Category: Uncategorized

LabourStart Report for RadioLabour 25-04-2025

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/unions-say-no-to-the-notwithstanding-clause/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included a few interesting analytical pieces regarding the federal election and how working class interests aren’t, for the most part, being represented.  And of course lots of reminders from unions to get out and vote and even some suggestions that they should vote according to those interests which are not much represented.

If that makes any sense.

We also carried a piece from the CLC on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza Disaster.  The name is probably burnt into your memory but just in case…Rana Plaza was a garment factory in Bangladesh that collapsed, killing 1134 workers, most of them young women, and seriously injuring over 2500 others.  A massive industrial homicide.

In part, the CLC marks the anniversary each year, as do several major Canadian unions, because there is and was a Canadian connection to the disaster:  Several Canadian clothing brands used and still use, contractors in countries like Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Ethiopia and Indonesia to produce the clothes that they sell.  There’s often little or no monitoring of working conditions in those factories even though the brands have the power to force improvements.  Some, at the very least, are Rana Plazas waiting to happen.

The Congress’ article is worth a read.  Among other things it provides a short summary of what the labour movement here has been doing in solidarity with workers facing down Canada-based corporations.

Also a top story this week was a report on the inclusion of a no-discrimination on the basis of caste provision in the new PSAC agreement at Queen’s University, a first as far as I can recall.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was the news that Canadian comedians, members of The Canadian Association of Stand-up, Sketch & Improv Comedians (CASC) have joined my local union, Unifor’s Canadian Freelance Union.  Welcome comrades!  This should be fun.  And funny.  Look for our next membership meeting at Just for Laughs.

As LabourStart is a global organization I should slip in at least one non-Canadian story worth being highlighted for you.  This week that story is the Rana Plaza anniversary and we have lots of coverage on our main page and on our H&S site.

This week’s LabourStart podcast is an interview with Dr Debbie Goldman.  She worked for 28 years at the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and is an expert on the subject of call centre workers.  She and our editor, Eric Lee, discussed her new book, Disconnected: Call Center Workers Fight for Good Jobs in the Digital Age.  They talked about issues like surveillance in the workplace, how the CWA won impressive victories in defence of call centre workers’ rights, and how employers export call centre jobs abroad only to run-up against international trade union solidarity.  We ended with a discussion about whether the much-touted “momentum” of unionisation in the USA in 2024 has continued under Trump.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week were, of course, stories about upcoming Day of Mourning event across the country.  Several provincial federations of labour provide listings of events so it’s easy to find one near you.  And while the Day of Mourning started here in Canada it’s now marked around the world.  So even if, like me, you’re currently out of the country you can still join in.  If you happen to Sunday’s ceremony in Olhao Portugal, look for the old guy in the International Brigades bucket hat and ‘Workers Rights Are Human Rights’ tee.

Another Canadian invention is LabourStart’s Photo of the Week.  This week we carried a photo from Brussels where last week leaders of the European Public Service Union held an anti-fascist action during an Executive Committee meeting, in the 80th year of the defeat of fascism.

Delegates visited and cleaned the memorial stone (Stolperstein) of Richard Lipper, a young Belgian resistance fighter executed by the Nazis in 1944. Francoise Geng, EPSU President spoke at the ceremony: “Richard Lipper stood against fascism with courage and conviction. Today, as trade unionists, we remember that resistance is not just history – it’s a responsibility. Our message is simple: no to fascism, not then, not now.”

It’s impossible for me not to add a comment to the effect that celebrating the end of fascism these days may be a little premature.

Labour’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

This week in 1974 and as part of a targeted campaign for pay equity, postal workers began a seven-day illegal strike that wins women postal code machine operators the same pay as male postal clerks.

In 2023, after more than a year of bargaining, 155,000 public service workers across 30 federal government departments went out on a successful strike, marking one of the largest strikes by federal employees in Canadian history.

And in 1956 more than 1600 delegates attended the founding convention of the Canadian Labour Congress, a merger of the Trades and Labour Congress and the Canadian Congress of Labour. They called for a national health plan, full employment and a guaranteed annual wage.

There are lots more labour history items like this to be found at the bottom of our Canadian news pages.  Look for them and be inspired.

