Labour Day: a reflection of the diversity we embrace
Message from National President Hanley
September 1, 2008, is Labour Day. It represents the unofficial end of summer, and a day to celebrate the achievements of working people by participating in traditional activities such as parades, picnics, and more.
It is also a time to pause and reflect on our accomplishments as union activists, and on the challenges of the future. Labour Day provides a window on the state of our union and a reflection of the diversity we embrace, not just in major centres like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, but across Canada.
Today, more than ever before, the face of Canada has changed and continues to evolve. Earlier this year, Statistics Canada (StatsCan) released a detailed analysis of data collected in the 2006 census with regard to ethnic origin and visible minorities. The study makes what we have already been tracking as a union abundantly clear: our communities and Canadian society are continuing to become more ethnoculturally diverse at an increasingly rapid rate.
It is no surprise that our workplaces are becoming equally as diverse. Much of the change is due to successive waves of immigration, and many newcomers to Canada find their first opportunities here in workplaces such as the types of retail, manufacturing, and service industries our union represents.
The 2006 census records more than 200 different ethnic origins in Canada today, as opposed to just 25 reported in the 1901 census. Canada’s visible minority population has grown steadily over the last 25 years, from 1.1-million (4.7% of the general population) in 1981 to more than 5-million (16.2%) in 2006. In fact, the latest census shows the visible minority population to have grown by 27.2% since the 2001 census, five times faster than the 5.4% rate for the population as a whole. If current immigration trends continue, Canada’s visible minority population will continue to grow much more quickly than the rest of the population. According to StatsCan’s population projections, members of visible minority groups could account for roughly 20% of the population a decade from now.
What does this mean to us as trade unionists? Quite simply, it means we – UFCW Canada and the labour movement in general – have to ensure the integration of new Canadians into their unions at all levels – stewards, representatives, and leadership. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but to ensure our survival as a vital and essential labour movement that defends working people’s rights. We need to provide our members – all of our members – with the representation and services on which they rely. At the same time, we need to become a more welcoming and inclusive union by breaking down barriers that exist while ensuring full and meaningful participation of all members.
It also means genuine and sustained community involvement. We must become strong partners and real friends of the communities to which our members belong if they are to become part of a growing and progressive UFCW Canada. As various stories published here in DIRECTIONS in recent months have clearly shown, our outreach to diverse communities has resulted in new members from those same communities. By working shoulder to shoulder and becoming a bigger part of the lives of our members, we shall continue to improve those lives.
In solidarity,
