CUPE is applauding the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report. The report describes the devastating history of the residential school system for Indigenous peoples in Canada and outlines 94 calls to action. It’s the result of six years of work by the commission.
Prime Minister Trudeau has promised to fully implement the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
CUPE will support our Indigenous allies in ensuring that the Government of Canada fulfills its promise to fully implement the calls to action. The actions include measures to rebuild a nation-to-nation relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples, comprehensive measures to ensure equality in public services for Indigenous peoples, and mandatory public school education on the residential school system.
“All of us, CUPE members included, bear a responsibility to heed the calls to action and do what we can to promote reconciliation,” said Mark Hancock, national president of CUPE.
Delegates at CUPE’s 2015 National Convention passed resolutions put forward by the union’s National Aboriginal Council committing the union to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. These resolutions include advocating for the Canadian government to implement these calls to action, and a commitment to applying the actions to the work the union does every day as a trade union.