“Hospital staff across Canada have been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic, providing essential care and helping to keep our communities safe. Protesting vaccine mandates in front of hospitals where workers are providing life-saving care and some patients are fighting for their lives is not only thoughtless and ignorant, it could also be considered harassment,” said CLC President Bea Bruske.

As the Delta variant gains momentum in communities across Canada, health care workers and public health experts have raised the alarm about the potential strain the fourth wave could place on our hospital system. The COVID-19 crisis is not over and Canada’s unions strongly support vaccination against COVID-19 for every Canadian who can be vaccinated.

“Healthcare workers have been through enough over the last 18 months. Between the physical, mental and emotional toll of the pandemic, equipment and staffing shortages and rising rates of violence and harassment at work, they deserve our respect and support for the incredible work they continue to do. We stand with healthcare workers across Canada,” said Bruske.

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and provincial nurses’ unions across Canada are holding a National Day of Action on September 17 to demand that governments fix the country’s nursing crisis. Learn more about the day of action here.

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Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW), this week from October 4 to 10, is part of a national public education campaign in Canada to educate communities and organizations about mental illness.

“This is an important opportunity to reflect on the barriers faced by people living with mental illness in their workplace and in their communities,” said Larry Rousseau, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. “Canada’s path to economic recovery needs to focus on the well-being of workers and their families.”

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s most recent policy advice on COVID-19 and mental health in Canada, “50 percent of Canadians [have] reported worsening mental health since the pandemic began” and “in a survey of Canadian workers, 81 per cent reported that the pandemic is negatively impacting their mental health.”

Participants in these studies outlined increased stress due to high levels of anxiety related to fears about the future, their loved ones, employment outcomes and the overall negative impact of social isolation on mental health.

“We need federal leadership that commits to learning from this crisis, and develops a recovery plan that centres the needs of the most marginalized, and that includes ensuring better mental health support and access to universal, single-payer pharmacare for all,” said Rousseau. “That’s why the campaign we launched on Labour Day demands a recovery that strengthens our public health care system.”

Useful links:

• To learn how to take action for better mental health support at your workplace, visit the CLC’s Mental Health Resource Centre.
• For more information on Mental Illness Awareness Week, including videos and myth-busting resources, visit the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH).
• To join Canada’s unions in calling for an economic recovery plan that will disaster-proof Canada and strengthen public health care, add your voice here.

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