LabourStart hosts online solidarity actions at the request of unions around the world.  This week we’d like to highlight urgent appeals for online solidarity with trade union activists in Azerbaijan who have been jailed for attempting to organize unions that don’t toe the government’s line.  That line being no unions as they interfere with profits. 

If you can spare just a few seconds you can do your part in struggles like these by sending a solidarity or protest message.

Look for details on our site.

Before I go, a quick shout out to all the labour candidates carrying the NDP banner in the federal election.  Thanks.  Get some rest.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

LabourStart Report for Radio Labour Canada 11-04-2025

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/american-scholars-moving-to-canada-eh/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included more strike dates for 13,000 Quebec daycare workers and the threat of warning strikes evolving into an open-ended walkout, Unifor’s plan for building solidarity through supply chains, and something rarely see:  A joint declaration from two major unions, in this case CUPE and Unifor.  The statement is about, you guessed it, the US attack on Canadian workers.

We also carried news of a transit strike in BC over a 19th century issue:  access to clean and safe washrooms, personal care workers in Manitoba protesting because their employer hasn’t paid them, another 19th century problem, and the end of the BCGEU inland ferry strike.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was about the call for solidarity with Telus workers in Türkiye (Turkey).  Yes, Telus…in Türkiye.  Most of us are probably not aware that Telus is way more than a Canadian telecom.  It has contracts to provide everything from human resources services to Ontario hospitals to content moderation of posts on some of the most popular social media platforms on earth.

Which is the horrendous job Telus workers in Türkiye are doing for TikTok.  Traumatized by their work, they are organizing but face an employer that terminates workers for supporting  Çağrı-İş, an independent union representing call center workers.  This is something that these workers share with other content moderators around the world and is why they are networking globally while organizing locally.

But what makes this a Canadian labour news story?  Steel does.  The Steelworkers represents most Telus workers in Canada and Steel, as Steel is wont to do, is trying to engage Canadian workers in support of our comrades in Turkiye.  So pay attention.  And send a solidarity and protest message via the online action Steel and the other union and global union federation involved have asked LabourStart to host.

The Turkish union is convinced that messages from Canadians will carry extra weight not just with Telus, but with the Turkish workers.  A few seconds of digital solidarity can have a huge impact on morale in a workplace as horrible as theirs.

This week’s LabourStart podcast is an interview with Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).  Luc detailed the horrendous conditions for trade unionists in Belarus in the lead-up to a global day of action in solidarity with them.

On our Working Women News page you’ll find stories from Canada and from around the globe in 9 languages.  

Stories like those marking Equal Pay Day on 10 April.  The date changes from year to year but it is the date on which the average woman worker earns as much for her work in 2024 and the for three and a bit months of 2025 as did men doing similar work in 2024 alone.

And like the piece from Northern Ontario, where the Labourers have launched a new programme to get women workers onto construction sites and one detailing why women parents support women workers as the Quebec daycare strikes heat up.

Among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was coverage of the surge in shoplifting from Liquor New Brunswick stores and its effects on the CUPE members who work in them and another regarding the mental health issues corrections workers face and how one union, OPSEU, is addressing them.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week isn’t often Canadian but as a Canadian is our photo editor and as that Canadian is me, you all get to hear about our photo of the week in each episode.

This week we carried a photo of members of FO, a French union confederation like the CLC, as they participated in a national day of protest against neoliberal austerity policies in the social services and healthcare sectors.

Labour’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

This week in 1983 a tractor trailer drove through a picket line at a strikebound Alcan plant in Scarborough, Ontario, causing the death of Claude Dougdeen, 51, a Trinidad immigrant and father of seven. Outraged union leaders called on the province to bring in anti-scab laws with no success.

In 1972 more than 200,000 public sector workers, organized in the Québec Common Front, began a ten-day strike. Three leaders were jailed, but the Common Front ultimately succeeded in winning a $100 minimum weekly wage for public employees.

In 1980 The Canadian Farmworkers Union held its founding convention at Douglas College in Vancouver. Delegates elect Raj Chouhan as president of the CFU, Canada’s first union of agricultural workers.

And last but definitely not least, this week in 1937 In Oshawa, Ontario, 4,000 workers went on strike at the General Motors plant for recognition of the United Auto Workers. They won major concessions, and the strike is often considered the birth of industrial unionism in Canada.

