively advocate for patients and the health-care system they depend on, and an overhauled disciplinary process that could jeopardize nurses’ privacy rights.

A multi-party committee tabled the legislation last October and it passed into law a month later. It replaces the Health Professions Act, a law that dates back to 1979, and which was amended several times over the years, most recently in 2006.

The government has yet to release an implementation schedule and in-force date for the Health Professions and Occupations Act and, in the meantime, the current rules under the old Health Professions Act remain in place. But, the new law is certain to bring significant changes to the oversight and regulation of health professionals.

BCNU President Aman Grewal says the timing of the legislation is less than ideal, and questions the wisdom of embarking on major changes when the health-care system is in the midst of a global pandemic and an unprecedented staffing crisis.

The new law is informed by recommendations contained in a 2018 report published by Harry Cayton, the former chief executive of the UK’s Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care.

Earlier that year, BC’s health minister Adrian Dix commissioned Cayton, a leading expert in the field of professional regulation, to conduct an inquiry into the operational and administrative practices of the BC College of Dental Surgeons as well as the Health Professions Act

The review was prompted by a series of complaints made against the dental college in addition to controversies surrounding the BC College of Chiropractors and the College of Naturopathic Physicians which the government claimed had eroded public trust in all of the province’s professional regulatory bodies.

Following the release of the Cayton Report, Dix established the Steering Committee on Modernization of Health Professional Regulation to make recommendations on how the Health Professions Act should be amended, with the stated intent of improving governance and regulatory performance in the interest of safety of patients and the public.

This committee sought public engagement between November 2019 and January 2020 and released its own report in August 2020, with a number of recommendations that are now part of the new legislation. These include reducing the number of colleges from 20 to six, changing the composition, size and board appointments process for colleges, creating a new oversight body, updating the complaints and adjudication process, and facilitating better sharing of information between colleges.

BCNU was among the health-care unions and community organizations that submitted feedback to the committee.

“Health regulation must strike a balance between the public interest and the rights of regulated professionals.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

The recently enacted Health Professions and Occupations Act brings major changes to BC’s regulatory landscape

“We stated that health regulation must strike a balance between the public interest and the rights of regulated professionals,” says Grewal. “Regulation must be effective, efficient and protect the public while ensuring licensed professionals are free to practice their chosen profession.”

A new complaints and adjudication process is one of the changes that’s most concerning, says Grewal.

The Health Professions and Occupations Act will allow the publication of discipline agreements between health-care professionals and their regulatory colleges, and all disciplinary measures will be made public. It’s a move the government says will improve transparency around complaints.

Grewal is unhappy with the change. “Publication of disciplinary measures and processes must weigh the right of

the public to know the outcome and the privacy rights of the individual registrants,” she argues. Grewal says these privacy rights must outweigh the right of the public to know details about a registrant, warning that a “name and shame” culture will only discourage people from entering the profession at a time when the health-care sector is already critically short staffed.

The new legislation will consolidate the number of BC health regulators from 15 to six. It’s a move that is consistent with the amalgamation of BC’s three nursing regulators in 2018 to form the BC College of Nursing Professionals, and which further amalgamated with the College of Midwives of BC in 2020 to form the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM).

These changes are intended to create administrative efficiencies. However, in

its 2020 submission to the province’s steering committee, BCNU reported that the amalgamation of colleges has so far done little to decrease regulatory fees. In fact, the opposite has been true.

“The nursing college has increased licensing fees by 15 percent this year alone and the costs have significantly gone up since the first 2018 amalgamation,” said Grewal at the time. She also told the committee that BCNU heard from its members that regular fee increases deter the continuation of practice. “The BC government should be concerned about nurses leaving the province for other parts of Canada or choosing to leave the profession entirely,” Grewal added. “These continued practice costs could exacerbate our province-wide nurse shortage.”

continued on page 17

MODERNIZED REGULATORY FRAMEWORK OVERVIEW OF KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

GOVERNMENT

HEALTH PROFESSIONS REVIEW

BOARD

• Reviews registration decisions of regulatory colleges

• Reviews complaint investigation decisions made by regulatory colleges

GOVERNANCE OVERHAUL

The Health Professions and Occupations Act will bring significant changes to the regulatory environment in BC with the creation of independent discipline panels and a new professional oversight body.

OVERSIGHT BODY

• Monitors and reports on performance of regulatory colleges Publishes guidance on regulatory policy/practice

• Makes recommendations to increase consistency of regulatory colleges

• Oversees appointments process for regulatory college boards and independent discipline panels

• Assesses health occupations and makes recommendations about whether statutory regulation is necessary

REGULATORY COLLEGES

Establishes clinical competence and character requirements for registration

• Issues licenses to practice

• Establishes standards of professional practice

• Establishes requirements for continuing professional development

• Receives and investigates complaints about regulated health professionals and takes action to resolve complaints at the investigation stage when appropriate

• Refers complaints to Independent Discipline Panels when appropriate

INDEPENDENT DISCIPLINE PANELS

• Holds discipline hearings and makes discipline decisions on complaints about regulated health professionals

• Disciplinary action is taken when appropriate

STAFFING

WHAT NURSES ARE SAYING

New poll shows alarming number of early career nurses are already looking for the exit sign

AS THE HEALTH staffing crisis rages on, an alarming number of nurses across the country are looking for the exit sign. Four in 10 nurses are either intending to retire, leave their jobs, or leave the nursing profession entirely, according to a poll released by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) on March 23.

“Canada’s nurses have been sounding the alarm on grueling and unsustainable health-care working conditions for years,” says Linda Silas, CFNU President.

She points out that nurses overwhelmingly cite high workloads and insufficient staffing levels as the top reasons they’re considering leaving. More than 75 percent of nurses report

BY THE NUMBERS

A Canada-wide survey of nearly 5,000 nurses was conducted by Viewpoints Research from January 16 to February 12, 2023. Here’s what they found:

Many nurses want to leave their job, entirely.

4 in 10 nurses intend to leave their job, the profession or retire.

workplaces that are regularly overcapacity. Additionally, nurses early in their careers are struggling, with nearly half reporting symptoms of clinical burnout.

“Working short-staffed and overcapacity means nurses can’t do their jobs safely. When we can’t ensure patients are getting the care they need, it weighs heavily on both nurses and our patients,” continues Silas. “And the sustainability of our whole health-care system is put at risk when an alarming one third of newer nurses say they intend to leave.”

Silas adds that solutions are within reach if governments work with nurses to implement badly needed retention initiatives. Most nurses surveyed said they would consider staying in their jobs if they had access to guaranteed days off, scheduling flexibility and tax incentives.

“Health care is facing a crisis unlike anything we’ve seen before, but it is not beyond repair. We just have to work together and implement retention, return and recruitment initiatives, backed by a pan-Canadian plan to address the systemic challenges facing the public health system,” says Silas. “Nurses have been telling us what they need. Now the question is whether governments are listening.” •

Why?

There are a few reasons.

Our health-care system is understaffed.

7 in 10 nurses mention insufficient staffing levels and high workloads as the top reasons why they want to leave their workplace. More than 66% say they regularly work short staffed, while 75% of nurses say their workplace is regularly over capacity.

Almost every nurse has experienced workplace violence.

9 in 10 nurses experienced some form of abuse over the last year, and 40% are unsure if they have mental health supports provided by their employer.

“Governments must act urgently to better retain nurses and save our health-care system.”

CFNU President Linda Silas

As a result, many nurses struggle with their mental health.

73% of nurses report having symptoms of anxiety and depression within the last two weeks. Meanwhile, 8 out of 10 nurses have registered some form of burnout.

Many young nurses regret their career choice.

44% of early-career nurses are dissatisfied with their career choice. Close to 34% intend to leave the profession, while 28% rate their mental health as very poor or terrible.

Our public health-care system is at risk.

36% of nurses say they are exploring agency work or increasing the amount of agency work they already do. Private nursing agencies siphon nurses away from public health-care institutions across the country.

Comprehensive survey details can be found at www.nursesunions.ca

TAKE ACTION!

Tell your MP it’s time to take care of nurses.

A NEW PROFESSIONAL HORIZON

continued from page 15

Not all of the changes in the Health Professions and Occupations Act need be regarded as detrimental.

Regulatory board governance will see a significant overhaul, most notably with the planned creation of a college superintendent, a new professional oversight body that the government argues will promote accountability, transparency and consistency across colleges. The Office of the Superintendent will conduct routine audits, set college standards on policy and practice, investigate colleges when necessary and investigate complaints about colleges’ actions and policies. It will also have the ability to change or overrule college board decisions.

When the new law is fully implemented, the health minister will appoint all regulatory board members based on the recommendations of an independent competency-based selection process, which will consider diversity and be grounded in clearly specified criteria. College boards will also have an equal number of registrant and public members.

The enactment of the Health Professions and Occupations Act will also see the establishment of an independent disciplinary tribunal as part of a new two-step process for managing complaints. An initial investigative stage will remain the responsibility of the regulatory colleges, while a separate independent disciplinary stage will be conducted by a panel appointed by the Office of the Superintendent. This panel will contain at least one member licensed in the same health profession as the person who is the subject of a hearing.

Notwithstanding the privacy concerns surrounding the new disciplinary process, Grewal says nurses should welcome changes that would

see disciplinary matters determined independently of the regulator, which can instead focus on the protection of the public.

The new law also supports a commitment to cultural safety and humility, and could be a significant step forward in the effort to eliminate discrimination in BC’s health-care system. Regulated health professionals and occupations under the law will be required to embed anti-discrimination measures in the delivery of services. Discrimination will be deemed a form of professional misconduct or actionable conduct, and will require colleges to take action when registrants discriminate against others.

These changes reflect key recommendations on the province’s 2020 report In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenousspecific Racism and Discrimination in BC Health Care and help further implement the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Action Plan.

Grewal welcomes these particular changes, but says her concern for nurses’ privacy remains, and she worries that the new legislation means nurses will be under even greater pressure to maintain their practice standards at a moment in history when they are struggling the most.

She also reminds members that it is an employer’s responsibility to adequately staff health-care facilities and programs to ensure the provision of safe patient care and practice conditions.

“I can’t tell you the number of times the union hears from members about overcapacity units – there simply aren’t enough nurses to go around,” she says. “Our professional voice has never been more important, and nurses must always be free to advocate for the practice conditions they and their patients deserve.” •

For more information on all of the changes in the Health Professions and Occupations Act , visit www.bchealthregulators.ca

HAVING A BABY. IT’S ONE of the most exciting and life-changing experiences a person can have. It’s also a time filled with joy, love and plans for the future.

Seven years ago, Surrey Memorial Hospital nurse Laura Goossens was expecting her first child. She’s never forgotten the difficulty she faced when trying to access information and resources on maternity and parental leaves.

“I was pregnant and trying to figure out the moving parts I had to navigate to go on maternity leave, and I realized there was nothing out there that provided all the steps in one place,” she recalls.

“I went through a process of elimination by emailing and calling different government agencies for answers to figure out a general rubric of how to negotiate this process.”

The frustration led Goossens to document her findings and later share them with other pregnant colleagues, who used the information to help plan their own maternity leaves.

LEARNING ABOUT LEAVES

Maternity and parental leaves are a bargained-for right, and the earned time away from work should be a period for parents to bond with their new baby and adjust to the responsibilities of parenthood without financial hardship or concern for job security.

Most Canadian workers are eligible to receive employment insurance (EI) parental benefits before and after a child is born. EI maternity and parental leaves ensure new parents receive financial support during their time away from work.

“I wanted to try to get as much done as I could before the birth of my son, because with a brand-new baby you don’t have a lot of spare time,” Goossens says. “Timing is important too. If you’re late and a month behind in your application, you’re not making any money for that time, which adds to the family’s financial stress.”

BCNU members covered by the Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) collective agreement also have a range of entitlements under Article 38 (Maternity and Parental Leave) of the provincial contract. However,

employer’s different policies and benefits available under the contract also means it can be confusing for parents to understand how to obtain benefits, when to apply to ensure there is no lapse in coverage, and how to maximize their effectiveness.

Melissa Vannerus is a Royal Columbian Hospital steward and the BCNU Simon Fraser region occupational health and safety rep. She’s also the provincial chair of BCNU’s Young Nurses’ Network (YNN), and is dedicated to educating nurses about their rights early on in their careers.

“Nurses considering starting a family, were not being provided with relevant information.”

Melissa Vannerus

A new member-developed resource helps demystify the process of taking maternity and parental leave

KNOWLEDGE SHARER Surrey Memorial Hospital nurse Laura Goossens was inspired to help expectant co-workers after the difficulty she faced accessing information on maternity and parental leaves when pregnant with her first child.

Vannerus says she is all too aware of members’ ongoing confusion around leaves, and recognizes that young nurses and new grads, as a group, are especially in need of accurate and accessible information.

“The YNN has been pushing for BCNU to provide education specifically for young nurses, and to give them the tools they need to appreciate the collective agreement and understand their rights – and that includes information on leaves,” she reports.

“It just boggled my mind that an organization that’s predominantly women, and with a large network of nurses thirty-five and younger who may be considering starting a family, were not being directly provided relevant information,” says Vannerus when asked about her motivation to advocate for members.

Last spring, she approached BCNU provincial treasurer Sharon Sponton about creating a financial health workshop, and together they formalized an agenda for the fourhour event. A labour relations staff member came with a presentation on leaves based on Goossens’s original document. Vannerus reports that over 300 nurses attended the April 2022 session, where they discussed issues of personal health and resiliency, received financial advice and talked about maternity and parental leaves.

The tremendous interest in the workshop’s section on parental leaves made it clear to Vannerus that many young nurses felt confused and unsure about navigating the leave process. She then worked with BCNU staff to develop a fulsome resource for nurses, specifically focused on parental and maternity leaves.

This new infographic (see sidebar)

organizes the process of applying for and taking maternity and parental leaves into four time-sensitive sections, and helps readers understand when best to take specific steps to ensure they are receiving maximum benefits and services to support their growing family. This includes information on when to inform management about a new pregnancy, requesting their record of employment, registering for EI and when and how to connect with a worksite steward about leaves of absence.

The infographic is now one of many online resources available in BCNU’s steward resource toolkit.

“As someone who’s been such an activist for the rights of young nurses, there’s still so much that needs to be done regarding education and getting new nurses to understand their rights,” Vannerus says.

“I was lucky enough to have experienced stewards on my unit who brought me to regional meetings. But there are units without stewards and others where members are being mentored by new grads who also don’t understand their rights,” she explains. “That’s why the YNN is committed to networking and socializing, and to teaching new grads that they do, in fact, have bargained-for rights and how to exercise these rights when management interprets the contract differently than intended.”

Vannerus is also editor of the BCNU Simon Fraser region newsletter, and has promoted the new parental leave infographic in the February edition, which she says will get into the hands of nurses throughout her region during the next round of mini-regional events.

She is grateful for the work that

helped inform the infographic’s design, and the joint effort of BCNU’s leadership and steward teams to ensure this tool was developed.

“It’s been a great achievement,” she says. “Now the membership at large can have more control over their maternity and parental leaves.”

Goossens agrees. “Even now, I have nurses approach me and say they are pregnant and don’t know what to do,” she reports. “And I’m proud to tell them there is something that has just come out from our union!” •

POWERFUL TOOL

BCNU stewards led the creation of a new infographic providing guidelines to help explain the rules surrounding maternity and parental leave.

View on your mobile device.

THE FUNDING FIX

WHEN PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau met with premiers for an in-person First Minister’s meeting on Feb. 7, it was the culmination of a months-long and at times dramatic showdown between the federal government and the provinces over health-care funding that was heightened amid the worsening health staffing crisis that has gripped the country.

It was also a moment for public health-care advocates, including nurses, to make sure that the core principles of the Canada Health Act were upheld in whatever deal was reached with premiers, and they gathered to call on the prime minister and premiers to strengthen public, not-for-profit health care and make sure safe and accessible quality care is available now and for generations to come.

There was an overall feeling of optimism heading into the meeting, as premiers anticipated that the pressure they had been applying in the months prior would result in a much-needed cash injection into the provinces’ health-care accounts – something they said was desperately needed to help tackle the significant challenges facing provincial health-care systems around the country.

By the end of the day, they were successful in securing the largest one-time funding commitment from Ottawa since the negotiation of the 2004 Health Accord, which was a 10-year unilateral deal that provided incremental increases to the federal government’s share of health spending. They got a 10-year deal, but this time Trudeau was not interested in a similar blanket agreement that would have seen Ottawa spending an additional $28 billion annually. The premiers did not walk away empty-handed, however, and the new funding agreement will provide the provinces with a measure of certainty not seen since the previous deal expired in 2014.

Prior to the Feb. 7 meeting, premiers from every province and territory had been asking to sit down with the prime minister and federal counterparts for more than two years to discuss the federal government’s contribution to the health-care system, especially after the sustained challenge of navigating a global pandemic. The premiers all argued that COVID-19 had put enormous strain on provincial health-care systems, leaving them with thousands of backlogged surgeries, a burnt-out health workforce, closed emergency rooms in rural communities and a shortage of nurses and doctors to properly staff them.

Premiers had begun ramping up the pressure in early 2022, when they

The recent federal-provincial health deal is a welcome step forward, but only if it’s used to fund proven public solutions to strengthen universal health care

NURSES CARE FOR ALL Unions across the country rallied in Ottawa on Feb. 7 following the federal government’s announcement of increased health transfers to the provinces. BCNU and other nurses’ unions welcomed the move, but they warned politicians that care will suffer if the money is spent on for-profit care, and called on policymakers to uphold the Canada Health Act to ensure that the funding is used to strengthen universal public health care.

“Our provincial and territorial governments cannot fix this problem on their own.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

called on Ottawa to increase the annual Canada Health Transfer (CHT) to an amount that would boost the federal government’s share of health spending from 22 percent to 35 percent, and give provinces more room in their budgets to address health-care priorities.

BCNU President Aman Grewal joined fellow Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) nurse leaders in Victoria last summer at the annual Council of the Federation meeting, where premiers had gathered to discuss common issues. The health-care crisis was at the top of the agenda, and provincial leaders were united in calling for more federal funding.

Federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos, who did not attend the meeting, countered that Ottawa would only increase its share of funding if the provinces maintained and increased their own, and that Canadians would need accountability in how that money is spent.

The premiers took time on their agenda to meet with CFNU leaders and learn about nurse-specific issues. They listened as Grewal and others presented solutions to help address the nurse shortage, improve nurses’ working conditions and ensure that patients can continue to receive quality care.

The Council of the Federation meeting ended on a disappointing note, however, with the premiers leaving Victoria no closer to getting a commitment from the federal government. Then-BC Premier John Horgan didn’t hold back his frustration at a post-meeting press conference, and said the federal government was being “disingenuous” when disputing the provinces’ characterization of the cost split. Duclos had argued that when the transfer of tax points is taken into account, the share of provincial and

territorial spending covered by the CHT averaged 33 percent, which is similar to the historical average.

