Indigenous fact sheets and guidelines

CUPE is committed to ensuring locals have access to resources that support the union’s work on truth and reconciliation. One of the ways CUPE locals can support reconciliation is by bargaining language supporting Indigenous workers into collective agreements. Our new guide, Truth and reconciliation: CUPE taking action through collective bargaining, is for everyone who wants to put reconciliation into action at the bargaining table.

Environmental racism is a form of systemic racism that leaves Indigenous, Black, and racialized communities far more exposed to environmental hazards than predominantly white communities. It includes industrial and environmental policies and practices that lead to environmentally hazardous sites being located close to Black, Indigenous and racialized communities.

CUPE is committed to reconciliation and justice for Indigenous peoples. That is why we continue to call on all governments in Canada to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action. But we as a union also have our own responsibility to achieve reconciliation. To do that, we must continue to build a respectful relationship with Indigenous peoples inside our union, across the entire labour movement, in our workplaces and in our communities. This guide provides CUPE members with key resources to better acknowledge and include Indigenous members in our union, and to help locals take concrete action towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

For hundreds of years, many First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities have struggled with access to clean drinking water, as well as other necessities like quality food and safe housing. The current federal government has zeroed in on ending long-term boil water advisories in First Nation communities. But that’s just the start of what’s needed to end decades of water injustice and discrimination once and for all.