RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO:
Yukon Employees’ Union 201-2285 2nd Avenue Whitehorse Yukon Y1A 1C9
Yukon Employees’ Union
NEWS
YEU Statement on the “Freedom” Protests Why ‘more authority’ is not the answer.
Members elected to the Yukon Employees’ Union Executive are no strangers to protest. Our action and activism is centered on supporting people who are marginalized and under-represented. Alongside the Public Service Alliance of Canada, our activists work on women’s, pride, and racially visible workers’ committees and advocate to promote accessibility, Indigenous peoples’ and young workers’ rights on PSAC Regional Committees. Our Executive is also composed of people who fall into one or more of these groups. When our union protests, we focus on empowering people who face discrimination. We support disempowered equity groups because we are trying to fix the inherent power imbalances established by institutions - institutions predominantly created and maintained by privileged, straight, white men. These institutions and those who benefit from the current status quo perceive this as an attack. They don’t see it as a move toward balance, they only see the shift of power as a loss - as discrimination. This is why the convoy encampment in Ottawa and related actions across Canada are receiving markedly different treatment than most other protests - because colonial governments and police forces, the very bodies responsible for reacting, are primarily made up of and led by the same people who are out blockading international borders and occupying Ottawa - privileged, straight, white men. The fix is not ‘more authority’ or more police action. Those authorities are not always allied with the equity seeking groups we work with - the authorities are often part of the problem. They are why Indigenous peoples are fighting for their lands, why BIPOC people are carded, why young workers die so frequently on the job, why 2SLGBTQIA+ feel unsafe at work, why workplaces are built with a lack of accessibility, and why pay inequality continues to be a problem for all these groups. We, the undersigned members of the YEU Political Action Committee and the YEU Executive do not support the convoy or the satellite “freedom” protests. Steve Geick, Tony Thomas, Justin Lemphers, Lisa Vollans, Sherry Masters, Charlene Smith, Roberta Wurtak, Derek Yap, Julie Abel, Jordan Laudon
