Back to Batoche

[Jul 17, 2007 04:46 PM]

 

NEWS RELEASE

 For Immediate Release:
July 17, 2007

Historic Journey to Take Place on Batoche Anniversary

 SASKATOON: An historic canoe trip through the South Saskatchewan River will be repeated this week in honour of Batoche Days.

 The Canadian Union of Public Employees - Saskatchewan Aboriginal Council has launched canoes to coincide with Batoche Days for the past four years. Again this year, the union that stands for aboriginal people will sponsor a journey which will take roughly 30 paddlers 75 kilometres up the river to Batoche over the three-day journey.

 The trip is held each year in conjunction with the Métis Nation – Saskatchewan (MNS) Back to Batoche celebrations, held in Batoche this year from July 19 to July 22. The event marks the anniversary of Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont’s 1885 defeat on the Batoche land, which the MNS symbolically reclaims through the event.

 “This is a significant event in the history of the Métis people, and our organization works to understand and participate in the cultures of our members,” said Tom Graham, president of CUPE Saskatchewan. “Within CUPE we are fighting for a workforce that includes First Nations and Métis workers, and we can’t work together until we understand each other.”

 “CUPE Saskatchewan has been at the forefront of signing partnership agreements with employers and governments to promote a representative workforce strategy,” said CUPE Saskatchewan’s Aboriginal Council Senator, Gerri Harris, who added that thousands of people have received Aboriginal Awareness Training through the program, and the number of aboriginal workers in the Saskatchewan workforce has seen tangible growth since CUPE Saskatchewan began their work with the Strategy.

CUPE Saskatchewan’s canoe paddlers will launch from a site on the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon on Wednesday at 9 a.m.

CUPE represents 27,000 front-line public sector workers in Saskatchewan who work at health care facilities, municipalities, school boards, universities, libraries, community-based organizations and more.

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For more information contact:
Tom Graham: (306)229-8171                                                                           EM/COPE 342