PSAC members marched with Pride in Vancouver on Sunday August 1st.  This year, the Multi-Union Pride entry, which won the prize for “Captivating Community Cluster”, took inspiration from Vancouver Pride’s “educate, liberate and celebrate” theme. MUP educated last year, liberated this year, and next year they’ll celebrate!

PSAC BC also hosted a Think Public booth at the Pride Festival at Sunset Beach. PSAC members and the public stopped by to play “Spot The Public Service” and learn about the work PSAC members do. We also gathered over 300 signatures on our long form census petition.

Read more for some photos …

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Come down to the Van Pride festivities and join PSAC and other Union members in the parade, Sunday August 1st.  To march with Multi-Union Pride, be at the staging area (AS – on Robson, south side, between Thurlow and Alberni) by 11:30AM.

Also, be sure to visit the PSAC Think Public booth which will be in the Pride Festival area at Sunset Beach – stop by, say hi to fellow PSAC members, sign a petition, and play “Spot the Public Service”.

June was a busy month around the province! Here are some photos and a video of some of the activities PSAC members participated in.

Under the theme “Step In to Something That Moves You” PSAC women activists, old and new, joined together at the 2010 BC Regional Women’s Conference in Vancouver. They heard from guest speakers and held discussions and workshops on a variety of topics including childcare, women and pensions, pay equity, work-life balance, violence against women, lobbying and political action/campaign work, and debated resolutions to be sent to the PSAC National Women’s Conference. Huge thanks to Virginia Vaillancourt for putting together a most excellent video!

In Victoria, PSAC staff and members from the South Island marched in the 2010 Pride Parade under the theme “Gay Rights are Human Rights” and hosted a booth at the festival held at MacDonald Park.

• Read the PSAC Pride Statement at the national website.

In Cumberland, a delegation of PSAC members from the Campbell River and District Area Council attended the Miners Memorial Day Weekend, where they laid a wreath to commemorate the miners who worked and lost their lives in the mines of Cumberland and other workplaces throughout BC.

Meanwhile, back on the mainland, PSAC BC hosted a Think Public! booth at the Surrey Canada Day festivities. Staff and members met with the fair goers and spoke with them about the value of strong, quality, public services and public pensions.

“Read more” for the photos and video …

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2010 Pride in Labour

PSAC BC & Paul Jones, GLBT Regional Council Coordinator invites you & your families to join us in the 2010 PRIDE Parade & Festival in Victoria. “Gay Rights Are Human Rights”

When: Sunday July 4, 2010

Meet at 10 am on Broad St. (by the Victoria Events Centre) Parade Starts at 12:00 noon. Beads provided.

A family friendly event will follow at MacDonald Park. Access accommodations will be accommodated by an 18-­‐foot trailer that you may ride on. Download the poster.

posted on behalf of Paul Jones, BC Regional Council

The season of PRIDE festivities for 2009 are over and as the PRIDE Coordinator for the PSACBC Regional Council I am sending a huge thank you to all my Brothers and Sisters who made this year’s events a success. In particular I would like to thank the Victoria crew of Mandi Schubert (CEIU, VIHRC Member), Michael Doerfler (CEIU, VIHRC Member), Virginia Vaillancourt (UVAE, S. Vancouver Island PSACBC Geographical Coordinator), all the PSAC members who came out to march and all the staff of the Victoria Regional office for their dedication and hard work to make this happen. Many thanks Mandi for the pictures! Although numbers are mute, there were approximately 25 -30K in attendance. The labour movement in general had a strong presence this year in Victoria’s Pride Parade.

• Report and photos from Victoria
• Report and photos from Vancouver

Vancouver Pride saw reported record numbers of attendees as well as floats. I would especially like to thank Angela Marafon (CRA Member, W. Fraser Valley PSACBC Regional Council Geographical Coordinator), Kay Sinclair (PSACBC REVP), Carol Pegura (EA to PSACBC REVP), the staff of the Vancouver Regional Office for the continuous support they have given to PRIDE and to all the Members who I saw while marching. Multi-Union Pride continues to bring our message to Vancouver and I would remiss not to thank the MUP Committee for all their hard work to make this happen yet again this year. Thanks too to all who attended the Pride Meet & Greet. It was a wonderful time!

