The CUPE 4600 Executive Board, on behalf of nearly 3,000 teaching assistants and contract instructors, expresses its solidarity and support for the ongoing protests and rebellions against anti-Black racism and police brutality.
We salute all those standing against racism and especially commend the actions of our fellow workers in American Transit Union local 1005 who have refused to transport protestors to prison on their busses.
We condemn in the strongest terms the extrajudicial murder of George Floyd by Minnesota Police, the apparent murder of Regis Korchinski-Paquet by Toronto Police, and all other instances of police repression and violence. Police forces for too long have been allowed and encouraged to act with impunity. These incidents cannot be viewed in isolation but are the bitter harvests of policies and institutions sown with anti-Black, racist, and colonial intentions. In Ottawa, the violent and racist behaviour of the police is well documented.
As workers, struggles against racism and police repression directly concern us. Some of the earliest labour fights in this country were against police repression and discrimination towards immigrant workers. Racialized working people face violence and oppression both in and outside of work spaces. With these facts in mind, we have donated on behalf of our membership to the Justice for Regis fundraiser and will continue to provide support, financial and otherwise, to the ongoing movement for justice. If any of our members, particularly racialized members, have suggestions for initiatives you would like to see CUPE 4600 support, please feel free to contact us at