Duclos did meet with provincial health ministers a few months later in Vancouver to once again discuss the CHT and the challenges facing the health-care system. BCNU and leaders from CFNU were also there, and brought nurses’ concerns to Duclos at a breakfast meeting hosted by BC health minister Adrian Dix.

Talks between the federal and provincial representatives broke down, however, with Duclos this time blaming the premiers for laying out a blueprint

for increased federal involvement that only included more money without an accounting of how it would be spent.

“All that premiers keep saying is that they want an unconditional increase in the Canada Health Transfer sent to their finance ministers,” Duclos told the Toronto Star. “That old way doesn’t work.”

Grewal expressed frustration over the often contentious discussion around federal health transfers, especially as people continue to try and access care in a floundering health-care system that’s under incredible pressure.

“The time for politicking has

NEW FEDERAL HEALTH DOLLARS

By program type, $billions

Territorial Health Investment Fund: $150 (0.3%)

Personal Support Workers Wage Support: $1,709 (3.7%)

CHT top-up for pediatric hospitals and emergency rooms: $2,000 (4.3%)

Total: $46,205

Bilateral agreements: $25,000 (54%)

CHT 5% guarantee: $17,346 (38%)

FUNDING BREAKDOWN The February health funding deal between Ottawa and the provinces sees an additional $46.2 billion in new money flow from the federal government to the provinces and territories over the next 10 years. However, across all jurisdictions, only 58 cents of every dollar from this new package will have to be spent on new health-care programs.

SOURCE: HEALTH CANADA BACKGROUNDER

passed,” she said after the October 2022 meeting. “Politicians must sit down at the table, put their differences behind them and get to work in the interest of patients and nurses.”

FUNDING FOR NURSES

BCNU has been calling for more health-care investments from both the federal and provincial governments, with a specific focus on nurses and patients. The union welcomed several recent announcements from the province focused on a number of priorities. These include providing financial support for internationally trained nurses to expedite the registration process, adding 602 nurse education seats at post-secondary institutions around BC, and hiring 320 relational security officers with robust training needed to deal with complex, violent situations.

But Grewal says much more needs to be done. BCNU is also calling for targeted investments that will help retain those nurses already working in the system, from new grads struggling to consolidate their skills to experienced nurses who are considering retiring early.

For nurses who have left the system, Grewal says attracting these workers back will only be successful if efforts are also made to address toxic work cultures, and develop health human resources policies that give nurses the opportunity to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

She stresses that many of the larger issues plaguing the health-care system in BC will not be easily solved unless there is sustained funding for creative, long-term solutions.

“We need the federal government at the table with provinces to develop national solutions, and nurses must be there too,” she adds, noting the exper-

tise and experience of nurse activists and researchers around the country. “Our provincial and territorial governments cannot fix this problem on their own.”

LOBBYING FOR PUBLIC SOLUTIONS

When news of the Feb. 7 meeting was announced, BCNU wasted no time in joining with other unions in Ottawa to bring the voices of health-care workers to the nation’s capital. BCNU President Aman Grewal and Vice President Adriane Gear gathered with nursing leaders from across Canada at a rally organized by the Canadian Health Coalition on the day of the First Minister’s meeting. They were not only there to demand urgent federal action to address the critical state of the country’s health-care system, but to ensure that any new funding from Ottawa be used to strengthen public health care.

with many seeing the health crisis as an opportunity to attack the struggling public health-care system. Last year, some provinces began issuing or expanding contracts to for-profit surgical and diagnostic facilities in a move to tackle growing wait times for a range of medical procedures. The provinces assured patients that no one would need to pay out-of-pocket to access care at these private facilities, given that the funding would come from public health budgets. But the dangers of private medical facilities have been well established, with ample evidence of patients being charged extra for services already covered by provincial health insurance plans.

CFNU President Linda Silas spoke at the rally, and said Canada’s nurses will continue to be vigilant standing up against anyone trying to use the healthcare crisis to increase for-profit health care delivery.

“Increasing for-profit care will siphon money out of the public system and put it into the pockets of private investors. And attracting nurses from public hospitals to private clinics will only make nursing shortages even worse,” warned Silas. “Public health care is on life support, but solutions are within reach. Nurses are ready to work with governments and employers to make sure our cherished public health system is there for generations to come.”

There had been growing concern about calls from the promoters of forprofit health-care businesses, whose voices had become increasingly loud through the COVID-19 pandemic,

When details of Ottawa’s funding commitment were announced later that day, nurses welcomed the federal government’s proposal to increase the CHT and establish bilateral funding agreements with the provinces and territories, but warned that new money must be backed by both real accountability and quick action to address the dire shortages of nurses plaguing

“We want transparency from both levels of government when it comes to how this money is spent.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

health care across the country.

“After years of underfunding and grueling working conditions pushing nurses out of the profession, increased funding is welcome. But fixing the health crisis starts with concrete action to fix nursing shortages,” said Silas. “Supporting our health-care workers must be the priority in negotiating bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories. Make no mistake, every day without action on health worker shortages is another day that patient safety is in jeopardy.”

Grewal agrees, and says increased federal health transfers and additional funding must come with strings attached to ensure it is spent in a transparent and accountable way. However, she’s concerned that provinces are required to spend just over half of the new funding on health-care (see sidebar: No Strings Attached?). “All of this new money must go into our health-care system, and we want to see transparency from both levels of government when it comes to how this money is spent.”

DETAILS OF THE DEAL

Despite premiers’ high hopes going into the meeting, the outcome was not the financial gift they had hoped for. Trudeau offered $196 billion in total to the provinces and territories over 10 years. But only $46 billion of this is new money. The prime minister billed his government’s commitment as “a major federal investment in health care,” but it did not satisfy the premiers’ demands for a blanket increase to the CHT that would see Ottawa spending an additional $28 billion annually. BC Premier David Eby called the deal “financially limiting.”

The main elements of the federal offer include:

• An immediate national and “unconditional” $2-billion top-up to the CHT to address urgent pressures being experienced at pediatric hospitals, emergency rooms and surgical centres

• A guarantee that the CHT increases by at least five percent a year

• $25 billion over 10 years for decade-long bilateral deals with each province and territory connected to shared priorities such as family health access, investing in mental health and substance abuse services; and modernizing the health information system

The BC government reached its bilateral deal with Ottawa on March 1. It includes an agreement in principle for $27 billion in health transfers to the province over the next 10 years. Of this, $3.3 billion is new, bilateral funding for BC’s health-care priorities, which include community care and mental health and addictions services. The agreement also includes a one-time $273 million CHT top-up to address urgent needs in emergency rooms, pediatric hospitals and surgery wait times, according to the province.

Grewal says she is cautiously optimistic about the deal, and says only time will tell if it results in improved patient outcomes and better working conditions for nurses.

“We welcome this funding agreement, but the focus needs to be on addressing the dire shortage of nurses in this province and across the country,” she stresses. “The fragility of BC’s health-care system has never been more apparent. Our nurses, doctors and allied health-care workers continue to face daily challenges while providing the people of BC with the care they expect and deserve.” •

NO STRINGS ATTACHED?

CANADA’S RECENT HEALTH DEAL sees Ottawa putting more money on the table, but without adequate strings attached, the provinces could end up spending it on tax cuts instead of fixing health care.

These are the findings of a February report by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Senior Economist David Macdonald.

The agreement provides an additional $46.2 billion to provinces and territories over the next 10 years, but not all of that money will have conditions attached. The deal requires provinces to spend 58 cents out of every new dollar on actual new health-care programs—barely a majority—while leaving the remaining without requirements.

Macdonald reports that the Canada Health Transfer, which represents core federal funding, has been unconditional since 1995. There is no requirement that the provinces show how they spend the money.

Health care is a provincial jurisdiction, and Macdonald notes that the big provinces – including BC – are flush with cash. It’s not money stopping them from fixing their systems, it’s political will. The federal government can, and should, increase funding to the health care system, he argues, but that money shouldn’t have strings attached, it should have chains that ensure new health care money is actually spent on improving health care.

Find out more on your mobile device.

SUSTAINING NURSING IN CANADA

Joint report outlines a set of evidence-based solutions to the staffing crisis

SOLVING CANADA’S nursing shortage is a complex, multi-layered challenge. However, a new report from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) outlines a long list of solutions to the problem – and many of them aren’t complicated.

The 68-page document, Sustaining Nursing in Canada is a deep dive into the challenges that currently exist, from chronic staff shortages to the high prevalence of burnout in the nursing profession.

CFNU co-published the report with the Canadian Health Workforce Network. Authored by Dr. Houssem Eddine Ben Ahmed and Dr. Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, both from the University of Ottawa, the document presents a series of evidence-informed made-in-Canada solutions for tackling the seemingly intractable nature of Canada’s nurse shortage.

The report identifies “three Rs” that the authors say must be addressed to effectively tackle the nurse shortage in this country.

The first is the need to retain the existing workforce by reducing workloads, creating safe, healthy workplaces, providing mental health support and implementing targeted initiatives across the career-course.

The second involves encouraging nurses who have left the workforce, such as early retirees, to return. The third is the need to focus on recruiting and mentoring the nurses of tomor-

row and diversifying the workforce so that all nurses feel included and represented.

In short, retaining experienced nurses to ensure the highest quality of care, returning nurses who have left to bolster an ailing workforce and recruiting and training the nurses of tomorrow to meet future needs.

BCNU president Aman Grewal says it’s time that policy makers listened more closely to nurses when considering both short- and long-term solutions to the problem.

“When we sit down with government and engage with decision makers, we make sure they understand that we are ready to help fix this crisis. Why not ask the people who are living and

workers with the current reality on the ground.

“The staffing shortage has reached such dire levels that we’ve seen temporary closures of emergency rooms in communities around BC,” she says. “This is happening so often that it’s become common to hear of people having to drive long distances to access care.”

She reports that nurses are experiencing unheard-of levels of moral distress from witnessing the ongoing and negative impact on patient care.

The latest workforce numbers from Stats Can show there are currently 5,325 nurse vacancies in BC, and by 2031, nearly 27,000 nurses will be needed to keep up with the health-care needs of an expanding population. BC is not alone. The situation is just as dire across the country as provinces and territories grapple with a shrinking workforce.

So how did we get to this point?

Sustaining Nursing in Canada details governments’ poor planning and failure to adequately address the systemic challenges of today’s crisis, and its impact on patients, staff and the entire health-care system.

The report also recommends the collection and effective use of data to provide a roadmap to avoid recurring and drastic nurse shortages, something the federal government also indicated was a priority during recent talks with the provinces that preceded the announced increase to the Canada Health Transfer.

Sustaining Nursing in Canada’s proposed solutions to retain, return and recruit nurses could have a real impact on solving nursing shortages over time, Grewal argues, pointing to the report’s call for the adoption of a coordinated, evidence-based approach, which won’t just solve the crisis now, but head off future crises.

“We are seeing the devastating impacts on working nurses now

EVIDENCE-BASED SOLUTIONS

working this reality what solutions they’d like to see?

“This report includes many strategies that would make a difference if applied tomorrow,” she adds.

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically highlighted the serious shortcomings of BC’s health-care system, including a chronic nursing shortage which has led to increasingly difficult working conditions for nurses struggling to provide safe patient care during the public health emergency.

Grewal says nurses have been ringing alarm bells for years to warn that a nurse shortage was coming. But those warnings have been largely ignored, leaving nurses and other health-care

Many of the strategies first implemented in the early 2000s to address the nurse shortage were time-limited and ad hoc. Ultimately, they failed to address the multi-layered reasons behind the slowly dwindling nurse workforce.

“What we are seeing today is a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that’s been brewing for years,” says Grewal, in reference to the recent announcement of renewed health-care funding from Ottawa to the provinces. “The new normal for a working nurse is a 16- to 18-hour shift without a break and no support, and that’s leading to high levels of burnout and exhaustion. We can’t continue expecting nurses to work in these conditions.”

The report Sustaining Nursing in Canada proposes a set of concrete actionable solutions to help meaningfully solve the health care staffing crisis. Published by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and the Canadian Health Workforce Network, it highlights the magnitude of the nursing crisis and offers a path forward, so that patients can finally receive the care they need, and nurses can practice their profession under safe and sustainable working conditions.

“Decision makers need to heed this report and apply some of its many proposed solutions.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

THE THREE CRITICAL Rs OF NURSE WORKFORCE SUSTAINABILITY

HOW DO WE ADDRESS THE NURSE STAFFING CRISIS NOW AND SUPPORT nurses in the future? We are going to need a series of evidence-informed made-in-Canada solutions to this complex, multi-layered problem. It starts with retaining our experienced nurses to ensure the highest quality of care; returning nurses who have left to bolster our ailing workforce; and recruiting and training the nurses of tomorrow to prepare us to meet future needs.

These are the recommendations contained in the latest report from the Canadian Health Workforce Network and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.

Retain & Support

MAJOR FOCUS

> Reduced workloads

> Safe, healthy and supportive workplaces

> Mental health supports

> Implementation of targeted initiatives across the career course

who are burning out as they try to carry the system on their backs,” says Grewal. “Decision makers need to heed this report and begin to apply some of its many proposed solutions.”

One of the report’s most timely recommendations involves internationally educated nurses already living in Canada but who have struggled with a complex, expensive and time-consuming registration process. It’s a situation that’s led to thousands of these skilled workers giving up their dreams of practising in this country.

MAJOR FOCUS

> Return nurses to the public sector

> Return recent leavers and early retirees

> Integrate nurses with international training/experience

Return & Integrate Recruit & Mentor

MAJOR FOCUS

> Expand domestic training programs

> Target recruitment to diversify the nursing workforce

> Support trainees to work in underserved communities and sectors

> Implementation of other promising recruitment strategies

Following years of BCNU advocacy, the provincial government announced in January that it would be making the changes necessary to help fast-track thousands of IENs into a system in desperate need of staff. BCNU welcomed the announcement and is cautiously optimistic the government will meet its own goal of creating 2,000 new positions in the next few months.

Sustaining Nursing in Canada highlights the positive impact that more accredited IENs will have on the system, but the report also outlines critical ideas and solutions that start at the worksite level, like creating peer and mentorship programs, supporting nurse leadership training, flexible scheduling, better wages and benefits and the creation of a public agency for mobile nurses.

Grewal wants the province to take heed of the wisdom contained in the report.

“Simply reading this report tells us that it’s not a matter of lacking solutions and ideas, but of implementing them,” she says. “Nurses have the solutions. We just need to be invited to the table.” •

MATTHEW LE GRESLEY had been working as a paramedic for 10 years before he first considered a career in nursing. At the time, he imagined the two fields as not being that different. “Naively, I didn’t realize how broad and complex nursing is,” he confesses. Le Gresley has now been nursing for seven years.

The Terrace nurse was active in the Ambulance Paramedics of BC, and later served as BCNU student representative during his years at UBC Okanagan school of nursing, but says he wasn’t motivated to become a

GUIDING LIGHTS

union activist upon joining BCNU. “Like many, I was focused on my new career, home and family life.”

That motivation came after Le Gresley encountered some personal health challenges. His time off work landed him in the manager’s office, where he was in danger of being put in an attendance management program. “I was inspired by my steward’s impressive knowledge and how she knew exactly what to say.” He became a steward shortly afterwards.

In 2019, a vacancy opened up for the North West region’s Men in Nursing (MIN) Network represen-

tative, and Le Gresley stepped into the role. He was later appointed provincial chair of the MIN Network and in 2020 he was appointed lobby coordinator on the North West region executive. He’s enjoying both roles immensely. “I think the important work of activists is right in the nameaction. It isn’t just knowing the things you know, but doing something with that information,” he states.

“My approach is to attack problems and not people,” says Le Gresley, when asked how he addresses members’ issues and concerns. “I ask what we can do to together to achieve adherence to this contract, and work toward improved future contracts.” •

10 QUESTIONS WITH MATTHEW LE GRESLEY

What is one word you would use to describe yourself? Learning.

If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be? You would think it would be to not be in the wheelchair. But, I’d like to be better able to help people see other perspectives. Or to care about perspectives other than their own.

What is one thing about you that people would be surprised to learn?

I play hand percussion and am currently learning the bodhran in addition to congas, djembe, bongos and shakers.

Where did you go on your last vacation? Drumheller, Alberta with my partner’s family. All the nieces and my nephew in a vacation rental. It was awesome.

Name one place in the world you’d most like to visit.

Scotland or Ireland. I would love to see a castle in real life.

What was the last good thing you read?

The latest draft of my oldest daughter's novel, Nine Lives (working title).

What was the best piece of career advice you’ve received?

No one has it easier than you, they just have it different. Every life is hard in its own way. But when you are happy where you are it doesn't feel as bad.

What do you like most about being a nurse?

Positively impacting lives.

What do you like least about being a nurse?

Health care can be toxic when people are burnt out. We need to stand together, not tear each other apart.

Name one change you would like to make to the health-care system. Invest in proactive health solutions that empower individuals and communities and create resilience.

PUTTING INJURED WORKERS FIRST

Amendments to the Workers Compensation Act have the promise to restore fairness for nurses and others injured on the job

BORN ADVOCATE Langley’s Roberta Mercier pushed for changes to the province’s workers’ compensation legislation to prevent disability benefits from being eroded by inflation.

DONA MACKIE LOVED

convertible Volkswagen Beetles, Bernese Mountain dogs and her home on Salt Spring Island, where she lived with Bob, her husband of 50 years, until her death last October.

Another true love of hers, however, was working as a nurse in the operating room, something she did ever since graduating from Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital.

Bob MacKie chokes up when describing his late wife’s infectious personality, intelligence, and overall passion to live life to the fullest, despite being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2010.

MacKie began her career in Ontario in 1973. Over the years, she honed her skills as an OR nurse at Surrey Memorial and Abbotsford Regional hospitals. She loved the teamwork mentality of the OR and felt respected by the surgeons and doctors she worked so closely with.

MacKie was well respected in her community. She also had a knack for making close friends, and developed life-long friendships with many of her colleagues.

“Dona could walk into a room and shortly after, know 80 percent of the people there,” says Bob. “She was so social. She was such a good person.”

In the early aughts, a chance encounter with a beekeeper at her home on Salt Spring Island resulted in MacKie taking a job running the OR at the island’s Lady Minto Hospital.

“The beekeeper told Dona that he was allergic to bees, and she immediately asked him if he had his medication with him,” explains Bob. “Dona told him she was an OR nurse and it turned out his wife was a nurse at Lady Minto, and a couple of days later Dona got a call

asking if she’d consider joining the team at the hospital. She was delighted.