Sincerely, Paul Jones, PRIDE Coordinator, PSACBC Regional Council

cheers to Paul Jones (BC Regional Council), Sue Neumann (CIU 20040), and Garry Fraser, PSAC Regional Rep. for these photos and report from Pride Day in Vancouver

Garry: Alison and I had our Think Public and our Student Campaign Booth set up at Sunset Beach.� It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze off the ocean, and we set up early. Carol Pegura donated hundreds of buttons to our booth and they were they a big hit.�We had thousands of people come by and talk and laugh, take a bandana, a fan or a button, talk about our Think Public Campaign. Alison would also talk with them about the Student� Campaign and she got hundreds of signatures for the petition.�BC Regional Council members Paul Jones and Angela Marafon both came by the booth after the parade and dropped off two magnificent sets of rainbow balloons which we tied down to our canopy – it looked incredible! Jack Layton dropped by and said hello and had a photo op with Angela.

Big thanks to Sue, for these photos of BSO’s marching in uniform for the first time in the parade, and Paul for the photos of the Multi-Union Pride group.

2009 Brings the PSACBC GLBT Members to Multi-Union Pride 2009.

Educate! Liberate! Celebrate! We are stronger in numbers!

Paul Jones, GLBT Regional Council Coordinator invites one and all to join us in this year�s �MULTI-UNION PRIDE� Celebration at this year�s Pride March in Vancouver.

• When: Sunday August 2, 2009
• Where: TBA (Marshal point on Robson Street)
• Time: 11:00 � 11:30 am

Swag provided. Wear your most colourful outfit! Afterall �� It’s a gay affair! Download a poster (pdf).

Cheers to Mandi Schubert (CEIU 20975) for forwarding these photos! PSAC and other Union members marched with “Pride in Labour” at the Victoria Pride Celebrations, Sunday July 5th.

For more about Pride in Victoria, visit victoriapridesociety.org and check out the Vancouver Sun news report.

Click for the photos …

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Celebrating 40 years of freedom!

Forty years ago, it was a crime in Canada to be gay. Homosexuality was severely punished, and the police regularly raided bars and saunas to arrest and prosecute gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and transgendered people.

In 1969, the Criminal Code was amended, and the state was officially thrown out of the bedroom: since then, our GLBT brothers and sisters can no longer be arrested and prosecuted because of who they choose to love.

• Join PSAC @ Pride this summer: in Victoria, July 5th and in Vancouver, August 2nd!

The fortieth anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality is an event that is important to remember and to celebrate. This historic landmark paved the way for the many significant reforms in labour law, in civil law and in human rights law that were won by GLBT activists over the years.

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2009 Brings the PSAC BC in support of the Victoria Labour Council as one of this year�s Victoria Pride Sponsors. This year is about the visual! We are stronger in numbers!

Paul Jones, GLBT Regional Council Coordinator invites one and all to join us in this year�s �PRIDE IN LABOUR� celebration at the Victoria Pride March: Sunday July 5, 2009. We’ll be meeting@11AM on Broad St (in front of Victoria Events Centre). Beads provided. Wear your most colorful outfit! �It is a gay affair!�

Download the poster (pdf).

PSAC staff and members, including REVP Kay Sinclair and BC Regional Council Coordinator Paul Jones, marched under the Multi-Union Pride banner at the Vancouver Pride Parade last Sunday. They joined with other Union members and over 120 other business and community groups to celebrate the diversity of the GLBT community while being cheered on by an estimated 1/2 million onlookers – the largest single day event in Vancouver’s history.

After the parade, summer students Ria and Jade hosted a �Public & Proud To Be� booth at the festival at Sunset Beach. They distributed Think Public! brochures, buttons, & flyers, and invited festival-goers to take action to defend quality public services by sending a postcard to their MP. Kudos, and much thanks to Karla Backer, Jennifer Ho, and Mark Konrad (all from National Local 20088) who ably assisted.

Here are some photos (click the thunbnail, then within the picture to advance to the next one) …

On behalf of Paul Jones, GLBT Coordinator, BC Regional Council

Hello all! Happy Pride! Please find below the marshalling information for Sunday’s parade starting on Robson Street. We are meeting around 10AM to finalize float prep and those who would like to walk with us may meet us at 11:15AM. Please join us in making this event just as successful as Victoria was! See you all there!

Multi Union Pride 2008 Marshalling Information

Please note that the parade route, and marshalling information are different than previous years!

• Multi Union Pride is marshalling group number 39 (out of 160 entries)
• Our marshalling spot is on Robson Street between Thurlow and Burrard. Groups that are in close proximity to us include: COPE, BC Civil Liberties, and CAW Local III.
• The Multi Union Pride float will be setting up at 10am. (Everyone is welcome to come down to assist.)
• All Marchers should arrive between 11 and 11:30am.
• The parade starts at noon sharp. As we are close to the front, we should be in motion shortly after 12.
• The parade is longer than previous years. It is 3 kilometres in length, and will take about an hour to march the route.
• At 1pm, there will be a moment of silence to remember those who are no longer with us or cannot be in the parade today. The moment of silence will be indicated by the volunteer marshals waving white flags throughout the entire route. Festivities will resume when the volunteer marshals wave the rainbow flag.