There are lots more Canadian labour history items like this to be found at the bottom of our Canadian news pages.  Look for them and be inspired.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

Community benefits agreement meeting needs for skilled, diverse and locally employed construction workforce

VANCOUVER—British Columbia Infrastructure Benefits (BCIB)—a unique provincial organization that uses a community benefits agreement to help workers land good local jobs in construction—is succeeding in making its workforce more representative of the province’s population, finds a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). 

Building Better: The positive impact of a community benefits agreement on the B.C. construction workforce shows how using a community benefits agreement in construction employment helps address the industry’s chronic shortage of skilled workers, diversify the workforce and provide substantial local economic benefits by giving priority to hiring from communities where its projects are located.

“The tools the BCIB are using to provide better local jobs in the construction industry are working,” says report author John Calvert. “It’s helping to counteract a toxic worksite culture that can be hostile to new workers who are women, Indigenous or racialized. It’s helping construction workers land better paying, unionized jobs. And that’s helping local economies.”

From 2019 to the end of 2024, British Columbia Infrastructure Benefits (BCIB) hired 4,946 workers, who logged over 7.5 million paid hours. This makes it the second largest provincial construction employer and the source of benefits, such as:

  • Reaching a 92 per cent hiring rate of B.C. residents, 76 per cent of whom are in the communities where projects are built.
  • Reaching a 20 per cent hiring rate of trainees or apprentices and a 21 per cent of rehiring of BCIB employees on new jobs.
  • Reaching a 14 per cent hiring rate of Indigenous workers, more than double the provincial construction average 
  • Addressing the frequently toxic worksite environment affecting many workers via its Respectful Onsite Initiative (ROI). 
  • Guaranteed payment to all workers on BCIB’s payroll, eliminating the common problem of non-payment of wages.
  • Providing consistent pay across worker classifications, regardless of contractor, through unionization of workers on BCIB worksites.

“BCIB is unique,” says Calvert. “It is the only example of a government creating a public employer to train, employ and supply the trades’ workforce on major construction projects in Canada. “BCIB’s support for training and apprenticeship, its efforts to retain skilled workers in the industry by promoting employment continuity through rehiring workers, and its focus on local employment represents a long-term investment in the industry’s workforce. It’s working.” 


Build Better is available at: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/build-better

Azerbaijan Cracks Down on Independent Trade Union Leaders

Even with growing repression and efforts to rally people around national pride, it’s getting harder to ignore the impact of declining living standards in Azerbaijan. And now, for the first time in a while, there are signs that class tensions are starting to come to the surface.

Low wages and the rising cost of living are pushing even well-educated professionals into financial uncertainty. Many have turned to second jobs in the informal sector—driving for ride-hailing apps or delivering food—just to stay afloat. With growing frustration over the government’s lack of action and no real political alternatives in sight, more and more people are starting to look toward labor organizing as a way forward.

What makes this shift especially significant is Azerbaijan’s long history without independent trade unions. During the Soviet era, unions were controlled by the state, and not much changed after the country embraced capitalism. Genuine, combative labor organizing has barely existed for decades.

But as economic pressure mounts, that might finally be starting to change. Aside from a handful of labour rights groups kept afloat by foreign donor funding through NGOs, the topic of workers’ rights remains almost completely absent from public discourse in Azerbaijan. Any serious attempt to organize around these issues is met with swift and often harsh repression from the authorities.

In 2022, that tension boiled over when workers employed by international courier and ride-hailing companies launched a series of strikes which is the first actions of their kind in recent years. These protests sparked the creation of the Labor Desk Confederation of Trade Unions, led by labour activist Afiaddin Mammadov.

But the growing movement quickly caught the attention of the regime. The strikes organized by this coalition in 2022 and 2023 led to the arrests of Mammadov and three other activists involved in the organizing efforts: Mohyaddin Orujov, Aykhan Israfilov, and Elvin Mustafayev. With the conviction of Orujov on 25 February 2024, all four activists have now been officially sentenced.

Korean Confederation of Trade Unions holds emergency delegates meeting – plans next steps in impeachment fight

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held an emergency outdoor delegates meeting in central Seoul today (April 3), just one day before the Constitutional Court announces its verdict on suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment.