“The OR was her life,” says Bob. “She just fell in love with it and it’s what she was meant to do.”

But there was little to love about the politics surrounding Lady Minto Hospital. And factors beyond the bedside had an impact on MacKie’s health, leading to a 2011 workplace injury that cost her the job she loved.

Citing low volume and efficiency concerns, Island Heath announced in 2010 that it would be closing Lady Minto OR. It was a stressful time. The community was in an uproar, as the health authority had just spent $5-million renovating the unit five years earlier, using significant community fundraising contributions.

One day in January 2011, MacKie’s manager asked her to speak about the downsizing of the OR to a person she understood was to be associated with the Island Health board of directors. MacKie did not want to take the call, but her manager told her she was the appropriate person to speak to the matter.

MacKie feared saying anything that might affect her job. She was professional, neutral and accurate in the discussion, but recalled the experience as being very stressful.

During this conversation, MacKie suffered a myocardial infarction. Injured and unable to return to the OR, she filed a compensation claim that was challenged by WorkSafeBC.

Thus began an ordeal that saw MacKie make several appeals to the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) before she eventually won her case. By then, more than 11 years had passed, and she was in the end stages of terminal cancer.

The WCAT’s inability to review its earlier decisions ended up being a major obstacle for MacKie. In fact, several of the province’s own reviews of the compensation appeals process recommend giving the WCAT this authority. Had this been the case, MacKie’s claim would have been decided much earlier and she could have found another five years in suitable alternative nursing work.

She died a short time after her claim was finally accepted.

Getting injured while on the job is an unfortunate and often unexpected experience for many workers in BC. And there is no shortage of stories like MacKie’s, where the WorkSafeBC compensation approval process can often seem as painful as the injury or illness that triggered a claim.

But now, for the first time in over 20 years, there have been significant amendments to the province’s workers’ compensation law that could open the door to further changes to prevent the kinds of errors and delays seen with MacKie’s claim.

Last November, the provincial government enacted Bill 41, the Workers Compensation Amendment Act (No. 2), 2022. Among other things, the

We made sure the government made nurses’ health and well-being a priority.”

BCNU Executive Councillor Aida Herrera.

WHAT’S CHANGING FOR THE BETTER?

Last November, Bill 41, the Workers Compensation Amendment Act , was passed into law. Here is a summary of the amendments that make up the most comprehensive changes to the legislation in a generation.

1 Fair practices commissioner: An independent fair practices commissioner with specific authorities will be established to help ensure complaints are addressed in a fair, impartial and respectful manner.

The commissioner will be appointed directly by WorkSafeBC’s board of directors to investigate complaints by workers and employers of alleged unfairness in dealings with WorkSafeBC, including systemic issues. Importantly, the commissioner will have reporting structure to ensure its independence from the rest of WorkSafeBC.

The commissioner will be able to make recommendations for resolving these complaints and will issue an annual report to the board of directors. (Effective May 2023)

2 Legal duty for employers to return injured workers to work: Employers will have a clear duty to re-employ injured workers and to accommodate returning workers short of undue hardship. Employers and workers are also required to co-operate with each other and with WorkSafeBC to support the return of the worker to their pre-injury employment or, where this is not possible, to other suitable work.

3 Independent health professionals: Access to independent health professionals will be expanded by allowing them to be requested as part of an appeal to the external Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal, after the avenues to address medical disputes at WorkSafeBC and its internal review division have been pursued.

Previously, workers and employers did not have the explicit right to request an independent health professional at the appeal tribunal when there was a medical dispute on a worker’s appeal.

4 Interest on delayed benefit payments: Workers will be paid interest on compensation benefits that are determined by a WorkSafeBC review officer or appeal tribunal if the benefits remained unpaid for at least 180 days from the benefit start date. Previously, interest on delayed compensation was paid only in very narrow circumstances. Interest payable must be calculated in accordance with policies set by WorkSafeBC.

Interest provides a measure of compensation to workers and their families for the opportunity costs of benefits that should have been paid when the worker first became eligible. A worker and their family may have greater need for income to pay off debt or other costs while awaiting payment of compensation. The change will require interest to be paid in more situations than is currently the case, while imposing a reasonable minimum time frame of 180 days.

5 Claim suppression: Claim suppression occurs where an employer acts to discourage a worker from filing a workers’ compensation claim, or to punish them for doing so through dismissal, discipline or other retaliatory action.

This amendment adds explicit provisions against employers dissuading workers from filing a claim for compensation, and will be enforced through penalties under the occupational health and safety provisions of the Workers Compensation Act . This provision helps to ensure that work-related injuries are funded out of the workers’ compensation system as intended, rather than seeking treatment in the public health-care system.

6 Indexing benefits to inflation: Workers’ compensation benefits will be restored to the full rate of annual percentage changes in the Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI). WorkSafeBC will have the discretion to approve annual indexation above four percent, if the percentage change in the CPI exceeds that amount. Since 2002, cost-of-living increases for benefits have been indexed to the rate of annual changes in the CPI, minus one percentage point, to a maximum of four percent. This limiting cost-of-living increases was unfair to workers and eroded the value and purchasing power of benefits over time.

7 Increased the maximum compensation for non-traumatic hearing loss: Compensation for non-traumatic hearing loss was previously capped at 15 percent of a total disability when there was no loss of earnings, and there was no cap for traumatic hearing loss. This amendment enables WorkSafeBC to set a higher cap consistent with the evolving science.

New Workers Compensation Act amendments

legislation introduces provisions for the establishment of a Fair Practices Commissioner for complaints involving WorkSafeBC, the expansion of access to independent health professionals during WCAT proceedings, strengthened prohibitions on claim suppression by employers, the indexing of workers’ compensation benefits to inflation and, most significantly, a specific legal obligation for employers to return injured workers to work, including a duty to cooperate and to maintain employment. (See p. 30 “What’s Changing for the Better?”).

The changes were informed by a series of periodic reviews of the compensation system commissioned by the province in recent years to ensure that it continues to reflect worker and employer interests and is keeping pace with other Canadian jurisdictions. These reviews have often resulted in amendments to the act and the policies and practices of WorkSafeBC.

One of the most recent reviews was launched in April 2019 and led by Janet Patterson. Her report, released in August 2020, provided recommendations for system-wide and structural changes to achieve a more effective process for workers.

Few of the changes contained in Bill 41 would have happened without years of determined lobbying and advocacy by unions in the province. For too long, their members were dismissed or had to endure a WorkSafeBC claims process that often compounded their suffering.

Aida Herrera is BCNU Executive Councillor for occupational health and safety and mental health. She says members should celebrate the Bill 41 amendments, but also wants them to know that the union will never stop advocating to ensure all of its members are treated fairly and with respect.

Herrera recalls the 2019 regulatory changes to compensation law that gave nurses living with mental injury

following workplace trauma access to services and compensation. The list of eligible occupations previously included paramedics, police officers, firefighters, corrections officers and other first responders.

“Nurses had been rallying, lobbying and fighting for years before we were finally added to the list of occupations that have easier access to workers’ compensation for mental-health disorders that come from work-related trauma,” she says.

“The demands and the needs of thousands of nurses were acknowledged,” she recalls. “It took sustained advocacy on behalf of members who’d been facing barriers in getting claims accepted by WorkSafeBC, and we made sure the government made the health and well-being of nurses a priority.”

Herrera calls on all members to be advocates for themselves and each other to ensure everyone has access to the illness and disability supports they need.

Roberta Mercier is one of those advocates. Last year she wrote to labour minister Harry Bains about her compensation benefits being indexed below the rate of inflation. She told him that limiting cost-of-living increases was unfair to workers like her and eroded the value and purchasing power of benefits over time.

The Langley nurse sustained a back injury early in her career while working in the neurosurgery unit at Royal Columbian Hospital. The incident resulted in a life-long journey to find

her voice as a nurse living and working in chronic pain.

Mercier was only 29 years-old when she experienced a sudden herniation of a disc in her back while on shift. After a CT scan exposed the severity of the injury, she was transferred to work at the neonatal ward at Children’s Hospital. Four years later, now 35 yearsold and a mother to a one year-old baby and three school-aged children, Mercier was again dealt a massive blow, with the rupture of a large disc in her lower back. The injury was so severe, she temporarily lost bowel and bladder function and the use of her legs and had to have emergency surgery.

“The surgeon told me I was very lucky that they were able to operate when they did or it could have been even worse,” says Mercier. “But he also said I couldn’t go back to my job.” WorkSafeBC had a different idea. “It was a battle with WorkSafeBC from the very beginning,” she recalls.

Mercier still needed to use a cane and frequently experienced severe weakness in her feet. Despite this, WorkSafeBC insisted she should be able to go back to the nursery. Instead, she turned to public health and worked in the field for two years.

She describes that time as immensely challenging.

“I was living with chronic pain and I just managed and did what I had to do. But the quality of life…it wasn’t good,” says Mercier, who was also raising four children and working full-time in between getting epidural injections every few months to get some relief for the nerve pain she was experiencing.

It got to a point where she told her surgeon she couldn’t live like this much longer.

“Things got terribly dark,” Mercier admits. “Doctors sent me to the spinal cord clinic at VGH because they were worried about how much pain I was in. There, they adjusted my pain

I loved my job, but the system is built on a lack of trust.”

Roberta Mercier

medication, and that really turned my life around.”

Mercier never returned to the bedside, but instead, returned to school to earn a master’s degree in adult education, and landed a teaching job in the nursing department at Douglas College before retiring in 2013. She says the most frustrating thing about her fight with WorkSafeBC were the roadblocks she says kept being placed in front of her as she tried to manage a debilitating injury, and the impact it would have on a career she adored.

“I really wanted to work,” she says. “It wasn’t like I was trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. I loved my job. But the system is built on a lack of trust and instead of helping you, you get nowhere.”

The benefits that Mercier did end up receiving from WorkSafeBC compounded her frustration.

Her injuries allowed her to claim a permanent partial benefit for a disability, which was noted by the board following her first surgery in 1994. In these cases, WorkSafeBC prorates an individual’s impairment, and calculates their benefit as a percentage of the function of a whole person.

“As I deteriorated and was reassessed, so too was the percentage of the disability,” explains Mercier.

Having a permanent partial disability and being able to work full time is something she thinks most people have a hard time understanding. “The key for me was finding things I could do.”

She says teaching was in many ways vastly different than acute care, and having a clinical placement in acute care with students was not the same as working on a unit as a nurse.

“My focus was the students and the care they gave the patients: making sure everyone was safe and that students had a good clinical experience and that they had lots of opportunities,” she says. “When I couldn’t do acute care with

students anymore after my back got worse, I was lucky enough to be able to do a community experience with them.”

Mercier decided to retire from teaching in 2018, after she was no longer able to effectively manage her pain. “I think I stuck it out way longer than I should have,” she admits. “I must have had 15 to 20 epidural injections done over a couple of years, and that’s how I managed.”

Like so many other workers with disabilities, the value of her compensation was seriously eroded by the lack of full indexing to inflation.

“I am thrilled to have full indexing now,” says Mercier. “Obviously I am disappointed that the indexing isn’t retroactive, but understand that the cost would likely be prohibitive. The important thing is that it’s fixed going forward.”

She says her letter to Minister Bains was written on behalf of all workers affected by the old CPI minus one-percent formula. “I have a real problem when people are treated disrespectfully or have suffered an injustice, she says.

“I did receive a detailed response and as a result I felt like what I had to say mattered.”

Herrera says that ongoing diligence will be required to ensure the enacted amendments to the law result in tangible changes to WorkSafeBC’s policies and practices.

“The legislative changes are significant, and we still have unanswered questions about various aspects of the changes,” she reports. “We want to see who will be appointed as the fair practice commissioner, and will be scrutinizing the office’s rules and procedures when they are developed.”

She says nurses expect the fair practice commissioner’s office to be substantially more effective than the current Fair Practices Office, which has faced criticism from both the worker and employer communities as being ineffective.

“WorkSafeBC will have to create new policy for all of the changes that result from Bill 41,” she notes, “and we will be actively participating in the policy consultation process.”

In the meantime, Herrera encourages any member who’s been injured to contact their steward, regional OHS rep or the BCNU WorkSafeBC advocate assigned to their region.

“If you are injured or become ill as a result of your work, you may be eligible for WorkSafeBC benefits, including health-care expenses and wage loss compensation,” she says.

“The claims process, even following the recent changes to the Workers Compensation Act, can be challenging, even for knowledgeable workers, and it’s important to contact your union for help if you needed it,” Herrera adds.

Mercier agrees.

“Do not be afraid to reach out to your union for help,” she says. “Everyone at BCNU I’ve had interactions with has been very supportive.”

To those workers who may be having difficulties making claims, she says it’s important they do not give up, and tells

DEDICATED NURSE Salt Spring Island’s Dona MacKie went through an 11-year journey to get her compensation claim accepted, and won her appeal just before the end of her life last year.

them to learn as much as possible about the compensation process. “I found reading the Workers Compensation Act incredibly helpful,” she reports.

“Injured workers are absolutely entitled to compensation and help after a workplace injury. It is the law and nothing to feel ashamed or embarrassed about.”

Mercier’s message to anyone going through a similar situation? “First, take care of yourself, especially your mental health,” she says. “Recovering from an injury, or suffering from chronic pain is draining and can be overwhelming. Just because people cannot see your injury doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

Herrera says the struggles that so many workers like Mercier have endured have become part of an unfortunate narrative that drives people away from the supports they deserve and, ultimately, the profession they love.

She notes that many of Bill 41’s changes to the Workers Compensation Act were informed by the Patterson Review’s assessment of WorkSafeBC’s practices and culture, which found that the organization had not adequately considered injured workers’ circumstances while seeking to fully maximize their recovery. The review called for a shift away from WorkSafeBC’s current “insurance” model to one that is worker-centric, where people are treated with dignity and offered effective return-towork services.

“This shift can’t come soon enough,” says Herrera, who wants no one else to experience what Dona MacKie did.

MacKie’s dream of travelling to France came true in 2021, when she and Bob took a three-week holiday. By then, her health had deteriorated, and she was reliant on a wheelchair. While there, two international students she had known on Salt Spring Island reached out to see her one last time.

“It just shows the impact she had on people,” says Bob. “When you’re a nurse on a small island, in a small community hospital, you get to know many people. She loved helping people and even though she worked long hours, she also managed to raise three children. She was just phenomenal.” •

CONTACT YOUR REGIONAL OHS REP

Central Vancouver

Jessica Machado 778-791-1569 jessicamachado@bcnu.org

Coastal Mountain Shirley Oandasan 778-388-0948 shirleyoandasan@bcnu.org

East Kootenay Carly Vanderhart 250-344-1590 carlyvanderhart@bcnu.org

Fraser Valley

Danielle Westwick 604-302-7739 daniellebcnu@gmail.com

Amy Goodridge 778-230-3781 amygoodridge@bcnu.org

North East Shannon Sluggett 250-961-7631 shannonsluggett@bcnu.org

North West Connie Kearley 250-639-0031 conniekearley@bcnu.org

Okanagan Similkameen

John Mulvihill 250-868-6557 johnmulvihill@bcnu.org

Pacific Rim

Gerrie Miller 250-203-4461 gerriemiller@bcnu.org

RIVA

Michael Young 604-244-5136 michaelyoung@bcnu.org

Shaughnessy Heights Vacant

Simon Fraser Melissa Vannerus 778-994-5001 melissavannerus@bcnu.org

South Fraser Valley Noel Atilano noelatilano@bcnu.org

Sukhjit Kaur sukhjitkaur@bcnu.org

South Islands Jennifer Guther jenniferguther@bcnu.org

Thompson North Okanagan Leah Takats 250-706-2847 leahtakats@bcnu.org

Vancouver Metro Arlie Gilhousen 604-781-2310 arliegilhousen@bcnu.org

West Kootenay

Dennis Senft 604-344-0348 dennissenft@bcnu.org

Just because people cannot see your injury doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

Roberta Mercier

HEALTH & SAFETY

SWITCHING TO TRAUMAINFORMED PRACTICE

New health authority-wide relational security model a significant step on the path to safe workplaces

Dix announced an important step towards building safer workplaces by providing health authorities with funding to establish a new security model in 26 health-care settings and employ the staff to support it.

The new model ensures all security personnel are trained in de-escalation techniques, crisis management and risk assessment, provided with trauma-informed training, and stationed at key points throughout facilities, such as emergency rooms, psychiatric units and other areas where the risk of violence is often highest.

It begins with the hiring of 320 relational security officers (RSOs), 14 violence prevention leads and expanded funding to SWITCH BC, an organization focused on improving workplace safety and well-being programs. (See sidebar).

The announcement came after a series of high-profile incidents of violence against health-care workers. Recent WorkSafeBC statistics report that over 7,000 nurses were injured on the job in the last five years alone.

VIOLENCE IN HEALTH

care is an ongoing concern for nurses who all too often bear the brunt of aggressive behaviour from patients, visitors and even co-workers.

The problem has reached alarming levels, with reports of assault, verbal abuse and threats becoming increasingly common. The stress and trauma from these incidents affect the mental and physical health of nurses.

“Unfortunately, it’s not unusual to hear of devastating assaults on nurses, violence against patients and incidents where weapons have been brought into health-care facilities,” says BCNU President Aman Grewal. “I continue to be very concerned for the mental and physical well-being of our members –

and for patient care. We must protect the health and safety of all health-care workers.”

BCNU has been advocating for more hands-on, trained security personnel in emergency rooms and other highrisk sites since 2014. The union is also a strong supporter of trauma-informed care, recognizing the impact of trauma and the importance of taking a trauma-informed approach in the delivery of services, especially among vulnerable populations.

The government has previously acknowledged that the current system for dealing with workplace violence in health care is inadequate, and that more needs to be done to ensure workers’ safety.

Last October, health minister Adrian

“After years of advocating for increased safety for nurses, BCNU welcomes this move and considers it a positive step toward addressing the increased violence we are seeing in the health-care system,” said Grewal following last October’s announcement. “However, it is just one step forward. We fully expect to be involved in the implementation of these security measures and want to see RSOs hired to fully replace all security guards and improve conditions for nurses, patients and all health-care workers.”

Grewal says attacks on health-care workers are the result of systemic short-staffing, the ongoing mental health and toxic drug crises, and a lack of trauma-informed care in worksites.

She argues that trauma-informed

training is important because of the link between trauma and substance use, mental illness, stigma, and other challenges that act as a barrier to care. Too often, patients without adequate preventive supports in the community seek help in emergency rooms where there are relatively few security staff. This puts nurses in challenging situations where they are treating patients who may be violent or experiencing psychosis.

A trauma-informed care approach strives to understand the whole of an individual who is seeking services and requires a system to make a shift from asking, “What is wrong

RS0s KEY FACTS

with this person?” to “What has happened to this person?”

