Author Archives: Pierre St-Jacques

Show Your Pride

Pride flag

Over the next few months, members and allies of the LGBTQ2+ community across the country will be celebrating Pride and recommitting to equality and justice.

Due to COVID-19, these annual celebrations won’t be highlighted by parades, marches, picnics, teach-in’s and other gatherings that usually mark Pride celebrations. While we are all saddened by the changes to Pride this year, LGBTQ2+ communities will continue to be resilient and strong. Pride organizations around the world are reimagining what Pride looks like. Several organizations will be taking to online platforms and hosting virtual Pride events. However celebrations take place this year, they will be woven with love, pride and allyship.

Reflecting on our past

Pride provides us with a moment to reflect on our past and recognize that there is much more work left to be done.

It is important to recognize that Black and racialized trans and queer women paved the way to the Pride celebrations we take part in today. Pride was born out of a political and cultural uprising, which began on June 28, 1969, during the Stonewall Riots. The riots began after two racialized trans women, Marsha Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, fought against the New York Police Department’s treatment of the LGBTQ2+ community.

Although we have made progress for LGBTQ2+ rights, the most marginalized of our communities (those who are racialized, Indigenous, Black, living with disabilities, without financial resources, trans and non-binary) remain disproportionately affected by discrimination.

Continuing the fight for justice

Pride is a time for PSAC to commit to strengthening even more our fight for justice for our LGBTQ2+ members and LGBTQ2+ communities everywhere. We pledge to:

  • continue to fight to eliminate the discriminatory ban that remains on blood, organ and bone marrow donations from many LGBTQ2+ people
  • fight for workplaces and government policies that are trans-inclusive
  • ensure the government puts a nationwide ban on conversion therapy
  • call on the federal government to collect meaningful census data on LGBTQ2+ groups, to include protections under employment equity and to ensure inclusive government policy
  • fight to include HIV prevention medication and gender-affirming hormone therapies in extended health plans
  • advocate for gender inclusive washrooms in workplaces
  • ensure community, health and social services are affordable and accessible

Celebrate Pride

This Pride Month, we honour and stand in solidarity with our members and activists who continue to work tirelessly to help advance LGBTQ2+ rights.

PSAC encourages our members to participate in Global Pride 2020 , a live-streamed international Pride festival scheduled for Saturday, June 27.

And visit your Regional PSAC website to learn more about Pride events taking place in your region.

Take action! End conversion therapy now!

Conversion therapy is the damaging practice of denying LGBTQ2+ identity and dignity and trying to coerce people to change their identity. For decades, activists across Canada have been demanding the end to this horrific practice. This scarring and damaging process is based on a lie. It hurts children, adults and tears families apart.

At long last, the federal government announced in March 2020 the introduction of Bill C-8 to end the practice of conversion therapy in Canada.

Make sure to ask your local MP to vote in favour when this legislation comes forward soon: see the PSAC website to send a letter.

The original version of this article was first posted on the PSAC website.

Anti-racism training for Customs and Immigration Union members: Letter to Minister Blair

Photo of CIU flag

CIU National President Jean-Pierre Fortin sent the following letter to the Hon. Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, on June 5, 2020.


Dear Minister,

This past week, people from around the world witnessed the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. These events lay bare the systems and culture that result in unequal treatment and racism in the law enforcement and other institutions. Canada’s Prime Minister and many federal representatives have rightly pointed out that although this event took place in the United States, our country is not immune to racism, unconscious bias and systemic discrimination. Police Chiefs and associations have issued open letters calling for reform. The cries of Canadians are loud and clear, they will not tolerate injustice and the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) adds its voice to theirs.

As you know, the CIU represents some 11,000 members, many of whom are Border Services Officers. While they enforce the law, their role is unique in that they are the first to come into contact with travellers to Canada from around the world.

Many of the CIU’s members are racialized and we know that they are hurting. We also know that racism is everywhere, within various groups and in all workplaces. Its impact is far reaching. Our union wants to take concrete steps in an effort to support our members and all those who are also suffering due to racism, discrimination and unconscious bias perpetrated in workplaces and beyond.

The Prime Minister has pointed out that far too often, our current systems condone and normalize inequality and injustice. He also stated that the Government of Canada is ready to work with Canadians to eradicate racism and has called on allies to help build a fair, better and more equitable country for all.

The CIU National Executive discussed ways in which our union might become such an ally and call on you to work with us to create genuine change. If Canadians are being called on to combat unconscious bias, we asked ourselves how we might participate in that fight. We believe that to achieve societal reform, we will need to replace current “reactive” methods and processes with “proactive” ones. No doubt the Federal government and perhaps you, as Minister of Public Safety, are contemplating various avenues to address this matter. Unions and employers must be active partners in the dismantling of systemic discrimination and the development of a more progressive model of law enforcement.

It is our understanding that many law enforcement organizations provide anti-racism training. The CIU wants to ensure its members have the tools necessary to combat discrimination of all kinds. In-person, comprehensive training will go a long way to preventing the suffering of our members and those they meet and serve, be it in an office, at the border, in an airport or elsewhere. Current and short “presentations” to new recruits do not go far enough and neither will online training ensure that we are equipping our members to address systemic racism and unconscious bias.

The Canadian government has taken a proactive approach to combatting racism, funding a variety of initiatives. In keeping with that approach, we strongly believe that in the long term, funding enhanced training initiatives will be to everyone’s benefit. It is clear that current “reactive” policies and procedures, such as the ones the world has been witnessing lately, are costly and ineffective. Investment in training for CIU members is an important first step to help them to become stronger allies and leaders in the fight against racism and discrimination of all kinds.

Yours truly,

Jean-Pierre Fortin
National President
Customs and Immigration Union

Click here for the PDF version.

Employers and unions must address systemic racism

Photo of CIU flag

This week, a PSAC member was terminated after sharing a racist video that mocked the murder of George Floyd.

We were appalled at the creation and distribution of such disturbing and offensive content. It is particularly troubling when we consider that one of the people involved, worked for a major federal institution.

It demonstrates just how pervasive and systemic the problem of racism is.  No institution is immune. Unions, small business, large companies, public employers – we all have a great deal of work to do in order to eradicate racism.

At this critical moment, we call on all PSAC employers to work with us to create the genuine change that can address systemic racism. We have a diverse membership across the country, and they all deserve to be part of a union and workplace that not only rejects racism, but actively works to dismantle the structures and behaviour that sustain it.

Individuals must always be held accountable for their actions; however this is not a problem to be pinned on a single person or a few “bad apples”. We are long past the point of thinking we can make things better by simply reacting to individual acts.

Unions and employers have the ability to address systemic racism together, and PSAC is committed to being an active partner in this important work.

The original version of this article was first posted on the PSAC website.

Little progress one year after report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

image of an Indigenous dancer wearing a red dress

More than a year has passed since the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Many are frustrated by the government’s inaction, even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on the anniversary that ending this national tragedy is an urgent priority for his government.

“How can an urgent priority translate into a year of inaction?’ said PSAC National Executive Vice-President Magali Picard. “This is simply a continuation of the federal government’s indifference to the plight of Indigenous women and girls, and a contradiction of their supposed commitment to reconciliation.”

PSAC fully supports the statement issued by the commissioners of the public inquiry, and calls on the federal government to follow through on their commitments to Indigenous peoples and communities.

The original version of this article was first posted on the PSAC website.