We’re absolutely convinced the Court will unanimously vote to remove Yoon from office! But in the virtually impossible scenario that the impeachment is rejected, we’ve pledged to launch full-scale resistance! 💪

Our plan adopted:

– Protest rally tomorrow evening (April 4)

– Nationwide resistance with citizens on April 5

– Complete general strike across all unions on April 7

LabourStart Report for Radio Labour Canada 28-03-2025

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages included stories like a peek at the anti-union lobby groups backing and advising the Tory election campaign, the struggle against the privatization of Hydro Quebec, the AFL’s Alberta-wide solidarity pact as unions there gear up to take on the UCP government in the aftermath of CUPE’s victory in the education sector, and the launch of the CLC’s “Building a Better Future for Working People” platform as the federal election kicked-off.

We also carried the CFNU’s call for the federal parties to address healthcare workers safety and Unifor’s reaction to yet another layer of tariffs the USian government will be applying to the auto sector.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was about the Boilermakers’ decision to endorse the federal Tories.  But then again, I have an odd sense of humour.  So read what you will into my use of the word ‘favourite’.  And into that decision.

On our Working Women news page you’ll find stories from Canada and from around the globe in 9 languages.  

Stories like the long and unbelievably, the still ongoing struggle of healthcare workers in Quebec for pay equity, and the opening of registration for the Summer Institute for Union Women.  The Institute is unique, offering a series of workshops across BC and some states in the western USA, that bring together women from different workplaces and unions.  It focusses on building organizing and leadership skills and, most importantly, supportive networks.

And among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was coverage of the calls from CUPE and library management for the government of Saskatchewan to stop relying on public libraries to do the job of effective addiction supports.  The appeal came after two Saskatoon libraries had to be closed after workers there were subjected to attacks by library users.

A couple of provinces over the same issue in a different but also public-facing workplace.  The BCNU was, yet again, raising the alarm after a nurse at a large hospital was strangled into unconsciousness.

Take a look at the international stories on our health and safety page and you’ll see that levels of violence directed at workers whose jobs bring them into contact with the public are spiking globally.

Punch Nazis, not library workers.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week isn’t often Canadian but as a Canadian is our photo editor and as that Canadian is me, you all get to hear about our Photo of the Week in each episode.

This week we carried a photo of a Ghanaian investigative journalist who was murdered because of the work he did.  That was years ago and his union, the Ghana Journalists Association, had to work hard in order to get the police to investigate.  Last week they celebrated a victory of sorts when a suspect was arrested and charged.

Impunity in the murders of or assaults on journalists investigating the powerful is something the IFJ, the global union federation for media workers, has been fighting for decades.  And despite important victories like this one, that struggle continues.

Labour’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

This week in 2006 an accounting instructor died from injuries received on the picket line at Centennial College in Toronto during a province-wide strike. John Stammers, 62, was a member of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

And in 1912 thousands of workers started to walk out of railway construction camps on the Fraser River in British Columbia in a strike led by the Industrial Workers of the World. When Joe Hill visits the strikers he writes a ditty for the Wobbly Song Book.

There are lots more Canadian labour history items like this to be found at the bottom of our Canadian news pages.  Look for them and be inspired.

LabourStart hosts online solidarity actions at the request of unions around the world.  This week we’d like to highlight urgent appeals for online solidarity with trade union activists in New York City who are fighting union-busting by a cinema chain and another appeal for our solidarity by trade unionists facing jail and worse in Belarus.

And this week we have some great news for you as our campaign to force the release of a Turkish trade unionist awaiting trial on trumped-up, a term that is taking on new meaning these days, charges was released from prison.  His union credits our online action for contributing to the decision to release him on bail and asked us to thank all the supporters around the world who sent a solidarity message. 

So:  thanks!

If you can spare just a few seconds you can do your part in struggles like these by sending a solidarity or protest message.

Look for details on our site.

Is your dream job a staff position with a union?  On our main page is a link to our jobs listings page where you’ll see openings at unions around the globe.  If you’re looking for work with a Canadian union or perhaps one of the global union federations be sure and check it out.