It recognizes that exposure to traumatic experiences, such as abuse, violence or neglect, can have a profound impact on an individual’s physical, emotional and psychological well-being.

This model requires that security personnel have a critical awareness of patients and their surroundings, and know how to anticipate, de-escalate and ultimately prevent aggression towards nurses and others on the health-care team.

Currently all 14 violence prevention leads have been hired and, in a statement, the health ministry shared that significant progress is being made on the development of training curriculum for the new RSO positions.

Hiring for the positions is ongoing. According to the ministry, the new RSOs will also be given the necessary knowledge, skills, and language to be able to apply a trauma-informed lens to interactions with patients, families and co-workers. •

SWITCH ON THE SAFETY

New agency will engage health-care teams to hear ideas on improving workplace health and safety

SAFETY, WELLNESS, INNOVATION, TRAINING and Collaboration in Healthcare (SWITCH) BC is a new, independent, collaborative, non-profit provincial organization. Launched in 2021, it supports innovation in injury prevention and training, and aims to enhance the culture of safety in all health-care workplaces in BC.

The agreement for the new agency was reached through public-sector contract negotiations with all health-sector bargaining associations, the Doctors of BC, the Health Employers Association of BC and the Ministry of Health.

Comprised of union, employer, and physician representatives with advisers from the Ministry of Health and WorkSafeBC, SWITCH BC supports over 300,000 people working in health care across the province.

Last October, Health Minister Adrian Dix promised government funding of $2 million for SWITCH BC to enhance and strengthen the existing provincial violenceprevention curriculum. This came in addition to original funding of $8.5 million over three years announced in 2019 to establish the new organization.

A RELATIONAL SECURITY OFFICER

• Is employed directly by a health authority and has a clear reporting structure which leads to greater accountability

• Is skilled in trauma-informed practices

• Can respond immediately to Code White calls and is empowered to take charge of a violent situation when necessary

• Is often integrated within the health-care team and has specific training related to high-risk violent behaviours

The new violence-prevention curriculum will incorporate trauma-informed practice principles that help ensure all health-care workers and medical staff receive standard education in violence mitigation and de-escalation.

SWITCH BC is supported by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), made up of a group of occupational health and safety experts and leaders from partner organizations. BCNU has two seats on the TAC and uses its voice to convey current best practices to benefit all health-care workers in BC.

Visit SWITCH BC to learn more: www.switchbc.ca

“We fully expect to be involved in the implementation of these security measures.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

CONCEPTIONS JUSTICE OF HRE CONFERENCE 2022

CULTIVATING AN ETHIC OF CARE

BCNU Human Rights and Equity Conference brings members together to explore the many conceptions of justice

NURSES CARE FOR all.” These four words express the ethic that is at the heart of our profession. The statement is also an ideal that drives so much of our union activism. But, we know we are unable to care for all, because there aren’t enough of us, or – more critically – because those who are often most in need of care are confronted with systemic barriers which deny them access to that care.

Last year’s BCNU Human Rights and Equity Conference was an opportunity for union members to gather in-person to listen and speak to each other about the injustices that persist in our health-care system, explore the idea of “justice” itself, and help make sense of the world in which we find ourselves.

The Nov. 30 – Dec. 1 event was held in Vancouver on the traditional, ancestral and unsurrendered lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Peoples and Nations. Throughout the two days, there were presentations, film screenings, dialogue and discussion on the many meanings of justice and how health-care workers might reflect on these meanings in our life and work.

BCNU President Aman Grewal welcomed delegates and began the conference with a solemn acknowledgement

of one of Canada’s most pressing human rights issues: the gross over-representation of Indigenous women in Canada’s federal correctional system.

She cited new data released last December by the Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada showing that the proportion of incarcerated Indigenous women has continued to steadily increase, and now nears 50 percent of all federally-sentenced women.

And, in the last 10 years, the overall Indigenous inmate population has increased by 18 percent, while the non-Indigenous incarcerated population has decreased by 28 percent over the same period.

The investigator also reported that incarcerated Indigenous women are at greater risk of being subject to solitary confinement and are more often

subject to repeated and extended bouts of segregation than other federally-sentenced women.

Grewal said these grim statistics must be considered within the context of Canada’s colonial history. Experiences of racism, sexism and colonialism continue to increase Indigenous women’s risk of incarceration, she said, and this has cumulatively and negatively impacted their health.

“As nurses and health-care workers we know something about the impact of colonialism, racism, sexism, and other forms of systemic discrimination on the health and well-being of populations,” she remarked. “We know it from lived experience, from what our colleagues tell us, or from what we see and hear in our workplaces. And we know it from what we read in the In Plain Sight report on Indigenous-specific racism in health care, which told a sadly familiar story of how Indigenous patients, nurses and health-care workers experience our institutions of healing as unwelcoming and often hostile to their presence.”

Grewal argued the In Plain Sight report confirms that, when faced with racism, too many of us don’t even see it, don’t pay attention to it, or don’t know what to do when we are confronted by it. Alternatively, when we are on the receiving end of racism, we suffer in silence.

“It’s no wonder then that the plight of incarcerated Indigenous women remains largely hidden from us, obscured by systemic injustice and colonial mindsets and the four walls of a prison,” she said.

The conference’s first presenter, Simon Fraser University philosopher, Alex King, helped set the tone for the next two days by asking participants what justice means to them, and to consider the many ways “justice” is conceived beyond the particular ethical frameworks that govern common understandings of the term.

“It’s no wonder that the plight of incarcerated Indigenous women remains largely hidden from us.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal continued on page 38

THE PEOPLE

Teri

Young Nurses’ Network chair Melissa Vannerus.

11.

8.

participants discuss important questions about the parts of their work that make them feel the most powerless or most empowered, and the role of the individual in the system.

1. North West region delegate and Indigenous Leadership Circle member Maggie Biagioni.

2. North East region delegate Hanna Embree.

3. Central Vancouver region delegate and Mosaic of Colour caucus member Vanessa Chong.

4. Simon Fraser region’s Mahrokh Ghadimi stands in solidarity with the women and girls of Iran.

5. Student nurses gather with North West region council member and council student liaison

Forster. 6. Richmond Vancouver region delegate and Men in Nursing group member Paddy Kopieczek. 7. Thompson North Okanagan region delegate Adigo Angela Achoba-Omajali.

Conference

9. Simon Fraser region delegate and

10. Pacific Rim region delegate and Mosaic of Colour caucus member Janice John-Mitchell.

BCNU President Aman Grewal presents a cheque for over $18,000 to Jeremy Jones, representative of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. 12. Okanagan Similkameen region delegate and Indigenous Leadership Circle member Sherry Ridsdale.

HUMAN RIGHTS & EQUITY

She suggested that notions of care and need are lacking in mainstream discussions about justice, and that recriminative justice based on punishment – such as that experienced by incarcerated Indigenous women – has marginalized many other forms of justice, such as restorative or Indigenous justice.

exploration of the concepts of agency and alienation, considering how these notions interact with and are affected by social power. Members were asked about what parts of their work make them feel most powerless or, conversely, most empowered.

King drew on Karl Marx’s theory of alienation to illustrate how, when nurses as workers are reduced to selling their labour power, they become “strangers” to themselves, and not only alienated from the product of their labour – that being the care they provide – but from their patients, co-workers and their community.

Participants shared their accounts of powerlessness within the current health-care system, but agreed that meaningful relationships with other nurses and care givers help contribute to a healthier sense of agency. King suggested that alienation can be viewed as the enemy of agency, and many in the room argued that workers taking care of each other, whether through activism in their union or in daily interactions with employers, can lead to empowerment.

ing any treatment that would help them cope and recover. They imagine what they would have needed in their lives to avoid incarceration as they paint, draw, photograph and film, envisioning a more ideal world and authoring their own narratives through art.

Following the screening, members had the opportunity to ask questions of Conviction co-director Ariella Pahlke, who was joined by Bianca Mercer and Tanya Bignell, both of whom participated in the film.

Mercer spent six months pregnant in prison. And, like so many other incarcerated women, she was in on remand, unable to afford bail and awaiting trial. She was in her first trimester of pregnancy when she entered prison, and over the course of her incarceration she was in and out of solitary confinement and lock-down almost constantly, all the while losing weight and terrified about what would happen to her baby.

King said that, in policy and law, the focus on the rational, autonomous individual underpins common understandings of justice, and that this perspective does not fully acknowledge the ways people are connected to their support networks. She argued that an integrative justice model would make room for an ethic of care that is not based primarily on individual autonomy, but rather on need.

“There is a tension between ‘justice’ and ‘care,’ but these ideas are not necessarily at odds – integrative justice combines them,” she said. “When we talk about equity-oriented health care –that’s an ethic of care.”

King also opened day two of the conference by leading participants in an

Amajor highlight of the conference was the screening of the award-winning 2019 Canadian documentary Conviction. The film envisions alternatives to prison through the eyes of women behind bars and their allies in the decarceration movement who are working to limit the role of prisons in society.

The film crew went inside two Nova Scotia prisons to collaborate with talented, articulate and brave women who candidly tell their stories and try to find their own solutions to society’s shortcomings.

The women featured in the documentary speak to family abandonment, abuse, rape, and their experience of being sent right to jail instead of receiv-

Mercer acknowledged that nurses are overworked, but asked conference attendees to always try to exercise empathy despite any red flags in a patient’s file around incarceration or substance use. Mercer, now a full-time mom to her daughter, is advocating for herself and working to help change people’s mindset towards incarceration and punishment.

Bignell was a caseworker for the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services when featured in the film.

“If we want to stem this tide we need to invest in the community.”

Senator Kim Pate

OPENING REMARKS BCNU President Aman Grewal welcomes more than 150 delegates to this year’s Human Rights and Equity Conference.

She retired in 2018, shortly after the film’s completion, and told the room about the inner conflict she endured in her role as a guard with a desire to truly help and advocate for prisoners.

GUEST SPEAKER

She said prisoners coming to a healthcare facility “are embarrassed, being on public display and being escorted by guards” and that nurses and other workers need to ensure they are afforded confidentially and respect.

Pahlke, Bignell and Mercer were joined by Senator Kim Pate, a nationally renowned advocate who has spent nearly 40 years working in and around the legal and penal systems of Canada, with, and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized and institutionalized people in the country — particularly imprisoned youth. She was Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies for more than 20 years before her appointment to the Senate in 2016.

CONCEPTIONS JUSTICE OF HRE CONFERENCE 2022

THE HEART OF JUSTICE HUMAN RIGHTS DEPEND ON HUMAN NEEDS

HUMAN BEINGS HAVE three fundamental social needs: the need for social access, the need for social contribution and the need for social identity. These needs are the basic and foundational rights that must first be secured if we are to realize our larger human rights goals, argues Kimberley Brownlee.

Brownlee is the Canada research chair in Ethics and Political and Social Philosophy at the University of British Columbia. She was welcomed by conference attendees to speak about these needs in her presentation, Being Sure of Each Other: Loneliness, Belonging, and Social Rights Brownlee cited studies on prisoners in solitary confinement to illustrate how segregated prisoners cannot meet their need for social access. A prisoner may have their rights curtailed through incarceration, but denial of their human emotional

needs ought not to be part of the punishment.

“Our mental and physical health deteriorate when we are denied adequate access to decent human contact,” said Brownlee. Unfortunately, discussion surrounding human rights have tended to neglect the concept of needs, she reported. But these need to be addressed, particularly within the criminal justice system.

Another social need – the need for social identity – is likewise based on human connection. A person’s identity is reaffirmed through social connections, and the basic need for humans to recognize each other’s mutual humanity, argued Brownlee. That means someone who has committed a serious criminal offence should not be labelled an offender, as their identity is much more than the offence, and all their social identities should be honoured and recognized.

The third category of social need –social contribution – recognizes the individual’s need to have the resources required to be of use to other people. This is a need also often denied to incarcerated people, as those who have done prison time are frequently perceived as threats, and a criminal record is a barrier to employment that makes it that much harder for someone to contribute to society.

Both social needs and social rights must be part of the conversation and debate surrounding human rights, Brownlee told conference attendees. “These [needs] sit at the heart of who we are. These are the heart of justice.” • continued on page 41

CONSIDERING

of many legal and political systems.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK Simon Fraser University philosopher Alex King leads conference participants in a discussion on the different ways the concept of “justice” can be conceived.

SOCIAL NEEDS UBC philosopher Kimberley Brownlee shares her research on the human interconnectedness underlying the individual rights that are at the basis

HUMAN RIGHTS & EQUITY

PROHIBITION AND RACE TWO SIDES OF THE COLONIAL COIN

THE HISTORIES OF DRUG prohibition and racism in Canada are deeply intertwined. The harms that have resulted from racialized laws and social policies surrounding drugs continue to affect marginalized communities to this day.

The legalization of cannabis in 2018 signaled an important shift away from the once dominant prohibitionist paradigm. But the acknowledgement and redress of the historical injustice of prohibition is also needed, and policy makers must create new laws to help ensure those communities most harmed by drug prohibition and criminalization can benefit the most from legalization and regulation.

This was one of the important arguments made by academic and author Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, who shared his personal history and aspects of his present-day research and activism with conference participants.

Owusu-Bempah, a University of Toronto sociology professor and regular media contributor, works to advance public dialogue about the racialized nature of drug law enforcement in North America.

He began by talking about his own upbringing in Bristol, England in the 1980s, and his risk of being recruited by gangs engaged in the drug trade. He said he was fortunate to have immigrated with his family to Peterborough, Ontario, where he later began studying criminology with plans of becoming a police officer.

But, confronted by his own awareness and experience of racism, his academic path led him to research cannabis drug laws and policies, and the harms of the “war on drugs.”

The link between drug laws and racism are part of a colonial history that can be traced back to BC. The first Canadian drug laws targeted Indigenous people and the Chinese population following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway at the turn off the 20th century. Vancouver at the time was in the midst of a moral panic over drugs that were unjustly associated with the Chinese labourers who built the railway.

Indigenous people were three to nine times more likely to be arrested than their representation in the general public would predict,” he said, noting research showing how drug use is relatively similar across racial groups.

Racist policing is a central component of the war on drugs, he argued, and said it’s a practice that relies on racial stereotypes surrounding the larger discourse on illegal drugs. “The connection between race and drugs is one that’s cemented in the minds of many people in the West,” he stated.

Owusu-Bempah noted that racist drug law enforcement has served to marginalize whole communities, which makes it almost impossible for criminalized individuals to participate in and contribute to the wider society.

Prohibition is the problem, not the drugs, he explained. “Unless you are a drug cartel, a politician who has campaigned on tough drug laws, a criminal justice agency or individual involved in the criminal justice system, the war

Racialized drug laws and the war on drugs mentality, said Owusu-Bempah, were imported from BC to the US. And that country’s more recent drug war, which began in 1980s, in turn affected Canadian drug policies.

Owusu-Bempah told conference attendees that a renewed targeting of cannabis in the 1980s led to a seven-fold increase in incarceration of Black Ontarians for simple possession offences. “From coast to coast, Black and

GUEST SPEAKER

BRINGING HISTORY INTO THE PRESENT Academic and activist Akwasi OwusuBempah shares his research on the evolution of drug policy in North America and of the need for racial justice.

“The connection between race and drugs is cemented in the minds of many.”

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah

on drugs has been a huge failure,” he remarked. “If our goal was to reduce drug use, we have absolutely failed.”

Owusu-Bempah said the illegal drug supply today is greater than it’s ever been since the war on drugs was declared, and drug toxicity has worsened. Meanwhile, enforcement and correction costs in Canada are now $6.4 billion a year – to fight a losing battle.

With cannabis legalization, some 50,000 people are no longer being arrested annually for possession. But further reforms are needed, said OwusuBempah, pointing to psychedelics as the next category of drugs that should be legalized given their therapeutic promise.

“We need legalization and regulation, as decriminalization does not address the dangers of prohibition – such as drug toxicity – and legality begins to remove the stigma from drugs and drug use.”

Owusu-Bempah reminded conference attendees that, for most of human history, all drugs have been legal, and it is the prohibition of the last 100 years that is the anomaly. He called on them to question their biases. “We’ve been fed decades and decades of drug war propaganda and it has skewed the way we think about substances and the people who use them.”

Justice, he argued, will require three things: amnesty for people charged previously, inclusion in a post-prohibition future for those harmed by the war on drugs (e.g., preferential access to producer licences), and the reinvestment of the tax revenue from legalized sales into communities most affected by prohibition.

“It’s important that we continue to apply a racial lens to the work that we do around drugs and the people who use them,” Owusu-Bempah concluded. “We must also ensure our polices evolve in a way that recognize the harms of the past. The means we must bring history into the present and into the future.” •

CULTIVATING AN ETHIC OF CARE

continued from page 39

Pate, who is recorded in the film, asks prisoners to imagine how they could benefit from the estimated $100,000 spent annually to pay for their incarceration, money that could go toward a support system that would keep them out of jail.

The film elicited thoughtful and nuanced responses from BCNU members in the room. Many at the mic posed comments, asked questions and talked about the film’s impact. One nurse from St. Paul’s Hospital asked what nurses can do to make health-care facilities more inviting and supportive.

Pate thanked the nurses in attendance, and called on them to lean into their training when caring for someone who is in prison. “When you meet up with an incarcerated individual needing health-care support, sit with them, connect with them and treat them as you would someone you love and care for,” she asked.

Other members at the mic argued that nursing schools must do a better job of teaching about systemic issues their patients may be facing, how best to support them, and ensuring nurses have the resources they need to avoid burning out because of the human tragedy they witness each day.

Pate said that individuals can help by encouraging communities to demand that elected officials provide resources, instead of cutting mental health services and ensnaring more marginalized

individuals into a failing judicial and corrections system.

Pate returned to present on day two of the conference, and shared more details on the work she is doing to effect legislative changes that move beyond simple equity measures that “decolonize” the corrections system – such as the hiring of Indigenous guards – to one of decarceration, that would see prisons as we currently know them abolished.

“If we want to stem this tide we need to invest in the community,” she said. “Prisons are not treatment centres, homeless shelters or places to go for people wanting to escape violence.” Pate’s “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” recommendations were surely not lost on many of the nurses in attendance.

By the end of the event, more than 150 delegates had engaged in open dialogue and learned from each other in a welcoming space that honoured difference and reimagined commonalities – in and through solidarity with each other. •

LIVED EXPERIENCE BCNU President Aman Grewal facilitates a panel discussion with the makers and participants of the documentary film Conviction. From left: Senator Kim Pate (on screen), Bianca Mercer, Tanya Bignell, co-director Ariella Pahlke and Grewal.

HUMAN RIGHTS & EQUITY

GUEST SPEAKERS

MOVING TOWARD SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS JUSTICE SYSTEMS

THE CANADIAN STATE has recognized that Indigenous people have the right to self-determination. But what does this right look like within a colonial context, where the same state has a monopoly on a justice system that has had profound effects on the lives of Indigenous peoples?

