Human Rights

From June 25-29, Toronto will be hosting the WorldPride Human Rights Conference and PSAC members will be there. The conference will bring together GLBT activists from around the world, including many from countries where homosexuality is punishable by life in prison.

PSAC is a proud supporter of LGBT rights in the workplace and across Canada. In this video, PSAC members discuss the evolution of human rights in the workplace and their own personal experiences.Timothy Hunt, GLBT Representative on PSAC's Prairie Region Council, is one of the PSAC members featured in the video. He speaks about his experience with harassment in the workplace because of his sexuality. The resulting grievance process and his experiences since have taught him a lot, and that's knowledge he wants to share with others.

Each year the month of June brings Pride festivities throughout the Prairie Region and around the world. Pride is an opportunity to celebrate diversity in the GLBT community, and recognize the contributions and accomplishments of our GLBT sisters and brothers.

The PSAC is a leader in securing legal rights for GLBT workers. For years, the PSAC has staunchly defended GLBT members’ human rights to equal and equitable treatment. Our gains have been significant, including same-sex spousal benefits and leaves of absence, as well as the inclusion of sexual orientation as a prohibitive ground for discrimination within the Canadian Human Rights Act. While gains have been made, however, much work remains to be done.

One year ago, PSAC stood together with the Idle No More movement to defend our lands and our country.In the Prairies, we teamed up with William Singer III, a First Nations artist and activist who has been instrumental to the movement in Lethbridge and surrounding areas, to produce a special Idle No More button.

On March 21, 1960, 69 black demonstrators were killed and 180 were wounded by armed white South African police in the Sharpeville Township. More than 700 shots were fired at black demonstrators who were peacefully protesting the country’s discriminatory laws.

PSAC is offering members the opportunity to participate in WorldPride 2014 events in Toronto. Members will be chosen from each region to represent our union. Prairies members would join members from across the country as part of the PSAC delegation and participate in the WorldPride Human Rights Conference, June 25-27, and WorldPride Parade, June 29, to name a few events.

Attended: Melody Raabe, Jackie Nanali, Gus Mardli, Chris Little-Gagné, Gunars Butkans, Gloria Kelly, Dawn MacAulay, Christine McJannet, Darlene Mcclure, Stephanie Primrose, Peter Barr, Loretta Moar, Chris Davis, Rob Wiens, Lindsay Sparks (PSAC)

It’s time to turn up the heat on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its hateful anti-gay laws, which came into force this past June. It makes “homosexualist propaganda” illegal, in such broad terms that it effectively criminalizes such things as wearing an LGBT pin, or the same-sex holding of hands in public.

The PSAC recognizes and celebrates the past and present contributions of Black people and people of African descent. We also acknowledge the discrimination, barriers and challenges that remain prevalent in Canada.