Before i go, a quick shout out to us.  You and me and all Canadian workers.  The tariffs hit next week it seems.  This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

Layoffs spreading in B.C. post-secondary system

News release:

The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE) is sounding the alarm as layoffs of faculty members have started to ripple out across the province with reductions of up to 10% of the workforce. Last week, Kwantlen Polytechnic University announced that approximately 70 full-time faculty would be laid off, and announcements had already been made at Vancouver Island University, Camosun College, the College of New Caledonia, North Island College, and Langara College. We expect more layoff announcements in the coming weeks.

Despite this crisis, the provincial government and the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills have been silent on the plight of our institutions.

“As we face the headwinds of tariffs and the call from the provincial government for a more responsive, innovative, and flexible post-secondary education sector, we are stunned by the silence of the Premier and the Minister on this crisis,” said Brent Calvert, President of FPSE.

“The Eby government supervises and micromanages every element of our sector but has failed to take any action in the face of this crisis,” Calvert added.

In January 2024, the federal government abruptly announced a 35% cut in new international student permits. In addition, the federal government subsequently changed regulations around post-graduation work permits and dramatically reduced the ability of international students to access pathways to permanent residency. These combined changes have had a devastating impact on BC’s colleges and universities.

“We need a bold response from the government on the path forward for higher education in British Columbia. The government controls almost all aspects of our institutions but is now pretending they have no role in addressing this crisis,” said Michael Conlon, FPSE Executive Director. “The Minister and Deputy Minister continue to mislead our members and British Columbians about the tight control they exercise over our sector. They need to step up and provide solutions to this crisis instead of peddling the half-truth that our institutions are autonomous,” concluded Conlon.

BC launched a post-secondary funding review in 2022 … but the government suddenly abandoned the review without any notice or communication … the Minister has continued to reference the cancelled review in correspondence with the Langara Faculty Association and others as if it were a completed, credible review.

“Our members are losing patience with obfuscation and political games,” said Calvert. “We are ready to enter into a meaningful dialogue with the government to ensure we have a post-secondary education sector that meets the needs of all British Columbians,” concluded Calvert.

Turkey: Ismet Aslan Released – Trade Unionism is Not a Crime!

Trade unionist Ismet Aslan has been released after six months in prison. The court made this decision today, March 26th, during the first hearing in Istanbul. The trial will continue, but Ismet will not remain in detention.

Ismet was arrested on October 7th, 2024, along with fellow unionists Giyasettin Yiğit and Yusuf Eminoğlu, charged under Turkey’s anti-terror law, often used against unions and activists.

He was accused of “financing terrorism.” The evidence included small money transfers between him and other union officers, calls with dismissed teachers, and visits to Europe—including a Brussels meeting of ETUC.

A secret witness provided online testimony, but the court did not find it convincing and ruled for Ismet’s release.

Ismet is now reunited with his wife and 1 year old son Armanc. In court, he stated, “I am not a criminal. I am a trade unionist,” explaining his actions as part of his union duties.

The LabourStart campaign helped raise global awareness, with nearly 5,000 supporters showing the power of international solidarity.

The next hearing is on July 10th, 2025. We thank everyone who supported the campaign—your solidarity made a difference.

LabourStart Report for Radio Labour Canada 21-03-2025

The RadioLabour episode that carried this report can be found at:  https://rabble.ca/podcast/bc-lifelabs-workers-strike-against-american-corporation/

This week the top stories sections on our Canadian French- and English-language pages was, conveniently enough, not only also our global top story in English but LabourStart’s podcast for the week.

It’s a pretty fab ten minute interview with Mark Hancock, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.  My old union as it happens.

Pat Bulmer, LabourStart’s co-ordinator in Canada and a Unifor member, asked Mark about CUPE’s Montreal Declaration and how it sets the stage for CUPE’s response to Trump’s tariffs and to the threat of annexation.

It was a big week for big news in the Canadian labour movement.

In BC, UNITE-HERE members at a hotel in the lower mainland returned to work after 1411 days, ending what just might be our longest strike ever.  The strikers, mostly women and racialized workers, won a huge victory not just in terms of wages and working conditions, but they won recall rights for 143 of their comrades who had been sacked during the pandemic.