Conference attendees welcomed Simon Fraser University scholars Michaela McGuire (Jaad Gudgihljiwah) and Dr. Ted Palys to help answer this question.

ber of the university’s department of Indigenous studies. Both outlined the impact of colonialism on Indigenous communities and discussed Canada’s response to the over-representation of Indigenous people in the country’s criminal justice system.

McGuire noted that Canada, as a settler colonial state, was founded upon the denial of the existence of Indigenous nations. This meant that a colonial legal infrastructure was created that presumed Canadian sovereignty while ignoring Indigenous sovereignty.

The impacts of colonialism and geno -

tion” of the justice system (involving Indigenous peoples and organizations in the delivery of existing or modified services and programs). This was followed by the accommodation of Indigenous justice processes within the Canadian system, and later “parallel systems” with programs that saw Indigenous individuals who plead guilty to minor offences being diverted to community-based programs.

Restorative justice, which is part of the current Canadian criminal justice system, is not Indigenous justice, said McGuire and Palys, because it operates within the colonial criminal justice system. Indigenous peoples have also not seen the formation of sovereign Indigenous justice systems, despite multiple reports from the Canadian government and others recognizing the inherent right to self-government.

IMAGINING ALTERNATIVES

Therefore, if we are to move away from colonial-imposed versions of law, justice, and governance, we must reject internalized limitations. And, if Indigenous nations are to reclaim control over justice, then Indigenous peoples must assert themselves as distinct peoples and recognize that the trauma communities are grappling with will be worsened through colonial systems of incarceration and oppression.

The researchers presented their recent co-authored paper Toward Sovereign Indigenous Justice: On Removing the Colonial Straitjacket, which examines the capacity for the development of sovereign Indigenous justice systems while underscoring the need to reject internalized colonialism.

McGuire is a PhD student in SFU’s School of Criminology, where Palys is a professor and an associate mem-

cide continue to be seen throughout Indigenous communities, they said. In the justice system, this can be seen in disproportionate surveillance, criminalization, and control and confinement by the state.

McGuire and Palys’s research showed how Canada has tried to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in prisons over the years. It began with “indigeniza-

“Unraveling injustice is a key component to understanding future solutions, and we shouldn’t settle for less than an overhaul of existing systems and a rebuilding of capacity,” argued McGuire.

“We have not resisted, fought, and survived genocide to opt for mere accommodation,” she said. “The reclamation and reformation of Indigenous justice systems is the work of Indigenous peoples, communities and nations.” •

SFU researchers

Michaela McGuire (Jaad Gudgihljiwah) and Dr. Ted Palys discuss how sovereign Indigenous justice systems can be developed with the reclamation of self-governance.

SINIXT A FIGHT AGAINST EXTINCTION

THE SECOND DAY OF BCNU’s Human Rights and Equity Conference saw delegates attend a screening of the 2022 documentary Beyond Extinction: A Sinixt Resurgence

The film is an account of the Indigenous Sinixt people’s three-decade-long struggle for recognition by the Canadian government.

The Sinixt, whose traditional territories in southwest BC straddle the Canada-US border, were declared “extinct” in 1956 following the death of the last registered member of the Arrow Lakes Band three years earlier.

The documentary explains how colonialism, national borders, the residential school system and the Indian Act all led to the Canadian government making its declaration.

Film maker Ali Kazim followed three Sinixt matriarchs, the Sinixt people and supporting communities as the Sinixt people fought against extinction while working to repatriate the buried remains of ancestors and opposing logging in their territories.

Kazim was joined by political anthropologist Lori Barkley, immigration and refugee lawyer Zool Suleman and Sinixt matriarch Marilyn James for a panel discussion after the screening. All three were all featured in the documentary.

Barkley is an educator and activist who consults with settler governments and NGOs with the goal of a more just relationship with Sinixt peoples. She noted how Sinixt land claims are not unique, but face more obstacles than other First Nations because they no longer exist in the eyes of the Canadian government.

James is appointed by her Sinixt elders to uphold Sinixt protocols and laws in the Sinixt homelands. She was also the appointed spokesperson for the Sinixt Nation in Canada from 1990 to 2013. She spoke to the film’s portrayal of divisions among Indigenous people illustrated in a scene where the Sinixt are trying to stop logging on their territories.

“I think the divisiveness of where we are as a people is really that the Canadian government set up federally recognized tribal groups to do the colonial government’s job, which is to destroy Indian people, their culture, their way of life, move them away from their cultural laws, their cultural beliefs and into a more colonial mindset of what is acceptable to them,” she said.

Suleman talked about how, prior to meeting James, he was naive when it came to Indigenous histories and Indigenous people. He added that he hopes viewers of the film learn to exercise humility when having conversations about Indigenous rights.

James argued that change for the Sinixt and all Indigenous peoples must start with self-motivated education at the local level. This includes people learning whose land they live on and the history of Indigenous injustice and human rights violations in the area.

She also talked about her own life and how, growing up, she was steeped in Christianity before walking away from the religion as an adult. “I know what my values are. Whoever stands against them, in a cultural way, in a colonial way, in any way – I have to stand in my truths,” she said.

James told conference participants that Indigenous people are standing up for what we all know every human being deserves: respect, clean water and the ability to live cultural lives without colonial impediments and oppression. For herself, she said she is reclaiming matriarchy.

“Most First Nations and Indian tribal groups were matriarchal and matrilineal,” said James. “How about we just start living our true cultural selves in what we’re supposed to do?”

“It’s tough. It’s a lot of work. You’ll lose a lot of traction, but if you stay on the road, in the end, the power for yourself and the power for your people is within you.” •

FILMMAKERS’ INSIGHTS Director Ali Kazim (left on screen), along with Marilyn James, Lori Barkley and Zool Suleman, who all appeared in the documentary Beyond Extinction: A Sinixt Resurgence, took questions from members following the film’ screening on day two of BCNU's 2022 Human Rights and Equity Conference.

AN INTERVIEW WITH BCNU TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS MICHELLE MARTINSON AND MONIQUE PAT

IN 2015, THE TRUTH AND Reconciliation Commission of Canada issued its landmark report Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, which detailed the historical injustices Indigenous people in Canada experienced through the residential school system. The commission’s 94 calls to action for governments, organizations and individuals also offered a roadmap to address the devastating legacy of residential schools still felt by Indigenous people and communities to this day.

Following the report, BCNU endorsed the calls to action and committed to advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, both within the communities it serves and within its own membership. A resolution brought forward by the BCNU Indigenous Leadership Circle to create the BCNU Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) was passed at the union’s annual convention in 2019. This committee has a mandate to lead BCNU’s reconciliation efforts.

Indigenous members Monique Pat and Michelle Martinson have been on the TRC since its inception. Both are members of the BCNU Indigenous Leadership Circle, and have been active union advocates since they began their nursing careers in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Martinson has worked in many areas of nursing, including seniors’ outreach, long-term care and palliative care. Pat has spent most of her career working in Indigenous health, providing home

care, and HIV/ AIDS and diabetes outreach.

BCNU sat down with Martinson and Pat to learn more about their role on the TRC and their advocacy work throughout the years.

UPDATE The BCNU Truth and Reconciliation Committee has two BCNU Indigenous Leadership Circle representatives who serve as regular committee members. How did you become involved with the Indigenous Leadership Circle and how has it developed over time?

MARTINSON The ILC was a place for First Nations, Métis and Inuit nurses to share their experiences and to provide support to each other. Originally called the Aboriginal Leadership Circle, I first met with the group when I was invited to a meeting during convention. Over the years, we have evolved into a group that I feel focuses more on advocacy and education.

PAT I was invited to join the ILC by the Indigenous health liaison in Port Hardy, and participated as an alternate regional representative at first. We would discuss what it was like being an Indigenous nurse in the healthcare system and then began focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, promoting Orange

Shirt Day, and had dreams of decolonizing and indigenizing the union.

The influence and guidance of Elder nurses throughout the years has been invaluable to the work we have done and continue to do. BCNU human rights and equity officer Hanif Karim has been a strong supporter of the ILC through the years, and that highlights how crucial it is to have strong allies who understand the realities of what’s going on in Canada.

UPDATE Tell us about how BCNU’s Truth and Reconciliation Committee came into existence.

PAT The committee was formally struck in 2020, following the convention resolution that created it a year earlier, and we have been meeting ever since.

MARTINSON Prior to this resolution, I had never seen such a strong show of support for Indigenous people within the union. Silence and secrecy perpetuate oppression, and that was the reality for so long when it came to Canada’s history and relationship with

Indigenous peoples. Seeing the support of the membership to create this committee was uplifting. It felt like there was an unearthing, and people finally understood. We felt seen. Bravery is what is needed to have uncomfortable conversations and we saw a lot of bravery that day.

UPDATE What have you learned about yourself from working on the Truth and Reconciliation Committee?

MARTINSON I learned that I have a voice and that the Indigenous perspective I bring forward can influence change. While this work has been uplifting and inspiring, it has also been painful, uncomfortable and difficult to engage in at times. Through those experiences I learned how incredibly resilient and strong I am.

PAT At our first meeting, we recognized that there are no shortcuts to this work and we must go the distance when it comes to reconciliation. I have thought about my mother’s influence on me, my grandparents and great grandparents – and I think about how colonization has affected all my family. I have gotten to learn a lot more about my mom and the amazing work she did throughout her life.

There was a time when I was afraid to speak in public, and now I truly feel I have a voice. I rely on the guidance of my ancestors and other Indigenous leaders to amplify my voice. This got me thinking about how we can do this work together and I realized that we must do it together. There is always a way through despite the challenges, but we must find this way through together no matter how uncomfortable or difficult it is.

UPDATE What is a union’s role in advancing principles of truth and reconciliation?

MARTINSON Reconciliation requires political will, joint leadership, trust building, accountability and transparency, as well as a substantial investment of resources, as outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action document.

PAT The role of the union is to be an ally with Indigenous members and create a safe environment for this work to be done. It should make the ILC strong for Indigenous nurses and advocate for justice with us.

UPDATE Cultural safety is identified as a mechanism to address Indigenous-specific racism in health care – which was identified in the provincial government’s 2019 report In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenousspecific Racism and Discrimination in BC Health Care. The need for cultural safety has also been acknowledged by the BC College of Nurses and Midwives through its newest nursing practice standard on Indigenous cultural safety, cultural humility and anti-racism. What is cultural safety to you and how can its principles be embodied by the union?

PAT Practicing cultural safety is more than learning about culture. Rather, it is about relational practice and building relationships. The union has done a lot of great work to date and there is room for improvement always. Hiring in-house cultural safety facilitators who understand the deep methodology of these principles would be a step in the right direction. It would be great for this to extend to the regions as well.

It’s important for cultural safety to be prioritized within the regions and align with provincial work. The nursing college’s practice standard

continued on page 47

HOW TO CONTACT YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUITY REPS

BCNU Human Rights and Equity Committee

Adriane Gear, Chair

E adrianegear@bcnu.org

Indigenous Leadership Circle

Catherine Tanski, Chair

E Indigenous@bcnu.org

Candi DeSousa, Council Liaison

C 250-488-9232

E candidesousa@bcnu.org

LGBTQ Caucus

Jessy Dame, Chair

E lgbtq@bcnu.org

Tristan Newby, Council Liaison

C 604-313-1308

E tristannewby@bcnu.org

Men in Nursing Group

Matthew Le Gresley, Chair

E meninnursing@bcnu.org

Walter Lumamba, Council Liaison

C 604-512-2004

E walterlumamba@bcnu.org

Mosaic of Colour Caucus

Tracia Batson-Dottin, Chair

E moc@bcnu.org

Parveen Gill, Council Liaison

C 604-309-3223

E parveengill@bcnu.org

Workers with Disability Caucus

Kelly Woywitka, Chair

E disabilities@bcnu.org

Teri Forster, Interim Council Liaison

C 250-615-8077

E teriforster@bcnu.org

Young Nurses’ Network

Melissa Vannerus, Chair

E ynn@bcnu.org

Hardev Bhullar, Council Liaison

C 778-855-0220

E hardevbhullar@bcnu.org

MY JOURNEY

INTERNATIONALLY EDUCATED NURSES

THE THINGS THAT MATTER IN LIFE

remembers – that most colonial of sports – exported by the British and perfected in the West Indies.

The oldest of four children, John-Mitchell excelled in school while her mother ran a small restaurant and her father fished, and planted trees and vegetables. “I was an all-rounder in school – good in academics and sports – I got a huge trophy for my accomplishments, and also a trophy for modesty,” she notes with a wry smile.

do well in nursing.”

The training took place at the city’s general hospital and was based on an English curriculum taught by local and foreign doctors and nurses. “The program lasted three-and-a-half years with exit points for aides, and nursing assistants,” JohnMitchell says. “We got a stipend and stayed in a nursing hostel – I loved it, every part of it.”

JANICE JOHN-MITCHELL has sweet memories of a childhood played-out amidst a proliferation of tamarind trees in Sangre Grande, the largest town in northeastern Trinidad and Tobago.

“Nice, fat, juicy tamarind fruit,” John-Mitchell recalls, “but also mangos and papayas, and pomerac and coconut. Everywhere you went the air was filled with the fragrance of fruit and flowers.”

In watermelon season, John-Mitchell and her

friends would wander through farmland to the beach. “We would spend long afternoons watching the waves and quenching our thirst with that delicious red fruit – such idyllic times – you never wanted those days to end.”

Sometimes John-Mitchell and her friends would swim in an abandoned quarry in the middle of a nearby forest, or play marbles in the alleyways adjacent to her home. “And of course, lots of cricket,” John-Mitchell

After graduating from high school, John-Mitchell worked as a journalist at a local paper. “I enjoyed the work, writing stories about local events but after a while I wanted something else – something more.” JohnMitchell’s next job involved the testing of meat products at a factory lab. “One day I met a friend at the factory who suggested we sign up for teacher training college, and on our way back from registering we came across a long line-up of young people. I asked, ‘what’s going on there?’” she recalls. “And we just joined the line.” It turned out to be a line-up to register for the nursing program.

John-Mitchell was 19-years-old when she made her way to Port of Spain, Trinidad’s capital, to begin her training. “I missed home, and I missed my child,” she says, “but there weren’t many opportunities to go to university and get a profession, and I felt like I would

After graduating, JohnMitchell worked for six years at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, in nearby San Juan. “I could have stayed longer,” she says, “but my husband had an opportunity to come to Canada with a company based in Victoria, and after he left I began the process of applying for my nursing licence in BC.”

John-Mitchell has worked in a number of health-care settings since arriving in Canada in 2009, most recently in Duncan Home and Community Care. “It has taken me more than 10 years to get accustomed to being here,” she remarks. “The weather, the climate, those first few days and weeks I froze, I was so cold.”

But more significantly, John-Mitchell’s experience here has been marked by a corrosive process of racialization that serves as an every-day reminder that her skills, hard work and qualifications are not fully recognized and acknowledged. “How can you live

INTERNATIONAL NURSE Janice John-Mitchell emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago to BC over 10 years ago.

Pacific Rim region’s Janice JohnMitchell longs for the harmony she enjoyed on the island of her birth

and flourish in a place like this when you are always carrying a feeling of sadness and discontentment – as if you never belong?” she asks with a weary sigh.

John-Mitchell carries regrets about her decision to emigrate.

“I had a quality of life in Trinidad. I had what matters in life: a feeling of harmony and security. What do material things mean when you feel stressed out all the time?” she asks.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUITY Q&A

continued from page 45 focused on cultural safety is a great opportunity to advance this work. Creating a union education program outlining the practice standard’s elements would be a worthwhile endeavor.

MARTINSON Above all, there must be an understanding of the importance of embodying the principles of cultural safety. This must be in every area and apparent in every action, policy and statement. The union can continue to build trust and advocate for social justice within the organization. Cultural safety can be embodied by showing respect to the membership, and reflecting and considering how actions may affect membership.

to act in solidarity with us and take action in the face of injustice when it arises. I hope we can continue to feel safe to explore this work together and that members uphold the principles of this work. I’m also hoping that we continue to have allies, and that the union does this work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and with Indigenous members.

Recent health issues have kept John-Mitchell from the bedside, but last fall, she ran for school trustee in the Cowichan Valley municipal elections. She was not elected, but says the experience was galvanizing and a reminder that there are many ways to make a difference and advance equity and justice.

What keeps her here and what keeps her going are her family and, in particular, her three children. “I have to teach them to be strong and not be victims not to feel like second-class citizens,” she says defiantly. •

UPDATE What are your hopes for the future of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and BCNU members?

MARTINSON I would like to see the principles of this committee embedded into the fabric of the union – in policies, in procedures, in culture, in everything we do. It is important for Indigenous members to be engaged and integrated in this work, so I would like to see that continue.

I’m hoping we can continue to represent First Nations, Métis and Inuit members with the support and dedication of the union leadership. I’d like to see the fruits of this committee encourage allies

PAT I’m hoping BCNU contemplates its role in advocating for and supporting the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action – specifically numbers 18 to 24, which are focused on health care. I’d like to see more Indigenous staff hired and a new HRE staff role dedicated to reconciliation work. I’d like to see the committee work with Indigenous advocates like Cindy Blackstock to advance initiatives. I would like to see the nursing college’s practice standard widely circulated and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People implemented. I am hoping we can highlight and promote Joyce’s Principle* to ensure First Nations, Inuit and Métis have the right to culturally safe health care free of racism or discrimination, no matter their circumstances or where they live.

Finally, I’d love to see recruitment, retention, and support of more young

Indigenous members and other health-care professionals. What I learned throughout my journey from my mother and other Indigenous activists is that all the work that we do is done with the future generations in mind, while relying on our ancestors to guide the way and trailblazers who continue to pave the way. Meaningful reconciliation work by its nature will benefit future generations of BCNU members, health-care professionals and communities. •

*Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman, was admitted to a Quebec hospital for severe stomach pain in September 2020. She posted a live video on Facebook of nurses taunting her with racial jibes moments before she died. Joyce’s Principle aims to guarantee all Indigenous people the right of equitable access, without any discrimination, to all social and health services, as well as the right to enjoy the best possible physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Joyce’s Principle requires the recognition and respect of Indigenous people’s traditional and living knowledge in all aspects of health.

1-800-588-8717

“It has taken me more than 10 years to get accustomed to being here.”

Janice John-Mitchell

The KUU-US First Nations and Aboriginal Crisis Line is available 24/7

TOGETHER CONVENTION 2022

Nurses unite in a call for action to fix BC’s broken health-care system

he streets of Vancouver echoed with the voices of hundreds of BC nurses on Nov. 4 as they marched through a rain-soaked downtown core to raise awareness about the ongoing healthcare crisis in this province.

