Saskatchewan’s north is a place of sweeping beauty and vibrant culture, distinguished by small tight-knit communities that possess rich traditions, languages, and ways of life. Many people there are Michif, Cree or Dene speakers, and follow traditions rooted in sharing, giving, fishing, hunting, and gathering. Despite this rich heritage, the northern region has experienced sustained underinvestment and high poverty rates. CUPE has embarked on a new and targeted initiative — the Northern and Indigenous Outreach Pilot Project — to address these challenges in a way that respects local ways of life, fosters mutual trust, and elevates the voices of people in northern Saskatchewan.
The pilot project arises from the recognition that the northern communities represent the fastest-growing demographic in the province. But in these largely Indigenous communities, life and culture have evolved away from the province’s urban centres. In 2022, the University of Saskatchewan released the results of a research project conducted with the cooperation of seven northern communities. The report found northerners want more resources in the north, they want their children to be able to be educated in their home communities, find good-paying jobs, and spend their lives there.
CUPE is the community union. Rather than replicating existing urban-based union models, we want to respond effectively to northern communities’ unique realities and empower them to advocate for better resources, a better quality of life, and better jobs. Our focus is to build meaningful relationships, engage current Indigenous CUPE members, and become a more inclusive and trusted partner where geographic remoteness, cultural barriers, and historical distrust of colonial institutions persist.
Genuine gestures
Too often, organizations limit their outreach efforts to days of recognition, land acknowledgements, or single events. The Northern and Indigenous Outreach Pilot Project seeks to go much further. By working to understand the everyday needs of communities, from workplace negotiations to living conditions and ongoing struggles, our commitment is about truly listening to Indigenous workers and becoming a dependable ally standing up against unfair treatment. We will be there to hear their concerns about precarious employment, identifying abusive workplace conditions, and understanding the immense cost-of-living challenges. These challenges disproportionately affect those living in isolated areas, where necessities are expensive, wages are often low, and access to essential services can be limited, and disproportionately impact women in particular.
This feet-on-the-ground approach advances our national commitment to reconciliation. CUPE’s Strategic Directions call on us to advocate for policy changes that address historical injustices, improve the representation of Indigenous workers in our union and build local leadership, strengthen our relationships with progressive Indigenous organizations, and improve the quality of life for Indigenous peoples.
The Northern and Indigenous Outreach Pilot Project is the Saskatchewan-based roadmap of how to implement these objectives through community-driven actions, placing relationship-building at the heart of every strategy.
Unique northern realities
Those who live in Saskatchewan’s north often contend with very different realities than those living in southern regions. The economy is marked by small, scattered workplaces. Employers may exercise considerable authority because there are few jobs to choose from. Combined with the high cost of essentials such as food and housing, this imbalance of power makes workers vulnerable.
Recent research from the Centre for Future Work illustrates how contracts negotiated by unions help close wage gaps and improve access to benefits and overall job stability for equity-deserving groups. These findings support our efforts to strengthen collective bargaining and bring tangible improvements to communities. They are also directly relevant to Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan’s north, where workers face challenges associated with high costs of living, shortages of good-paying jobs, and significant barriers to challenging unfair employer practices.
The opportunity to join a union empowers workers to play a significant role in improving their workplaces. They can make their workplaces more representative and culturally sensitive, ensuring transparent pathways for career advancement. Moreover, by educating members on anti-discrimination practices, unions can foster safer, fairer workplaces and communities.
Genuine, long-term community engagement and collective bargaining can yield concrete improvements — both in individual livelihoods and in the well-being of communities at large.
While unionizing can be a powerful tool, our first step is not to push for union sign-ups. Instead, CUPE’s focus is to listen and understand the community context, learn from local leaders, be an ally in community gatherings, and share stories of how joining forces can benefit everyone.
United school divisions
One priority is to support education workers all across Saskatchewan, most importantly the province’s multiple northern school divisions. Currently, each one of these 16 school divisions bargains on its own. While larger school divisions in big cities have more resources, smaller remote school divisions struggle to attain parity. This fragmentation weakens workers’ bargaining power and results in inconsistent wages, benefits, and job security.
By encouraging school divisions to coordinate and push for a unified strategy, we can achieve fair compensation, a more equitable distribution of resources, and stability.
We already have a foothold in places like the Métis community of Île-à-la-Crosse, where support staff in the local school division belong to our union. We aim to build upon these relationships to learn from them, identify community ambassadors, and show how collective agreements have improved their workplaces. Their personal stories can inspire others in nearby communities to consider union membership as a way to achieve workplace fairness.
Education and shared learning
Our pilot project also involves educating CUPE’s own members and staff about Indigenous rights, cultural realities, and the social landscape of the north. Many of us live and work in large cities and may not fully grasp the hurdles northern communities face. By creating more opportunities for our union to learn from northern communities — by traveling north, attending training sessions, participating in cultural events, or engaging directly with local groups — we will deepen our understanding, respect and meaningful collaboration.
Meanwhile, we will reach out to unorganized workers to provide culturally appropriate materials in English, Michif, Cree, and Dene, explaining who we are and how we can collaborate. Our aim is to demystify unions, reduce fear around complicated processes, and create welcoming spaces for dialogue and follow-up.
Showing up, following through
The Northern and Indigenous Outreach Pilot Project encourages sponsoring and participating in Indigenous community events — festivals, gatherings, celebrations — and connecting with local leadership beforehand to provide support. We will set up booths and spark meaningful one-on-one conversations with information about CUPE’s actions and campaigns like Water is life. And we’re committed to stay in touch after events to ensure the relationship does not end once the tents come down. Our focus is on consistent, long-term engagement to real partnerships.
Our approach acknowledges historical harms and we pledge to address them by collaborating with communities, rather than imposing solutions. This sets the stage for future organizing efforts that are more impactful and culturally appropriate, ensuring that local values shape workplace policies. CUPE’s work toward reconciliation and its reasonably long history is a symbol of our genuine efforts to connect and advocate for issues that impact Indigenous peoples. Our strategy invites mutual respect and open dialogue to prove that CUPE members truly care about the north’s priorities.
Model for the future
Though the pilot project is rooted in Saskatchewan’s remote and Indigenous communities who have been left behind, the lessons we learn can apply to our Indigenous outreach all across Canada. As we demonstrate concrete outcomes — like better living and working conditions — we can adapt this model to other provinces and territories. Indeed, many Indigenous communities share similar challenges with remoteness, high cost of living, and a history of being left out of key decisions.
Building solid relationships in remote regions is not a quick fix. This work demands time, patience, and genuine dialogue. It means showing up consistently, being open to learning from community members, and a long-term commitment to delivering results that improve workers’ lives. Northern communities deserve to have their voices heard and their unique realities respected. By doing so, we hope to build a more inclusive labour movement — one that amplifies Indigenous voices, allows them to shape union practices and addresses their concerns head-on.
The work of reconciliation belongs to everyone, and as Canada’s largest union, we recognize that we have a major role to play in that work. If this pilot project succeeds, it will mark an important step toward true reconciliation and stronger, healthier communities. Our vision is a future where northern and Indigenous workers feel empowered in their workplaces and communities. We are moving beyond short-lived efforts to form enduring partnerships in our shared fight for issues that matter most. We believe this approach can bring lasting change — not just in Saskatchewan’s north, but from coast to coast to coast.