We also carried the exciting news that CUPE’s chain bargaining strategy in Alberta’s education sector is working as a cascade of settlements started earlier this week.

But my favourite item, among our Canadian stories at least, was about the certification vote this week in which 500 or more Uber drivers in BC decided whether to join UFCW 1518.  Fingers crossed of course as the company is putting up the kind of fight you’d expect from it, but we hope to soon bring you some good news about the result.

On our working women news page you’ll find stories from Canada and from around the globe in 9 languages.  

Stories like the calls heard from union women for cross-border solidarity with their USian sisters.

And among the Canadian items appearing on our health and safety page and newswire this week was coverage of the start of construction of a memorial to the victims of a crane collapse in Kelowna BC that killed five workers in 2021.

It almost didn’t happen after the BC government denied an application for $150 grand to build the memorial.  But after an anonymous donor popped the needed cash construction started this week.

LabourStart’s Photo of the Week isn’t often Canadian but as a Canadian is our photo editor and as that Canadian is me, you all get to hear about our photo of the week in each episode.

This week we carried a photo of two Argentinian police officers firing their shotguns at a crowd of pensioners.

On 12 march, thousands of pensioners peacefully gathered across Argentina to protest cuts to pensions and public services under the Milei regime. Security forces responded brutally. One person remains in hospital in critical condition and the far-right Milei government continues to cut services to citizens while making life easier for the very rich and for large businesses.

Labour’s history is what our current struggles are built on and this week we marked the anniversaries of these events:

This week in 1960 five Italian immigrant workers died in an underground tunnel at a watermain construction project in suburban Toronto. The Hogg’s Hollow Disaster drew public attention to the prevalence of unsafe conditions in construction and the exploitation of immigrant workers.

There are lots more Canadian labour history items like this to be found at the bottom of our Canadian news pages.  Look for them and be inspired.

LabourStart hosts online solidarity actions at the request of unions around the world.  This week we’d like to highlight urgent appeals for online solidarity with trade union activists in New York City who are fighting union-busting by a cinema chain and another appeal for our solidarity by trade unionists facing jail and worse in Belarus.

And because it was a big week campaigns-wise we have a third new call for solidarity for you:  The Fight the Heist campaign unites garment workers across Asia and is targeting global brands like Nike in a push to for a living wage and safe workplaces.

If you can spare just a few seconds you can do your part in these struggles by sending a solidarity message.

Look for details of these and other campaigns on our site.

Is your dream job a staff position with a union?  On our main page is a link to our jobs listings page where you’ll see openings at unions around the globe.  If you’re looking for work with a Canadian union or perhaps one of the global union federations be sure and check it out.

Before i go, a quick shout out to the 13,000 CSN members who work at 400 daycare centres across Quebec.  This week they upped the ante in their dispute with the provincial government and spent two days on the picket line after their union called a warning strike.  Such time-limited walkouts are common in several provinces and while they require incredible discipline by the workers warning strikes can also send a powerful message to an employer and reduce the total time on the line that it takes to get a settlement.

This is Derek Blackadder from LabourStart reporting for RadioLabour.

Opening date set for crane workers memorial

A letter from the Rise Memorial Foundation, Kelowna, B.C., Canada

It is with immense pride and anticipation that I write you this letter to share the news that the Rise Memorial Gardens, located at its future home of Knowles Heritage Park in Kelowna B.C., officially commenced construction on March 11, 2025.

This project has taken over 3 years of immense planning, coordination, and effort from countless devoted community members, organizations, and supporters such as yourself. Together we’ve raised over $350,000 to guarantee we memorialize the memories of the five young men (Cailen Vilness, Jared Zook, Eric Stemmer, Patrick Stemmer, and Brad Zawislak) whose lives were taken away far too soon in this horrible workplace tragedy. This memorial stands to ensure their memories live on, but also to offer the community a future space for grieving and healing from the impacts of any workplace accident that may ever occur in the future. Lastly, it will serve as a stark reminder to all of us of the importance of making a continued commitment to workplace safety each and every day.

As such, I wanted to invite you to tentatively save the date of Saturday, July 12, 2025, when we are anticipating the site to be complete and opened to the public, to join us for an unveiling event that will also mark the 4th anniversary of the tragedy.