They were there to send a message to the provincial government about the dire working conditions nurses continue to face in the midst of a staffing shortage that continues to impact health-care facilities across BC, and which jeopardizes the care that patients deserve.

The march was led by BCNU Vice President Adriane Gear, and included union leaders from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, who all travelled to BC to support their union siblings.

BCNU President Aman Grewal welcomed the

group as it filled the north plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery. "BC's health care system is sick – at its breaking point – and nurses from all corners of this province have never seen it this bad," she said from the steps of the gallery. "The nurse shortage is compromising your ability to provide the kind of care you know how to give, leading to significant moral distress within each and every one of you."

Grewal noted the banners that BCNU members were carrying.

"As we look around, I see some of the messages from previous rallies BCNU has held over the years: Violence – not part of the job. Mental health matters. Respect nurses," she exclaimed, and said all of these messages are more relevant than they ever were. "We are calling on the government to listen to nurses, produce a plan to fix this broken healthcare system, and find some viable solutions.”

Grewal was joined at the podium by Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions President Linda Silas, who was there on behalf of over 200,000 nurses from across the country that she said are standing alongside BC nurses in the fight to make health care better.

Silas called on all levels of government to respect nurses and provide them with safe working conditions. "As your president has said, enough is enough – two-hundred and fifty thousand nurses across Canada are pissed off!" she exclaimed, before telling the assembled group to stay strong, stay proud, and stay loud.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The rally was an inspiring conclusion to BCNU’s 40th annual convention that began three days earlier.

BCNU President Aman Grewal kicked off Convention 2022 by providing more than 400 delegates with an overview of the work that she and elected leaders have undertaken on nurses’ behalf over the last year.

Grewal said she’s been honoured to advocate for all of BCNU’s more than 48,000 members, whether talking to reporters about members’ experiences or meeting with elected officials and policy makers to tell them about the changes that are needed to improve the health-care system and the lives of working nurses.

“We’ve gotten the public’s attention on the various challenges nurses are facing, from the staffing shortage and its impact on our mental health, to increasing workplace violence,” said Grewal, noting that BCNU is mentioned in the media over 250 times a month.

Grewal’s message was an important reminder about what can be accomplished when nurses unite in pursuit of a common goal. She told delegates that the union’s number one priority in the year ahead is the negotiation of a new Nurses’ Bargaining Association collective agreement.

“This is your contract,” she remarked, “and if we take a strike vote we need to speak with every member we know to ensure we receive a strong mandate.”

Grewal also reminded delegates about the important actions the union has recently undertaken to make reconciliation with Indigenous peoples central to all of BCNU’s work. This included the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation committee that has worked with the BCNU Indigenous Leadership Circle to identify specific calls to action that the union will undertake to help dismantle the legacy of colonialism in the healthcare system and recognize the harms Indigenous peoples have suffered at the hands of nurses and the nursing profession.

“Today, I look to you to ensure that our health-care system is a culturally safe and welcoming place for everyone in need of care,” she said.

The meeting was BCNU’s first in-person convention since 2019. Grewal told delegates she was glad to be able to

gather together again. “The COVID-19 pandemic has turned your lives upside down,” she acknowledged. “But you have been champions through all of it, and I’m hoping that things will become better for all of us.”

JOINING THE CFNU FAMILY

Day one of the annual meeting was also the occasion of a major announcement from Silas, who informed delegate that BCNU would be joining CFNU.

“Welcoming BCNU into the CFNU family is one of the highlights of my career,” said Silas to cheers and a standing ovation.

CFNU represents over 200,000 nurses and is the largest women’s organization in Canada. Given the substantial challenges facing the nursing profession across the country, BCNU’s invite is expected to elevate the work underway with governments and decision makers around chronic staffing issues, workload and violence from coast to coast.

“We have been warning governments for 15 years that there was a crisis coming,” said Silas. “In my 30 years working in nursing, I have never seen members so fed up. Moving forward, we are going to stand together to fix this mess. We need to retain, reintegrate and recruit nurses in this country.”

Silas reported that a recent surveying of CFNU members found that 60 percent of nurses said they are considering leaving the profession, while one-infive nurses admit they are thinking of retiring early.

“Fifty-five is too early to retire,” Silas declared. “We need our experienced nurses to stay so they can share their knowledge. We need to change the culture in nursing, stop being martyrs and start demanding respect.”

Manitoba Nurses’ Union (MNU) President Darlene Jackson was one of four provincial nurse leaders who joined Silas at the podium. She described the public health-care system in her prov-

CALL TO ORDER BCNU President Aman Grewal welcomes delegates to the union’s 40th annual general meeting.

There is nothing we can’t achieve when we work together.”

BCNU President Aman Grewal

ince as a “sinking ship” but added she’s hopeful conditions will improve.

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Convention’s opening day also saw BCNU Vice President Adriane Gear delivered a report on the work of the union’s provincial human rights and equity committee, the organization’s member engagement efforts, and the campaigns and political action of the union’s elected regional council lobby coordinators.

"The work of the equity caucuses, like much of the labour of nursing, is hidden,” she explained. “And I thank

them for the emotional and practical support they provide to members as they navigate our often-unforgiving workplaces and raise awareness of the issues of white privilege, of heterosexual privilege, of ableism, and class privilege."

Gear reported that she, Grewal and BCNU Interim CEO Jim Gould all made commitments on behalf of Council to make member engagement a top priority, and said BCNU has been out in full force engaging with members since the province lifted public health restrictions.

“The union hosted a vigil and rally in Victoria during National Nursing Week in May, we engaged in member and public outreach activities in several regions this summer, and hosted our provincial bargaining conference in October,” she reported.

Gear highlighted the union’s new province-wide campaign featuring member stories that highlight the impacts of the health-care crisis on nurses’ physical and mental health. "We thank those members that provided us with alarming examples of how the staffing crisis is impacting the delivery of safe patient care. We know it was difficult and we appreciate you speaking with us," she said.

As the union’s provincial lobby coordinator, Gear also recognized the important advocacy work of BCNU's regional lobby coordinators. "They play an important role in engaging with municipal, provincial, and federal government,” she said. "While BCNU is non-partisan, we are political and engage in political action."

Gear ended by acknowledging the work of the hundreds of BCNU stewards across the province. “Stewards are the backbone of our union and the face of BCNU in the workplace and I thank them for their continued work with members," she said.

continued on page 56

RECOGNIZING LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY 2022 Leadership Awards

BCNU IS COMMITTED TO RECOGNIZING AND supporting all of the leaders in the organization. Day two of Convention 2022 saw delegates formally acknowledge the work of two of their peers for outstanding contributions to their practice and communities.

BCNU President Aman Grewal proudly presented the union’s 2022 Leadership Awards to Kamloops’s Adigo Angela AchobaOmajali, recipient of Excellence in Leadership & Advocacy Award and Terrace’s Maggie Biagioni, recipient of the NU Leader Award.

Achoba-Omajali helped co-found the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC (CACBN), a grass roots and nurse-led organization that has put out a declaration against anti-Black racism with the Canadian Nurses Association. She is also a member of the anti-racism working group with the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing.

Biagioni graduated from nursing school in 2020, where she received the North West Award for Student Advocacy in acknowledgment of her work to advance Indigenous advocacy, leadership, and social justice.

Both awards include a monetary prize of one thousand dollars and a customized, crystal keepsake featuring original artwork titled Raven Steals the Light created by Haida artist Erik Prytula. The artwork was inspired by the creation story of how the raven steals the sun, moon and starts and places them in the sky, creating life as we know it. The work is a representation of the tremendous power of nursing and its capacity to heal and bring light into darkness.

LOBBY COORDINATOR’S REPORT BCNU

Vice President Adriane Gear tells delegates about the union’s political engagement and advocacy efforts on behalf of members.

PROUD ADVOCATES NU Leader Award recipient Maggie Biagioni and Excellence in Leadership & Advocacy Award recipient Adigo Angela Achoba-Omajali.

Welcoming BCNU into the CFNU family is one of the highlights of my career.”

CFNU President Linda Silas

7

CONVENTION 2022 POSTCARDS

1. BCNU members march through the streets of Downtown Vancouver.

2. Members gather to rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Fraser Valley region members Carina JansenStyner, Sarbjit Gill, Remy Dhillon, and Fraser Valley regional council member Parveen Gill. 3. West Kootenay region’s Alexandrea Melville and Cameron Butler.

4. Several future and current members of BCNU’s Workers with Disabilities caucus met on day two. 5. BCNU Treasurer Sharon Sponton delivers her financial report on opening day.

6. South Islands region members Bonnie Balam and Teresa McFadden. 7. Simon Fraser region members Ann Chin, Luminita Trif, Nasrin Khanmohady and Lilibeth Colet. 8. Canadian Federation of Nurses’ Union President Linda Silas welcomes BCNU delegates on opening day. 9. BCNU Interim CEO Jim Gould addresses delegates. 10. Members of BCNU’s Indigenous Leadership Circle (ILC) caucus group gathered to discuss issues facing Indigenous nurses across BC. 11. Hundred of nurses and their supporters march through Vancouver on Nov.3. 12. Richmond

Vancouver region’s Mike Scott and Pacific Rim region’s Michelle Martinson.

13. BCNU Provincial Executive Committee members lead delegates through the rainy streets of Vancouver. 14. BCNU Mosaic of Colour caucus members met over lunch on day two to hear reports from provincial caucus chair Tracia Batson-Dottin and regional caucus reps.

15. BCNU Executive Councillor Aida Herrera addresses delegates on day two.

16. Central Vancouver region members JJ Teerathananchai and Jessica Tsao.

17. Members of BCNU’s LGBTQ caucus met for lunch on day two. 18. Okanagan Similkameen region’s Christopher Barta and José Huberdeau. 19. Central Vancouver regions’ Don Scott and Pacific Rim region’s Myra Noga. 20. Shaughnessy Heights region’s Ugochi Ibediro and Simon Fraser region’s Melissa Vannerus. 21. Costal Mountain region’s Marilia Cordeiro, Angela Crawford and Rajni Bala. 22. Richmond Vancouver region’s Paddy Kopieczek, Shaughnessy Heights region’s Gurvir Sekhon and North West region’s Matthew Le Gresley at the Men in Nursing table.

23. Central Vancouver region’s Ginny Ho, Yuanping Long and Yolanda Carsola.

CONVENTION DISPATCH

Solidarity runs in the family

RAJ AND SASHA

Johal are two BCNU members who are committed to standing up and speaking out for a safer and better future for nurses and their patients. The mother-daughter duo work on a BC Women’s Hospital obstetrical unit to provide care for mothers who use substances while helping them manage infant withdrawal. Unsurprisingly, the nurses on this unit are faced with unique challenges every day.

Raj was joined by Sasha at last October’s annual BCNU convention. It was her third time attending – and Sasha’s first.

The younger Johal graduated from nursing school in

2021 and was hired immediately following her preceptorship at the hospital. She confesses that she knew almost nothing about her union during her first year of nursing. “I didn’t even know what a steward was, and I felt most new grads were in a similar situation.”

That began to change after the stewards at her worksite encouraged Sasha and other new graduates to attend convention to learn more about their union.

She says the event gave her meaningful insights into her union’s inner workings.

“There were great opportunities to speak with other new grads – who were also quite surprised to learn just how many supports we have.”

As a nurse working in an urban centre, Sasha says she appreciated being able to chat with members from BCNU regions across the province, and learn about their unique challenges. “It was eye-opening to hear of others’ situations – which were often worse or different,” she reports. “Your issue might seem like nothing compared to someone else’s, but regardless of the different issues we tackle –we're all in this together.”

Sasha shared her convention experience with co-workers when she returned to work, and says that many recent graduates were especially curious. “They wanted to know what their union is about and what was discussed for the

benefit of nurses.”

Raj is a 26-year veteran who admits that she didn’t truly become active in BCNU for the first 15 years of her career. “I knew I was paying union dues and received a quarterly magazine, but my knowledge of the union was quite limited. I’d been part of three strikes and would listen to those who visit my unit to explain job action, but I didn’t really become involved.”

That changed after a violent incident left her fearing for her life and pushed her to speak out. “I filed a grievance with a very helpful steward and it resulted in meaningful change. Additional security measures were added, lines were changed, and staffing was bolstered,” she reports.

I don't want younger nurses to be afraid of being too vocal – and convention is the perfect venue to learn this firsthand.”

Raj Johal

INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY BC Women’s Hospital nurses Raj and Sasha Johal rally at last year’s BCNU convention. It was the mother-daughter team’s first time attending the event together.

“I realized then that I could make a difference, not just for myself or my unit, but the entire hospital.”

The experience compelled Raj to speak out further. She was involved in subsequent grievance processes and last year joined her worksite Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee.

As a mother of a young nurse and a preceptor on her unit, she encourages all BCNU members to attend a convention as early as possible in their career. “I try to show younger nurses that speaking up doesn’t mean risking your job. I don't want younger nurses to be afraid of being too vocal – and convention is the perfect venue to learn this firsthand.”

Raj says the convention rally was a highlight of the event. “It felt amazing marching and chanting beside my daughter, who's a brand-new nurse,” she remarks. “We’re fighting together to make the future better and to ensure she doesn’t have to endure what I did for 26 years.”

Mother and daughter both agree that attending convention is a worthwhile endeavour. “Younger nurses need to have their voices heard just as much as long-serving members,” argues Sasha. “We have our entire future in front of us and you learn so much by attending.” •

FIRST-TIME DELEGATES’ VIEW

WE ASKED CONVENTION FIRST TIMERS WHY THEY WERE INSPIRED TO ATTEND CONVENTION THIS YEAR.

I’ve been nursing for twenty years but haven’t been involved with the union because I’ve been busy raising a family, and now that my kids are older I wanted to get more active in the union. I attended the Provincial Bargaining Conference and loved it! I’ve now become interested in becoming a steward – that is my goal for the future.

I’m a strong believer in safe nurses and safe patients. Without nurses feeling safe, the quality of patient care will be down the drain.

I am interested in getting more involved in the union. I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity

My colleague told me about convention during a union meeting. I volunteered to be an observer. The spot was filled and then I got an email that the spot had opened up. And later I was promoted to an alternate. Everything is very new.

I’m attending convention because I would like to learn more about our union and build more strength and confidence with our union.

TARA RADSTAAK Shaughnessy Heights

MELODY PAN Vancouver Coastal Health

IRENE CHANG Simon Fraser

MICHAEL PLUEGGE Fraser Valley

DINA BELUSIC South Islands

TOGETHER IN SOLIDARITY

continued from page 51

BYLAW AMENDMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS

The last two days of convention saw members debate resolution and proposed amendments to BCNU's Constitution and Bylaws.

Delegates voted in favour of a bylaw amendment that will require a special election for president to be held whenever there is a vacancy greater than one year. However, they rejected related election proposals to add a third executive councillor to the provincial executive committee or to require that provincial executive officer candidates have at least one year of experience as a regional executive committee member or regional council member to be eligible. A proposed amendment that would have seen the provincial executive committee elected by the voting delegates of a convention was also defeated.

Delegates voted in favour of a bylaw proposal to amend Article 7 and hold a human rights and equity caucus bargaining conference prior to provincial contract negotiations, but they defeated a proposal to include an equity seeking representative on the bylaws committee.

An amendment to Article 1 was carried requiring any member in an elected position take a leave of absence from their elected role when filling a temporary staff position.

Members voted in favour of an amendment to Article 12 that stipulates the types of early alternative dispute resolution processes that may be used in the event of a complaint and prior to its referral to the complaints investigation committee.

It also requires that new language about complaints be added to the bylaw. This language addresses a potential breach of duty by the Respondent(s), dismissal of complaints, and appeals of such dismissals.

Members voted in favour a proposed amendment to Article 5.04, which added language regarding alternate members serving on the union’s nominations committee.

On day three, convention delegates debated four resolutions. Resolution one, calling for the addition of a human rights and equity caucus member seat on the resolutions committee, was carried. Resolution two, calling for the addition of a historical advisor position on BCNU council, was defeated. Resolution three, calling for five annual bursaries valued at $1,000 each to be awarded to internationally educated student nurses, was carried, and resolution four, calling for the dissolution of the Men in Nursing Network, was defeated.

All bylaw amendments took effect immediately following the adjournment of convention.

LOUD AND PROUD

Grewal closed Convention 2022 by reminding members about the power of solidarity.

“We are the nurses of BC – and there is nothing we can’t achieve when we work together,” she said. “You are all leaders, and you came here to join with other BCNU members to make sure we have a union that works to get nurses the respect we deserve, and the practice conditions we need to make a real difference in our working lives and the lives of our patients.”

Grewal said solidarity extends across provincial boundaries.

“It’s been 10 long years since BCNU was last a member of CFNU, and today we are ready to re-join our union siblings across Canada. There is power in numbers. And it’s going to take strength in numbers to address the national nurse staffing crisis and produce solutions that will improve a health-care system that’s nearing collapse,” she remarked.

“But we’ve seen what we can accomplish when we work together and speak with one voice to the politicians and policy makers who make the decisions that affect the lives of the millions of Canadians who depend on our universal health-care system.”

Grewal thanked all of the human rights and equity caucus members in attendance, who took the courage to share their voice and exercise their right to fully participate in their union. “We have a long way to go, but I want to again acknowledge your struggle, and want you to know that we are committed to advancing equity principles and practices within our union,” she said.

Finally, Grewal told delegates there was one outstanding piece of business that still needed to be addressed – and that is the negotiation of a new Nurses’ Bargaining Association collective agreement. She congratulated those members elected to serve on the provincial bargaining and job action committees and thanked all of those who were nominated to run for positions.

“We look forward to your continued advocacy as we turn up the volume on our activism in the weeks and months ahead,” she said. “I want everyone in the room to know that your elected leaders and support staff are ready to roll up our sleeves to do the work that needs to be done to get you what you deserve.”

Grewal then called on delegates to go back to their worksites, speak with all of their co-workers, and get them engaged in their union.

“Let’s channel the collective energy we’ve harnessed here today!” she said.

“From Fort St. John to Campbell River and from Vancouver to Cranbrook, and in every hospital, every long-term care facility and every public health unit, it’s important that nurses fight for the respect we deserve.

“As we close this meeting I want you to go back to your worksites and your communities and be loud! There is no union better out there. There is no union that works harder or longer than the BCNU –this your union be proud of it!” •

The work of the equity caucuses, like much of the labour of nursing, is hidden.”

BCNU Vice President Adriane Gear

CONVENTION 2023

HYATT REGENCY HOTEL

AGENDA

THURSDAY, June 1

The agenda is tentative and may be adjusted prior to convention.

