Union Representing FNU Staff Blasts Feds for “Ideological Bias”

[Mar 29, 2010 06:13 PM]

For immediate release:
March 23, 2010

REGINA—The union representing support staff at the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) continues to join the chorus of students and staff members demanding that funding to the University is renewed.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Saskatchewan is blasting the federal government’s motivation for withholding the funding as ideologically-driven and uncooperative.

“You don’t fix a problem by washing your hands of it and abandoning almost 2,200 students,” said Tom Graham, president of the CUPE Saskatchewan.

From the perspective of the union representing support staff workers—who face the closure of their workplace unless funding is restored—the new administration at FNUniv has done everything asked of them.

"We have to see the institutional reform to see if it's possible to salvage the good parts of FNU going forward," Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, told reporters on March 24. After being told of the administrative changes FNUniv has undergone, Strahl’s ideology didn’t budge.

"I've been told that now," he said of the reform plans. "And our government's been told that for five years. And it stretches back into the Liberal government era."

“The federal government seems to be more interested in judging a community at large than looking at evidence,” said Graham, who added that the government is offering a catch-22; by withholding funding they’re ensuring that the new administration doesn’t get a chance to prove itself.

CUPE members registered their ire with the federal government’s decision not to renew the funding agreement as well as their unwavering support for aboriginal education at the CUPE Saskatchewan Annual Convention. In Saskatoon on March 12, about 200 delegates unanimously voted in favour of a resolution calling for funding to be restored.

CUPE Saskatchewan is joined by CUPE Local 1975-01, the local body which represents the support staff at the University of Regina and FNUniv, in their support for the staff and students. Local 1975-01 president Aimee Martin has written Minister of Advanced Education Employment and Labour Minister Rob Norris, asking Norris to urge Strahl to reconsider.

“This school plays a big part in getting aboriginal people into classrooms,” said Martin. “But, it also creates jobs and training spaces now and promises a future of a more representative workforce. We can’t afford to have our federal government walk away from this institution.”

CUPE Saskatchewan is also supportive of the FNUniv Students’ Association and their live-in vigil. CUPE’s voted in favour of providing some financial support to the students’ association to continue their demonstration.

CUPE is the largest union in Saskatchewan, representing 29,000 workers in the university, education, health care, municipal, community-based organizations and other sectors of the public service. CUPE is also the largest union in Canada, representing more than 600,000 public employees.

CUPE 1975-01 is the local bargaining unit which represents about 750 support workers at the University of Regina and First Nations University of Canada.

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