PEI – Building Solidarity with Indigenous Communities (Charlottetown)- May 23-25, 2025

This course will provide education to members of the PSAC on the history and struggles of Metis, Inuit and First Nations’ people and peoples across Turtle Island.   

We will discuss the history and legacy of Residential Schools, Indian Hospitals, the Indian Act, colonialism, human rights, anti-racism, oppression. 

Participants will learn about and hear first-hand accounts of Indigenous people in the Indian Residential School system and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to ensure that history is not forgotten, and that Survivors are remembered and respected.   

We will examine the 94 Calls To Action and the 10 Principles of Reconciliation and discuss how they can apply to the work we do in the union.   

Working together, members will learn about policies like the Doctrine of Discovery, the Indian Act and the Indian Trust Fund and the detrimental effects they have had on FNMI peoples and their communities for centuries. 

One main theme of the course will be the violence of the Indian Act, a race-based piece of legislation which for 150 years has shaped every aspect of Indigenous peoples’ lives.  We will discuss all of the harmful consequences of the Act, which is still in effect today.   

Another main theme of the course is showing solidarity with those communities.  How we can do that as a union and how we can do that as individuals.  Using little known but deeply important acts of solidarity, we can help members find creative and modern ways to help advance the issues of justice and human rights for FNMI members, their families and their communities. 

When we talk about Reconciliation, what we mean is reconiciliACTION.  And before any reconciliation there must be truth.  When we learn the truth it makes it abundantly easier for the union to walk the path of reconciliation. This course is a first step on that path.   

Date and Time:
May 23-25 , 2025
Saturday 9 AM to 5 PM

Location:
Charlottetown Regional Office
510-119 Kent Street, BDC Place
Charlottetown, PEI

Registration deadline: May 12, 2025

• Participants are entitled to a $50.00 per diem upon completion of the course.
• Mileage is paid at PSAC rates for travel over 40 kilometers one way. All travel must be pre-approved by the Charlottetown Regional Office.
• Loss of salary (where applicable) will be reimbursed. Members who work weekends or evenings must provide a shift schedule.
• Family care will be reimbursed as per the PSAC policy on family care.