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENT 1 (1A)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 3 – COUNCIL AND BYLAW ARTICLE 4 – REGIONS

CURRENT WORDING PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Article 3 – Council

3.01 BCNU Council will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President;

(c) Provincial Treasurer;

(d) Two (2) Executive Councillors; and

(e) Twenty (20) Regional Council Members.

3.02 Council will be the governing body of the BCNU when the Annual Convention is not in session.

To replace (e) Twenty (20) Regional Council Members” with (e) Seven (7) Area Council members

Add new 3.02 “Area Council Members will represent the following areas and/ or regions:

(a) Central Vancouver, Coastal Mountain, and Richmond Vancouver – (1)

(b) Fraser Valley, Simon Fraser, and South Fraser Valley (2)

(c) Vancouver Metro and Shaughnessy Heights (1)

(d) South Islands and Pacific Rim (1)

(e) North West and North East (1)

(f) Thompson North Okanagan, Okanagan Similkameen, West Kootenays, and East Kootenays (1)

3.01 BCNU Council will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President;

(c) Provincial Treasurer;

(d) Two (2) Executive Councillors; and

(e) Seven (7) Area Council Members.

3.02 Area Council Members will represent the following areas and/or regions:

(a) Central Vancouver, Coastal Mountain, and Richmond Vancouver – (1)

(b) Fraser Valley, Simon Fraser, and South Fraser Valley (2)

(c) Vancouver Metro and Shaughnessy Heights (1)

(d) South Islands and Pacific Rim (1)

(e) North West and North East (1)

(f) Thompson North Okanagan, Okanagan Similkameen, West Kootenays, and East Kootenays (1)

Housekeeping: renumber 3.02-3.08 to 3.02-3.09

Renumber 3.03-3.09 (existing language with no changes)

Continued on next page

AMENDMENT 1 (1A) (CONTINUED)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 3 – COUNCIL AND BYLAW ARTICLE 4 – REGIONS (CONTINUED)

CURRENT WORDING PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Article 4 – BCNU Regions

4.02 Each region will elect Regional Council Members as follows:

(a) Central Vancouver 2 Council Members

(b) Coastal Mountain 1 Council Member

(c) East Kootenay 1 Council Member

(d) Fraser Valley 1 Council Member

(e) North East 1 Council Member

(f) North West 1 Council Member

(g) Okanagan Similkameen 1 Council Member

(h) Pacific Rim 1 Council Member

(i) Richmond Vancouver 1 Council Member

(j) Shaughnessy Heights 1 Council Member

(k) Simon Fraser 2 Council Members

(l) South Fraser Valley 2 Council Members

(m) South Islands 2 Council Members

(n) Thompson North Okanagan 1 Council Member

(o) Vancouver Metro 1 Council Member

(p) West Kootenay 1 Council Member

Replace “Regional Council Members” with “Regional Chairs”

Replace in (a)-(p) “Council Members” with “Regional Chair”

4.02 Each region will elect Regional Chairs as follows:

(a) Central Vancouver 2 Regional Chairs

(b) Coastal Mountain 1 Regional Chair

(c) East Kootenay 1 Regional Chair

(d) Fraser Valley 1 Regional Chair

(e) North East 1 Regional Chair

(f) North West 1 Regional Chair

(g) Okanagan Similkameen 1 Regional Chair

(h) Pacific Rim 1 Regional Chair

(i) Richmond Vancouver 1 Regional Chair

(j) Shaughnessy Heights 1 Regional Chair

(k) Simon Fraser 2 Regional Chairs

(l) South Fraser Valley 2 Regional Chairs

(m) South Islands 2 Regional Chairs

(n) Thompson North Okanagan 1 Regional Chair

(o) Vancouver Metro 1 Regional Chair

(p) West Kootenay 1 Regional Chair

Proviso – The language in this amendment will come into effect for the 2026 General Election.

Proviso – The Regional Bylaws will be amended to reflect the language in this amendment to come into effect for the 2026 General election.

Costing: $1,056,034

Moved by: Scott Duvall

Seconded by: Val Kloska

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENT 1 (1B)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 5 – ELECTIONS – HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENTS

CURRENT WORDING

Article 5 – Elections

5.01 Every three (3) years, Provincial Executive Officers and Regional Council Members will be elected as follows:

(b) Eligible voters:

i. Provincial Executive Officers will be elected by Members of the province; and

ii. Regional Council Members will be elected by Members of their region.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

Replace “and Regional Council Members“ with “, Area Council Members, and Regional Chairs”

IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

5.01 Every three (3) years, Provincial Executive Officers, Area Council Members, and Regional Chairs will be elected as follows:

(b) Eligible voters:

Strike “and”

Replace existing (ii) with “Area Council Members will be elected by Members of the regions they represent; and”

Add new (iii) “Regional Chairs will be elected by Members of their region.”

i. Provincial Executive Officers will be elected by Members of the province;

ii. Area Council Members will be elected by Members of the regions they represent; and

iii. Regional Chairs will be elected by Members of their region.

5.02 Vacancies of Elected Positions:

(a) If there is a vacancy of less than one (1) year in the office of President, the Vice-President will become President;

(b) If there is a vacancy on the Provincial Executive Committee of less than one (1) year, it will be filled by a Regional Council Member, in a vote by Council, for the remainder of the term;

(c) If there is a vacancy of a Regional Council Member of less than one (1) year, it will be filled as outlined in the Policies and Procedures; and

Replace in the existing (b) “a Regional” with “an Area” after “by”.

5.02 Vacancies of Elected Positions:

(a) If there is a vacancy of less than one (1) year in the office of President, the Vice-President will become President;

(b) If there is a vacancy on the Provincial Executive Committee of less than one (1) year, it will be filled by an Area Council Member, in a vote by Council, for the remainder of the term;

(d) All other vacancies for Provincial Executive Officers or Regional Council Members (not addressed in (a), (b), or (c)), will be filled by having a special election.

Replace in the existing (c) “a Regional” with “an Area” and strike “and” after “;”

Add new (d) “If there is a vacancy of a Regional Chair of less than one (1) year, it will be filled as outlined in the Policies and Procedures; and”

Replace existing (d) with new (e) “All other vacancies for Provincial Executive Officers, Area Council Members, or Regional Chairs (not addressed in (a), (b), (c), or (d)) will be filled by having a special election.

(c) If there is a vacancy of an Area Council Member of less than one (1) year, it will be filled as outlined in the Policies and Procedures;

(d) If there is a vacancy of a Regional Chair of less than one (1) year, it will be filled as outlined in the Policies and Procedures; and

(e) All other vacancies for Provincial Executive Officers, Area Council Members, or Regional Chairs (not addressed in (a), (b), (c), or (d)) will be filled by having a special election.

AMENDMENT 1 (1B) (CONTINUED)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 5 – ELECTIONS – HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENTS (CONTINUED)

5.03 Election Process:

(a) The nomination period, campaign period, and election period for the Provincial Executive Committee and Regional Council Members will be determined by the Nominations Committee and approved by Council.

Replace in (a) “Regional Council Members” with “,Area Council Members, and Regional Chairs”

5.03 Election Process:

(a) The nomination period, campaign period, and election period for the Provincial Executive Committee, Area Council Members, and Regional Chairs will be determined by the Nominations Committee and approved by Council.

Nominations Committee Nominations Committee

5.04 (c) Candidates for the Nominations Committee:

iii. Must not hold a position as Provincial Executive Officer or Regional Council Member, regional executive Member, full-time steward, enhanced disability management rep, or regional steward- at-large.

5.05 The responsibilities of the Nominations Committee will include:

(a) To determine eligibility of all candidates for the Provincial Executive Committee and for Regional Council Members.

(b) To implement the procedure for obtaining nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee and for Regional Council Members.

(d) To prepare and present the ticket of nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee and for Regional Council Members to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

Moved by: Scott Duvall

Seconded by: Val Kloska

Costing: $0

Replace in (iii) “Provincial Executive Officer or Regional Council Member” with “,Area Council Member, or Regional Chair”

5.04 (c) Candidates for the Nominations Committee:

iii. Must not hold a position as Provincial Executive Officer, Area Council Member, or Regional Chair, regional executive Member, full-time steward, enhanced disability management rep, or regional steward- at-large.

5.05 The responsibilities of the Nominations Committee will include:

Replace in (a) “and for Regional Council Members” with “, Area Council Members, or Regional Chairs.”

Replace in (b) “and for Regional Council Members” with “, Area Council Members, or Regional Chairs.”

Replace in (d) “and for Regional Council Members” with “, Area Council Members, or Regional Chairs”

(a) To determine eligibility of all candidates for the Provincial Executive Committee, Area Council Members, and Regional Chairs

(b) To implement the procedure for obtaining nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee, Area Council Members, and Regional Chairs

(d) To prepare and present the ticket of nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee, Area Council Members, and Regional Chairs to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENT 1 (1C)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 8, 9, 14 – HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENTS

CURRENT WORDING

Article 8 – Conventions

8.05 Convention Delegates:

(a) The Convention delegates will be:

i. All Council Members;

ii. Delegates of the four (4) Human Rights and Equityseeking caucuses who have been elected at their respective provincial caucus Meetings; and

iii. Regional delegates and alternates, determined as per the table below:

8.06 Voting Body of Convention:

(a) The Convention delegates listed in 8.05(a) above make up the voting body:

i) Each delegate and Council Member will have one (1) vote; and

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

8.05 Convention Delegates:

(a) The Convention delegates will be:

i. All Council Members;

Strike in (ii) “and” after “;”

ii. Delegates of the four (4) Human Rights and Equityseeking caucuses who have been elected at their respective provincial caucus Meetings;

Add new (iii) “Regional Chairs; and” Renumber (iii) to (iv)

iii. Regional Chairs; and

iii. Regional delegates and alternates, determined as per the table below:

Replace in (i) “Each delegate and Council Member” with “Each Council Member, Human Rights and Equity-seeking caucus delegate, Regional Chair, and Regional delegate”

Article 9 – Dues and Levies

9.03 Upon expiration of the PCA, Council may impose a dues increase to be used for Defence Fund payments:

(a) The motion will pass with a four-fifths (4/5) majority vote of all twenty-five (25) Members of Council;

9.04 Council may impose a levy for some or all of the Members to replenish the Defence Fund:

(a) The motion will pass with a four-fifths (4/5) majority vote of all twenty-five (25) Members of Council;

Replace in (a) “twenty-five (25)” with “twelve (12)”

(i) Each Council Member, Human Rights and Equity-seeking caucus delegate, Regional Chair, and Regional delegate will have one (1) vote; and;

(a) The motion will pass with a four-fifths (4/5) majority vote of all twelve (12) Members of Council;

Replace in (a) “twenty-five (25)” with “twelve (12)”

(a) The motion will pass with a four-fifths (4/5) majority vote of all twelve (12) Members of Council;

AMENDMENT 1 (1C) (CONTINUED)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 8, 9, 14 – HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENTS (CONTINUED)

CURRENT

Article 14 – Definitions

(o) “Officer” will mean any officer that is elected on Council (Provincial Executive Officers and Regional Council Members).

(ee) “Regional Council Members” means the members of Council elected to serve on Council by their respective regions in accordance with Articles 4.02 and 5.01

Replace in (o) “Regional” with “Area”

(o) “Officer” will mean any officer that is elected on Council (Provincial Executive Officers and Area Council Members).

Strike (ee) and replace with a new (c) with “Area Council Members means the members of Council elected by Members from the Regions they represent to serve on Council in accordance with Articles 3.02 and 5.01”

Renumber existing (c)-(dd) to (d)(ee)

Add new (ff) Regional Chairs means the regional executive chairperson of respective region who will be elected by Members of the region.

Renumber existing (ff)-(hh) to (gg)-(ii)

(c) Area Council Members means the members of Council elected by Members from the Regions they represent to serve on Council in accordance with Articles 3.02 and 5.01”

Renumber existing (c)-(dd) to (d)-(ee)

(ff) Regional Chairs means the regional executive chairperson of respective region who will be elected by Members of the region.

Renumber existing (ff)-(hh) to (gg)-(ii)

Moved by: Scott Duvall

Seconded by: Val Kloska

Costing: $0

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENT 2

1 – MEMBERSHIP

1.10 Despite the requirements of Article 12, Council, in its sole discretion, may declare, by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of Council, that a Member has ceased to be a Member in Good Standing if Council determines that:

(a) The Member has breached their duty under this Constitution and Bylaws or the Policies and

(b) For reasons of expediency or otherwise, the requirements of Article 12 cannot reasonably be met at the time of the declaration.

Replace “a Member has ceased to be a Member in Good Standing if Council determines that: (a) The with “: (a) A”

1.10 Despite the requirements of Article 12, Council, in its sole discretion, may declare, by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of Council, that:

(a) A Member has breached their duty under this Constitution and Bylaws or the Policies and Procedures; and

(b) For reasons of expediency or otherwise, the requirements of Article 12 cannot reasonably be met at the time of the declaration.

Add a new 1.11

“1.11 Despite the requirements of Article 12, upon making a declaration under Article 1.10 that a Member has breached their duty under this Constitution and Bylaws or the Policies and Procedures, Council may impose, by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of Council, a penalty it considers appropriate in the circumstances, which may include:

(a) mandatory training, education, or skills development;

(b) A reprimand;

(c) A fine or remediation;

(d) Temporary suspension from an Elected Position for a period not to exceed 60 days; or

(e) A declaration that the Member has ceased to be a Member in Good Standing.

1.11 Despite the requirements of Article 12, upon making a declaration under Article 1.10 that a Member has breached their duty under this Constitution and Bylaws or the Policies and Procedures, Council may impose, by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of Council, a penalty it considers appropriate in the circumstances, which may include:

(a) mandatory training, education, or skills development;

(b) A reprimand;

(c) A fine or remediation;

(d) Temporary suspension from an Elected Position for a period not to exceed 60 days; or

(e) A declaration that the Member has ceased to be a Member in Good Standing.

1.11 A Member who has ceased to be a Member in Good Standing is not entitled to:

Renumber 1.11 to 1.12

1.12 A Member who has ceased to be a Member in Good Standing is not entitled to:

Continued on next page

AMENDMENT 2 (CONTINUED)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 1 – MEMBERSHIP (CONTINUED)

CURRENT WORDING

(a) Attend Meetings; or

(b) Stand for election or hold an Elected Position.

1.12 Within thirty (30) days of notification of a declaration under Article 1.10, a Member declared no longer a Member in Good Standing may apply to the Chief Executive Officer or designate to request that the Discipline Committee establish a Hearing Board in accordance with Article 12.06 to hear the merits of Council’s declaration as if it were a Complaint by Council:

(a) The Hearing Board may, in addition to its powers and discretion set out in Article 12.07:

i. Uphold or set aside Council’s declaration; and

ii. In the event that the Member is guilty of a breach of duty, impose any penalty that it considers appropriate in the circumstances.

iii. All decisions and determinations of the Hearing Board regarding Article 1.12 are within the Hearing Board’s sole discretion and will be final and binding.

(b) Subject to Article 1.10 and this Article, the rights and procedures required under Article 12 and any applicable Policies and Procedures will apply.

Moved by: Scott Duvall

Seconded by: Val Kloska

Costing: $0

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

(a) Attend meetings: or

(b) Stand for election or hold an elected position.

Renumber 1.12 to 1.13 Insert “or 1.11” after “1.10” Insert “to have breached their duty or” after “declared” and strike “or to no longer a Member in Good Standing” after “duty”

1.13 Within thirty (30) days of notification of a declaration under Article 1.10 or 1.11, a Member declared to have breached their duty may apply to the Chief Executive Officer or designate to request that the Discipline Committee establish a Hearing Board in accordance with Article 12.06 to hear the merits of Council’s declaration as if it were a Complaint by Council:

(a) The Hearing Board may, in addition to its powers and discretion set out in Article 12.07:

i. Uphold or set aside Council’s declaration; and

ii. In the event that the Member is guilty of a breach of duty, impose any penalty that it considers appropriate in the circumstances.

iii. All decisions and determinations of the Hearing Board regarding Article 1.12 are within the Hearing Board’s sole discretion and will be final and binding.

(b) Subject to Article 1.10 and this Article, the rights and procedures required under Article 12 and any applicable Policies and Procedures will apply.

Renumber 1.13-1.18 to 1.14-1.19

Renumber 1.14-1.19

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENT

3

BYLAWS ARTICLE 5 – ELECTIONS

5.01 (c) Eligibility requirements will be determined by the Annual Convention at least the year prior to the elections but BCNU steward experience must be a requirement.

Replace “BCNU steward experience must be a requirement” with “must include the following requirements:

i) Regional council member candidates will require steward experience; and

ii) Provincial Executive officer candidates will require at least one (1) year of experience from any combination of Regional Executive committee member, Regional Council member, full time steward or steward at large position.”

5.01 (c) Eligibility requirements will be determined by the Annual Convention at least the year prior to the elections but must include the following requirements:

i) Regional Council Member candidates will require BCNU steward experience; and

ii) Provincial Executive Officer candidates will require at least one (1) year of experience from any combination of a Regional Council Member, regional executive member, full-time steward, enhanced disability management rep, or regional steward-at-large.

Proviso – Should Amendment 1A be adopted, housekeeping changes may be deemed necessary by the Bylaws Committee.

Proviso – The eligibility rules would come to effect for any election conducted in 2024 and beyond, or until such time at the language was amended further.

Moved by: Scott Duvall

Seconded by: Val Kloska

Costing: $0

AMENDMENT 4 (4A)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 2 – PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

2.01 The Provincial Executive Committee will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President;

(c) Provincial Treasurer; and

(d) Two (2) Executive Councillors.

To remove 2.01 (d)

2.01 The Provincial Executive Committee will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President; and

(c) Provincial Treasurer.

Proviso – The language in this amendment will come into effect on the earliest date of any of the following events: a Special Election that would otherwise be called to fill a vacancy for one, or both, of the Executive Councillor positions, a vote of Council that would otherwise be requested to fill a vacancy of less than one (1) year for one, or both, of the Executive Councillor positions by a Regional Council Member, or the 2026 General Election.

