As part of our union’s commitment to learn from the experiences and celebrate the successes of Indigenous, Black and racialized CUPE members, CUPE is profiling members of the National Indigenous Council and National Racial Justice Committee. This month, meet National Indigenous Council member Kimberley Loppie.
The last time Kimberley Loppie phoned around to get members out for a strike vote in her local, she made 265 calls. While that’s a lot of calls, she’s most proud of the outcome: every single worker in her nursing home who was a newcomer to Canada came out to vote.
She credits that result to who she is. “I’m Indigenous, and my husband’s African Nova Scotian. If you understand that other people are also different, people tend to gravitate to you.”
Loppie is a continuing care aide, or CCA, at Saint Vincent’s Nursing Home in Halifax. She’s the vice-president of CUPE 1082 and the communications representative on CUPE’s provincial coordinating committee for long-term care workers, as well as a member of CUPE’s National Indigenous Council and the CUPE Atlantic Maritimes Indigenous Council, CAMIC.
New hires create diverse membership
The workplace is changing quickly at Saint Vincent’s, says Loppie, driven by a need to hire more workers after a recent increase in the number of hours of resident care. “We have a big international influx of people coming to do the job,” she says. Those workers are coming from around the world, including Nigeria, Ghana, the Philippines, Nepal and India.
As vice-president, she fields questions from some members wondering if the employer is using the new workers to undercut existing wages and working conditions. Her answer is clear: “We don’t dispute who Saint Vincent’s hires but once they’re hired they’re under our collective agreement if they’re in a union position.”
Loppie says she has worked hard to build understanding and make the workplace a safer space for Indigenous, Black and racialized members.
“The understanding that Indigenous, Black and racialized members are safe - and letting them know that they’re safe and that their voice is equally if not more important - is a big thing that I push. And I think the employer is starting to understand that,” says Loppie.
When the union shows racism isn’t accepted, it sends management a clear message.
“We have been pushing with members that if you’re uncomfortable, if somebody said something, if you’re in the room and it’s not good, we file a disrespectful workplace form. And now it’s putting management on the spot and they’re seeing it.”
She says her local has changed along with the workforce. The shop stewards better reflect the people they represent, and the local has added a diversity seat to the executive in its bylaws.
Career change leads to union activism
Loppie started working as a CCA 10 years ago, after working in a call centre. “I had to be retrained and chose to be a CCA because there was an abundance of jobs. I didn’t want to be trained and go to school and not have a job.”
She works 12-hour shifts helping residents eat, get dressed and perform other daily tasks. Over the past decade, she’s seen resident needs increasing. Hospitals are overflowing which, combined with an aging population, is driving the change. “They’re coming in needing full ceiling lifts and a wheelchair, with no capability of feeding themselves. And they’re coming in more violent.”
Loppie says she enjoys her job and appreciates working at a non-profit home where the focus is on care, not profits. “That makes a big difference. Some of the for-profits are also not unionized.”
Loppie took “baby steps” into her union – first as a trustee, then a shop steward, followed by executive positions as recording secretary and now vice-president. Her past life as a call centre worker has paid off. “I’ve done probably 10,000 calls for CUPE at election time,” she laughs. She’s also been on trial panels and is a member facilitator.
Executive members worried about turnover in the local first got Loppie involved. “They said ‘If we’re not educated and passing on the knowledge, once we’re gone, it could be lost’.”
The CUPE 1082 president is 70 years old and has what Loppie calls “old-school knowledge.” The recording secretary is 19 years old and the diversity rep on the executive is 23 years old, with Loppie somewhere in the middle, age-wise. “We’re progressing faster than some,” she says.
Finding her truth and her voice
Getting involved with her union has been a powerful experience as an Indigenous woman. “CUPE allowed me to find my truth, who I am,” she says.
“I’m a non-status Indigenous person because the federal government decided to have a point system and I’m one point off, but my father and my sister are considered status card holders,” she says, describing the enrolment process for the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation. “CUPE allows people like me to identify and be proud of our heritage.”
Being able to self-identify meant Loppie got involved with CAMIC and then the National Indigenous Council, where she’s serving her first term.
“The union made me realize that your voice is important. Not everybody’s right, not everybody’s wrong, but it’s important to have a voice and I’m very proud of the fact that we’re so diverse at work,” says Loppie.
She wants all Indigenous, Black and racialized members to feel like they can get involved in their union. Her track record of going to bat for all members in her local is guided by CUPE’s equality statement and a desire to break down barriers.
She encourages members to look for support in their local to call out discrimination and injustice. “Unless you let people know, then it’s not considered an issue, it’s seen as the norm. So you have to change the norm,” says Loppie.
Loppie beams with pride about her daughter, who’s blazing her own trails in the union as a member of the CUPE Nova Scotia executive board.
“She’s a young worker, but she identifies as far more. When I see young people come to the table, whether it’s my daughter or not, I know change is coming. It’s going to be a big storm and I think people are going to be shocked because young people are learning acceptance far faster than we learn ignorance,” says Loppie.
“Change is good.”
Learn more about CUPE’s Anti-Racism Strategy including Goal 4, which focuses on highlighting the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized members and celebrating their successes, at cupe.ca/cupes-anti-racism-strategy. And check out these tips for putting the strategy into action in your local.