It has been thirty years since fourteen lives were lost in an act of misogynistic violence at Montréal’s École Polytechnique. Every year since, communities across the country have mourned those, and innumerable others, lost to gender-based violence with a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.   While recent federal initiatives have progressed the drive to end institutionalized…

November 25th marks the first of 16 global days of action to eliminate gender-based violence. Canada’s unions are marking these days by calling on the newly elected government to ratify international labour Convention C-190, the first-ever global treaty on violence and harassment in the world of work. Convention C-190 was adopted at the Centenary Conference of the International Labour Organization…

Canada’s unions are marking Gender Equality Week 2019 by calling on federal political parties to commit to creating a fair Canada for everyone. “Gender Equality Week was created to celebrate recent gains while reflecting on the work that needs to be done to improve gender equality and women’s rights across Canada,” said Marie Clarke Walker, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour…

Canada’s unions join workers everywhere in celebrating today’s historic adoption of a new International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention and Recommendation addressing violence and harassment in the world of work. After over a year of negotiations with governments, employers, and workers, the Centenary International Labour Conference adopted the new framework at its convention in Geneva. “It is a historic day,” said…

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Representatives from labour, governments, and employers are meeting this month as part of the 108th International Labour Conference in Geneva. Marie Clarke Walker, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), serves as the Worker Spokesperson and will continue as a key leader in the effort to strengthen obligations…

By Marie Clarke Walker The numbers are staggering. More than 800 million women globally have experienced some form of violence and harassment, ranging from physical assault to verbal abuse, bullying and intimidation, according to the International Trade Union Confederation. Here in Canada, a 2018 Angus Reid study found that 1 in 2 women reported experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace.…

Following a series of regressive abortion laws passed in several American states, Canada’s unions are expressing solidarity with advocates in the United States who are fighting to protect reproductive rights. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) further commits to protecting our own hard-won gains and to fill the gaps in access to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Canada, including…

By Hassan Yussuff, as published in The Globe and Mail. It was disheartening to see some of the negative reactions to a recent proposal that free menstrual products should be available in all federally regulated workplaces. There clearly remain a lot of misperceptions and ignorance about the challenges women face every day in the workplace. Access to menstrual products is…

April 9, 2019 marks Equal Pay Day in Ontario, the date recognized as the amount of time it takes for women’s wages to catch up to men’s wages in 2018. Nationally, Equal Pay Day is an opportunity to educate communities across Canada on the realities of the gender wage gap and its negative economic impacts on women, especially women with…

By Hassan Yussuff, Derrick Hynes, and the Hon. Patty Hajdu In the four years since the release of the first-ever pan-Canadian study on the impact of domestic violence at work, unions, employers and governments have embarked on a remarkable joint project to help protect jobs and promote workplace safety. We now have a common understanding of the magnitude of this…