Moved by: Mindi Sekhonl

Seconded by: Jeanneth Jacome

Costing: $515,652(savings/reduction)

AMENDMENT 4 (4B)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 2 AND 3 – HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENTS

CURRENT WORDING

2.06 The President will call a meeting of the Provincial Executive Committee upon request of three (3) of its Officers.

2.07 A quorum of the Provincial Executive Committee will be three-fifths (3/5) of all five (5) members.

3.01 BCNU Council will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President;

(c) Provincial Treasurer;

(d) Two (2) Executive Councillors; and

(e) Twenty (20) Regional Council Members

5.05(d) To prepare and present the ticket of nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee and for Regional Council Members to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

Moved by: Mindi Sekhonl

Seconded by: Jeanneth Jacome

Costing: $0

AMENDMENT 5 (5A)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 3 – COUNCIL

CURRENT WORDING

3.01 BCNU Council will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President;

(c) Provincial Treasurer;

(d) Two (2) Executive Councillors; and

(e) Twenty (20) Regional Council Members

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Replace “three (3)” with “two (2)”

Replace “three fifths (3/5) of all five (5)” with “2/3 of all 3”

To remove 3.01 (d) and renumber (e) to (d)

2.06 The President will call a meeting of the Provincial Executive Committee upon request of two (2) of its Officers.

2.07 A quorum of the Provincial Executive Committee will be 2/3 of all 3 members.

3.01 BCNU Council will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President;

(c) Provincial Treasurer; and

(d) Twenty (20) Regional Council Members

Replace “To prepare and present the ticket of nominations […]” with “To prepare, present and, where necessary, amend, the ticket of nominations […]”

5.05(d) To prepare, present, and, where necessary, amend, the ticket of nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee and for Regional Council Members to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

3.01 BCNU Council will be comprised of the following Officers:

(a) President;

(b) Vice-President;

(c) Provincial Treasurer;

(d) Two (2) Executive Councillors; and

Moved by: Helena Barzilay

Seconded by: Alexa Caton

Costing: $8,000

(e) remove “Twenty (20)” and replace with “Sixteen (16)” Regional Council Members

(e) Sixteen (16) Regional Council Members

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENT 5 (5B)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 4 – HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENTS

CURRENT WORDING

4.02 Each region will elect Regional Council Members as follows:

(a) Central Vancouver 2 Council Members

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

4.02 Each region will elect Regional Council Members as follows:

(k) Simon Fraser 2 Council Members

Replace in (a) “2 Council Members” and with “1 Council Member” and add “and 1 Alternate Council Member.”

Replace in (a) “2 Council Members” and with “1 Council Member” and add “and 1 Alternate Council Member.”

(a) Central Vancouver 1 Council Member and 1 Vice Council Member

(k) Simon Fraser 1 Council Member and 1 Vice Council Member

(l) South Fraser Valley 2 Council Members

Replace in (a) “2 Council Members” and with “1 Council Member” and add “and 1 Alternate Council Member.”

(l) South Fraser Valley 1 Council Member and 1 Vice Council Member

(m) South Islands 2 Council Members

Replace in (a) “2 Council Members” and with “1 Council Member” and add “and 1 Alternate Council Member.”

(m) South Islands 1 Council Member and 1 Vice Council Member

Proviso: The Alternate would not attend the Council sessions provided the Council Member was able. The operational requirements would be addressed in the Policies and Procedures.

Moved by: Helena Barzilay

Seconded by: Hardev Bhullar

Costing: $0

AMENDMENT 6 (COUNCIL PROPOSAL)

BYLAWS ARTICLE 8 – CONVENTION

CURRENT WORDING

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

8.01 Conventions of the BCNU will be called by Council. To insert “only” after “Council”

Moved by: Sara Mattu

Seconded by: Scott Duvall

Costing: $0

8.01 Conventions of the BCNU will be called by Council only

RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION 1

Steward at Large (SAL) Compensation

Whereas, BCNU values Equality and Solidarity;

Whereas, future leaders may be developed through SAL positions (Strategic Direction 2.3);

Whereas, BCNU supports “values are the foundation of our decisions, policies, procedures and actions” (Strategic Direction 4.1); and

Therefore be that Convention direct BCNU to compensate Steward at Large positions in a similar manner it resolved, to Full Time Stewards (FTS) and Enhanced Disability Management Program (EDMP) Representatives; and

Be it further that SAL whose previous position included a higher rate than level 3 step 9 be wage protected at their resolved, previous rate of pay.

Moved by: Kyla Dres

Seconded by: Meghan McCusker

Costing: $206,164

RESOLUTION 2

Treatment of Nurses with Substance Use Disorders (SUD)

Whereas, employers may require nurses that they believe have substance use addictions, to undergo Independent Medical Exams (IME);

Whereas, nurses may be required to enter into multi-year contracts that require ongoing treatment or monitoring;

Whereas, BCNU co-authored a 2019 report that calls for major changes to the way nurses with SUD are treated; and

Therefore be that BCNU lobby the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives and employers for timely assistance it resolved, and individualized, trauma-informed, culturally competent, and collaborative care that is confidential, supports recovery and harm reduction, and offers avenues for nurses to remain at or return to work.

Moved by: Corey Ranger

Seconded by: Carlie Patterson

Costing: $3,000

RESOLUTION 3

Regulated System of Safe Drug Supply

Whereas, the drug toxicity (overdose) crisis was declared a public health emergency in British Columbia in April of 2016;

Whereas, the effects of the crisis have had fatal impacts on working people in British Columbia and Canada who have used opioids and other drugs;

Whereas, BCNU supports “safe supply” (the provision of regulated pharmaceutical grade drugs) as a way to prevent drug toxicity deaths; and

Therefore be that BCNU lobby the Provincial and Federal governments to allow for the provision of a regulated system it resolved, of safe drug supply for individuals who currently rely on the illegal drug market.

Moved by: Corey Ranger

Seconded by: Carlie Patterson

Costing: Maximum $3,000

RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION 4

Regulated Addiction Treatment

Whereas, in 2018 the BC Coroner recommended that the BC government develop provincial regulations for the standard of care provided by both public and privately operated addiction treatment facilities and services in BC;

Whereas, the BC government has not developed this system of regulation;

Whereas, BCNU supports mental health treatment and recovery services that are regulated, evidence-based, economically and geographically accessible, and available when people are looking for it; and

Therefore be that BCNU lobby the Provincial government to develop a system of mental health and addiction it resolved, treatment and recovery services that are regulated, evidence-based, economically and geographically accessible, and are available when people are looking for it.

Moved by: Corey Ranger

Seconded by: Carlie Patterson

Costing: Maximum $3,000

RESOLUTION 5

Forensic Audit

Whereas, KPMG, the accounting auditors of BCNU, have for the last 4 years issued a qualified audit opinion on BCNU financial statements, expressing that BCNU’s membership dues revenues, excess of revenue over expenses (net profit), current assets, unrestricted net assets (net book value of BCNU) are unverifiable;

Whereas, as of December 31, 2021, the total assets of BCNU are $564 million, of which $539 million are classified as current assets, of which $436 million are classified as externally restricted funds;

Whereas, BCNU management and Council expenses have increased approximately 13.1% year-over-year from 2020 to 2021;

Whereas, management and Council expenses represent approximately 21.3% of the total expenses in 2021;

Whereas, BCNU has increases its net assets at an average rate of 12% year-over-year for the last 3 years;

Whereas, there has been turnover in the BCNU management team over the last 4 years; and

Therefore be that Convention directs the BCNU to retain an independent forensic auditor to perform a it resolved, forensic audit on the 2021 and 2022 financial statements, by September 1, 2023, where possible, or as soon as practical thereafter, and provide a report to the next Annual Convention;

Be it further that in the event the forensic audit requires restatements to the 2021 or 2022 Financial resolved, Statements, those restatements would be posted to the Member Portal by September 1, 2023, where possible, or as soon as practical thereafter; and

Be it further that Convention directs the BCNU to retain an independent financial consultant to review resolved, financial controls and provide recommendations, including but not limited to the segregation of member representing and non-representing expenses, to BCNU Council, who will provide a report to the next Annual Convention, inclusive of any adopted recommendations.

Moved by: Corinne Mori

Seconded by: Jacqui Bohmer

Costing: $350,000

RESOLUTION 6

Mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) education for all Council Members

Whereas, BCNU values collectivity, integrity, social justice, and solidarity;

Whereas, BCNU’s membership is increasingly diverse;

Whereas, BCNU works towards upholding human rights and seeking equity for members who are systemically oppressed;

Whereas, members elected to Council and Provincial Executive Committee have a responsibility to wholly and equitably represent and include their member constituents;

Whereas, members elected to Council and Provincial Executive Committee must address the concerns of an increasingly diverse membership; and

Therefore be that all members of Council, inclusive of the Provincial Executive Committee officers, are it resolved, required to engage in mandatory DEI education within six (6) months of the start of the term of office.

Moved by: Jessica Machado

Seconded by: Vanessa Chong

Costing: $33,450 (Tuition cost for 25 members of Council)

RESOLUTION 7

Independent Integrity Officer and Auditor General

Whereas, BCNU Council Members have a fiduciary responsibility to the organization and are accountable to the membership;

Whereas, BCNU is committed to increasing transparency;

Whereas, Integrity and Excellence are core BCNU values; and

Therefore be that Convention directs the BCNU to retain two independent individuals to act as an Integrity it resolved, Officer and an Auditor General who will assist in the revision of the Code of Conduct applicable to Council Members, within 90 days where possible; and

Be it further that the Integrity Officer and the Auditor General will be retained to provide education, advice resolved, information and formal complaint resolution and reporting.

Moved by: Adriane Gear

Seconded by: Sharon Sponton

Costing: $200,000 annually

RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION 8

Salary Reimbursement for the Human Rights and Equity (HRE) Conference

Whereas, BCNU demonstrates solidarity by promoting unity of members based on shared goals and values, protects and advances the health, safety, social and economic well-being of our members, our profession and our communities;

Whereas, BCNU demonstrates commitment to Social Justice by advocating and promoting that the social determinants of health be equally accessible to ensure the dignity of every human being;

Whereas, BCNU demonstrates Collectivity by acting together to make certain that all activities and decisions are inclusive and accomplished for the betterment of the whole; and

Therefore be that BCNU offer salary reimbursement for members to attend the one (1) day 2023 HRE it resolved, Conference and salary reimbursement for HRE Conferences thereafter.

Moved by: Melissa Vannerus

Seconded by: Ashana Ramsay

Costing: $130,500 (2023 HRE is budgeted and scheduled for one (1) day)

RESOLUTION 9

Human Rights and Equity (HRE) Stewards at Large (SAL)

Whereas, BCNU’s mission is to protect and advance the health, safety, social and economic well-being of our members, our profession, and our communities;

Whereas, BCNU’s core values include social justice, integrity, democracy, equality and collectivity;

Whereas, BCNU will respond “effectively to member needs through recognizing and addressing systemic racism and the need for inclusivity and diversity through education, advocacy and leadership” (Strategic Direction 1.4);

Whereas, BCNU equity-seeking members may experience discrimination in their workplaces;

Whereas, Stewards-at-large having lived experience and nuanced understanding of the discrimination faced by equity-seeking members enhance their support of equity-seeking members; and

Therefore be that BCNU fund four (4) full-time provincial Human Rights and Equity Stewards-at-large to it resolved, support equity-seeking members.

Moved by: Adigo Angela Achoba-Omajali

Seconded by: Catherine Tanski

Costing: $615,512 annually

RESOLUTION 10

Food Provided at BCNU Events

Whereas, BCNU’s mission statement is to protect and advance the health, safety, social, and economic well-being of our members, our profession, and our communities;

Whereas, the impacts of climate change are becoming ever more visible;

Whereas, animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to green house gas emissions;

Whereas, shifting what we eat towards plant-based choices, in place of animal products may be a necessary step toward cutting GHG emissions; and

Therefore be that food provided at BCNU events, where possible, will be plant-based and follow the most it resolved, recent Canada Food Guide recommendations;

Be it further that BCNU will follow EAT-Lancet’s guidelines; and resolved,

Be it further that food ingredients will be posted at the point of the decision, where possible. resolved,

Moved

by:

Stacy Neilson

Seconded by: Jenna Kane

Costing: $0

RESOLUTION 11

Human Rights and Equity Lens – Discipline Committee

Whereas, BCNU mission statement is to protect and advance the health, safety, the social and economic well-being of our members, our profession, and our communities;

Whereas, BCNU core values include equality, integrity, social justice, democracy, excellence;

Whereas, BCNU 2023 Strategic Directions state that BCNU is committed to addressing inequities in diversity and inclusivity; and

Therefore be that the Discipline Committee will seek HRE subject matter expertise, as needed. it resolved,

Moved by: Sukhjit

Kaur

Seconded by: Jamine Pinto

Costing: $0

PRE-CONVENTION/CONVENTION MATERIALS DISCLAIMER

The inclusion of proposed bylaw amendments or resolutions is not intended to reflect the opinions or views of the Bylaws Committee, the Resolutions Committee, or the BCNU and its employees, unless otherwise expressly stated.

The respective movers are solely responsible the content and accuracy of any mover’s rationales provided and for compliance with the Constitution and Bylaws and the Policies and Procedures. The opinions expressed in the mover’s rationales are solely those of the respective movers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Bylaws Committee, the Resolutions Committee, or the BCNU and its employees.

Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact the accuracy of the information published, and the information may change without notice. The Bylaws Committee, the Resolutions Committee, or the BCNU and its employees are not in any way liable for the accuracy of any information provided.

WHO CAN HELP?

BCNU IS HERE TO SERVE MEMBERS

CONTACT YOUR

Stewards for all workplace concerns. Regional Council Members if your steward can’t help, or for all regional matters. Provincial Executive Committee for all provincial, national or union policy issues.

PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT

Aman Grewal C 604-813-7208 amangrewal@bcnu.org

VICE PRESIDENT

Adriane Gear C 778-679-9968 adrianegear@bcnu.org

REGIONAL COUNCIL MEMBERS

CENTRAL VANCOUVER

Gerald Dyer C 604-786-0594 geralddyer@bcnu.org

Kelly Zander C 778-222-3756 kellyzander@bcnu.org

COASTAL MOUNTAIN

Lailani Tumaneng (Interim) C 778 871-6214 lailanitumaneng@bcnu.org

EAST KOOTENAY

Denise Waurynchuk C 250-919-2178 denisewaurynchuk@bcnu.org

FRASER VALLEY

Parveen Gill C 604-309-3223 parveengill@bcnu.org

NORTH EAST

Danette Thomsen C 250-960-8621 danettethomsen@bcnu.org

NORTH WEST

Teri Forster C 250-615-8077 teriforster@bcnu.org

OKANAGAN SIMILKAMEEN Candice DeSousa C 250-462-9517 candidesousa@bcnu.org

PACIFIC RIM Kelley Charters C 250-816-0865 kelleycharters@bcnu.org

TREASURER

Sharon Sponton C 250-877-2547 sharonsponton@bcnu.org

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLOR

Michelle Sordal C 604-445-2003 michellesordal@bcnu.org

RICHMOND VANCOUVER

Sara Mattu C 778-989-8231 saramattu@bcnu.org

SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS

Claudette Jut C 604-786-8422 claudettejut@bcnu.org

SIMON FRASER

Wendy Gibbs C 604-240-1242 wendygibbs@bcnu.org

Tristan Newby C 604-313-1308 tristannewby@bcnu.org

SOUTH FRASER VALLEY

Hardev Bhullar C 778-855-0220 hardevbhullar@bcnu.org

Walter Lumamba C 604-512-2004 walterlumamba@bcnu.org

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLOR

Aida Herrera C 604-612-8871 aidaherrera@bcnu.org

SOUTH ISLANDS Carly Koeppen C 250-883-6593 carlykoeppen@bcnu.org

Leanne Robertson-Weeds C 778-222-7997 leannerobertsonweeds@bcnu.org

THOMPSON NORTH OKANAGAN

Scott Duvall C 250-241-5952 scottduvall@bcnu.org

VANCOUVER METRO Meghan Friesen C 604-250-0751 meghanfriesen@bcnu.org

WEST KOOTENAY Shalane Wesnoski C 250-231-1005 shalanewesnoski@bcnu.org

BCNU CAN. Here’s how you can get in touch with the right person to help you.

OFF DUTY

MEMBERS AFTER HOURS

A FINE BALANCE COREY STORKAN MANAGES NURSING AND CHEER SKILLFULLY

COREY STORKAN’S weekly schedule is full of nursing shifts, cheerleading practice and cheer competitions.

The Kamloops nurse works in the post-anesthesia recovery unit at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH). When he’s not caring for patients, he can often be found at Freeze Athletics, a local cheerleading club.

As a long-time member of the club, Storkan takes part in many cheerleading competitions throughout the year. Last year, he went to eight competitions as part of Freeze Athletics, including the Cheerleading World Championships in Orlando, Florida.

Storkan is a “side base” on his cheer team (“cheer” describes cheerleading that does not involve a sporting event). As side base, he is responsible for helping the “main base” lift a “flyer” into the air. Storkan also enjoys partner stunting, where he throws a flyer into the air and catches them.

“I love the community feel of cheer,” he says. “It’s a healthy, competitive environment.”

Cheerleading and health care are both major parts of Storkan’s life.

He knew from an early age that he wanted to go into a health-care field. After graduating from high school, he started on a pre-med path by pursuing a chemistry degree.

But, during his second year of study, Storkan had surgery to repair a hole in his heart. He says the care he received sparked an interest in nursing, and he decided to pursue a degree in the field.

“I felt I could engage with my patients more as a nurse than I would be able to if I was a physician,” he explains.

While attending Thompson Rivers University (TRU), Storkan wanted to play on a university sports team, but the only one still holding tryouts when he inquired was cheerleading. He made the team, and today he’s been involved in cheer for 10 years, including three years with TRU Wolfpack, a short stint with North Vancouver’s Absolute Cheer, and seven seasons with Freeze Athletics.

Storkan says the combination of course work, cheerleading practice three to four times a week, cheer competitions, and holding down a part-time job, made for a challenging university experience. But he quickly adds that the various com-

mitments helped him learn how to manage his time effectively.

He continues to use those time management skills as he works at RIH and attends cheer practice three days a week. And he makes sure he communicates his nursing schedule with his coaches and he trades nursing shifts if needed.

Being involved in both cheerleading and nursing has taught Storkan the importance of teamwork.

“For example, if you are in the middle of a routine cheer performance and you know a stunt is falling, you can react to save it,” he says. “It really gives you insight to see when things go wrong before they do as well as being able to trust that other people are going to do their job.”

Storkan enjoys the cama-

raderie and exercise that comes with his hobby, and would like to continue being part of a cheer team as long as possible. During a practice, his team will complete 20 minutes of high intensity interval training then run through all of the stunts in their routine. Afterwards, they often do a “full out,” where they perform the routine from start to finish, including all of the tumbling and jumps.

“It’s a physical outlet for stressors,” he says. “I like that it keeps me in shape –and I like how impressive it is to do flips!

“Yes there’s pressure and, as a team, we want to do well – but we have fun.”

Storkan says that one day he might coach a team, and he dreams of owning his own cheer gym. •

BALANCING ACT Freeze Athletics cheer team members attend the 2022 ESPN Wide World of Sport in Orlando, Florida. From left: Kenny Michels, Corey Storkan and Keri Lewis.

PHOTO: APRIL STORKAN

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