Everyone from your union is welcome to join in Multi Union Pride entry! It is going to be a FANTABULOUS day! Questions? Contact Peter from CUPE 391 at peterdeg@vpl.ca or 778-840-0580

Victoria Pride!

Pride events are taking place across British Columbia all summer and PSAC members are joining in! In Victoria, PSAC staff & members marched as a group in the parade for the first time, distributed Think Public! brochures & flyers, and hosted a “Public & Proud To Be” booth at the post-parade festival in Fisherman’s Wharf Park where they let the public know that we are proud to be federal public services employees and that we deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully. Kudos to Paul Jones, GLBT Coordinator on the BC Regional Council, for an excellent job organizing! ‘Continue reading’ below for some photos & a video …

In Vancouver we’ll be marching on August 3rd alongside sisters & brothers with the Multi-Union Pride Committee and everyone is welcome to join in! For more information email Steve Houston. We’ll also be hosting a table at the post-parade festival at Sunset Beach – we are looking for volunteers to hand out information regarding PSAC initiatives to support our members and communities. If you are interested email Ria Nishikawara or call 604.430.5631.

Is there a Pride event coming up in your community? Let us know! Email Patrick.

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• Date: July 6, 2008
• Where: A Channel Bldg on Broad Street, in downtown Victoria.
• Who: All GLBT PSAC Members, Families and Friends.
• Why: To celebrate Victoria Pride, PSAC Pride & to let the public know that we are proud to be federal public services employees; To also raise awareness that we deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully by our Departmental Employers & the Treasury Board.

We will be having a PSAC Union table on the festival grounds at Fisherman’s Wharf Park following the parade. We are looking for volunteers for the union table and to hand out information regarding PSAC initiatives to support our members, communities as well as our world’s communities.

Please feel free to contact Paul Jones, GLBT Member Coordinator, PSAC Regional Council @ pablojones@shaw.ca or at 250.813.0565. See you there! Visit victoriapridesociety.org for lead-up events.

posted on behalf of Paul Jones, GLBT Coordinator on the BC Regional Council

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am writing to you today to introduce myself as the newly elected LGBT Regional Coordinator for the BC Regional Council of the PSAC. I am a member of my local executive, UNDE 21010 and a member of two employment equity groups, LGBT and PWD. I am truly honoured that I will be representing you over the next 3 years. I am excited and committed to furthering our issues, promoting equality in both our union and in the public and providing a strong voice for you at the Council.

There are a number of initiatives that I believe are worth your participation. For example: “Multi-Union Pride” (August 3, 2008) in Vancouver – Multi-Union Pride is constructing a float and all Mainland members are encouraged to assist in any way they may be able. The Victoria Pride Day parade and festival (July 6, 2008) – I will be looking at a walking contingent and information table at the festival with the hopes of broadening community awareness surrounding the good work we do in our communities and abroad and the support we give our LGBT members throughout Canada. We do have a minimal budget to work with regarding these initiatives but we can also utilize some of these funds to affiliate with local organizations on the mainland, inland and on the island to participate in community events.

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Thanks to Steve Houston & Amy Painter, BC Regional Council, for sending in some photos taken at the Vancouver Pride Parade. The theme for the Vancouver Pride Parade this year was “Love and Joy” Multi-union Pride presented and promoted “Peace and Love” as the theme of their float.

Click for the photos!

Greetings Everyone!

Vancouver Multi-union Pride evolved from the BC PSAC LGBT Support Group a number of years ago. Sister Diana Smith (National Component) successfully promoted the concept of a Multi-union Pride Committee that would represent the face of labour in the Vancouver Pride Society Parade and Festival.

We have grown in leaps and bounds over the years. We continue to be the largest single group in the Vancouver Pride Parade. We have won a trophy for “Best Political/Union Float” and are extremely well received by thunderous applause as we march past spectators along the parade route.

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The PSAC, along with our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender sisters and brothers invite you to celebrate the various “Pride” events happening in cities and communities across Canada in June or August.

“Pride Week” marks the anniversary of the “Stonewall Riots” which occurred in New York City in June of 1969. The Riots were the turning point in the increased resistance to oppression and harassment caused by policy and by government officials. A strong, diverse community of “Pride” has evolved since the riots and the PSAC is proud to be part of the continuing struggle.

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