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The 2010 Annual CAN Cultural Day & BBQ took place July 24, 2010! 2010 Lunar New Year Celebration Three hundred members, staff and their families came out to celebrate this year’s annual Lunar New Year party held at the Locals 175 & 633 head office in Mississauga. Everyone enjoyed great food and prizes and a spectacular lion dance, led by Sammy Cheung, a unionized worker at Thistle Printing. The Lion Dance is said to keep away all bad and evil things. Members from a number of workplace in the including Cargill, Burnbrae Farms, Maple Lodge Farms, Extendicare, Holiday Inn, Avon Sportswear, Wings, Grand River Foods, Erin Mills Lodge, Mobile Climate Control, Quality Knitting and Coleman Care Centre. President Shawn Haggerty, Secretary-Treasurer Teresa Magee, Executive Assistants Ray Bromly and Harry Sutton and many more staff also attended the event. February 14, 2010 was the official start to the Lunar New Year, which is the year of the Tiger.  CAN sponsors winning film at reel Asian film fest
Locals 175 & 633 Chinese New Year celebrations attract a record number of members and their families More than 500 people attended this 3rd annual event to celebrate the beginning of the Year of the Ox. The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work.
The events offered camaraderie, good food, games and prizes. Members were entertained by a Dragon Dance, meant to chase away all bad and evil things from the year before, and many people tried their hand at breaking a bundle of chopsticks in half. The bundle was unbreakable, but taken one by one, the chopsticks - as demonstrated by President Shawn Haggerty – were easily broken. Lien Huynh, Llocal 175 servicing rep and event organizer, explained that the game symbolizes the importance of solidarity among union members because together, we cannot be broken. The Ontario Federation of Labour and the Instituto Nazionale Assistenza Sociale (INAS) can help members who have, or who have family members who may have, worked in Italy find out if they are eligible for a pension from Italy. Contact INAS at 416-240-1844 (Toronto), 905-529-8989 (Hamilton), 905-507-3189 (Mississauga), 905-837-2822 (Guelph) or 905-856-9926 (Woodbridge). Locals 175 & 633 members and staff give generously of their time and money to support numerous community initiatives and events. Working Women Community Centre The mission of the Working Women Community Centre is ‘to provide immigrant women and their families with opportunities to improve the quality of their lives through self-development and community action.’ The centre promotes health education on breast cancer, fitness and violence prevention, and provides language instruction, caregiving classes, work placement preparation and a place for groups to meet. One of the programs offered through the centre that Locals 175 & 633 support is On Your Mark.
Sri Lanka Democracy Forum Former Local 175 Organizing Rep (now National Rep) Kevin Shimmin is a founding member of the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum. Since its inception in 2002, the Local Union has supported its grassroots human rights activists in Canada and around the world including Sri Lankan Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities and non-Sri Lankan supporters. This is a peaceful activists group working to end the innumerable human rights violations committed in Sri Lanka and to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Mayworks Festival The Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts celebrates working class culture. The Festival was built on the premise that workers and artists share a common struggle for decent wages, healthy working conditions and a living culture. Mayworks' goal is to promote the interests of cultural workers and trade unionists, and to bring working-class culture from the margins of cultural activity onto centre stage. The Local Union is one of the largest contributors to the annual Mayworks Festival. Toronto District Catholic School Board – Youth at Risk Program The goal of the Youth at Risk program is to reach to youth primarily in the Jamestown area of Toronto and facilitate their integration into the workforce through education courses. The Local Union provides online health and safety related courses including Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and WHMIS training to the youth involved in this project. Community MicroSkills Development Centre Locals 175 & 633 also provide health and safety training to at-risk youth and women through the MicroSkills Development Centre outreach program. This program also has a focus in the Rexdale neighbourhood of Jamestown (Martingrove and Finch area). Jamestown is an ethnically divided area in the North West region of Toronto. Residents of the neighbourhood are mostly of Somali & Caribbean descent. Early Years Conference – Four Villages Community Health Centre The Local Union sponsored an Early Years Conference held by the Four Villages Community Centre (Toronto) in January 2006. The centre, supported by health care facilities across the city, provides community based health care and social services to families, and in particular single mothers, with infants and young children. The Early Years conference is in support of women’s centres and single mothers with a focus on best practices for raising children and how to best lobby the Ontario government for improved childcare funding. Local 175 represents workers at five health care facilities in the GTA including: The Centennial Foundation Formed in 1997, the Centennial Foundation commemorates a century of Sikh settlement in Canada. Every year the foundation celebrates at Vaisakhi and honours Sikh and non-Sikh individuals who excel in all walks of life and represent the best of Sikh ideals and principles. The foundation’s aim is to promote overall awareness and understanding of the Sikh culture through celebration, education, participation and leadership. KAIROS Members of KAIROS advocate for social change on many different issues including Aboriginal, Refugee and International Human Rights as well as health, anti-poverty, ecological justice and global economic justice. Through its members and volunteers KAIROS works to promote social transformation and harmony among people of all faiths. On June 10-11, 2006, KAIROS held a National Migrant Justice Gathering: Building Solidarity, Taking Action at York University. UFCW Minority Coalition - Visit the Web site The mission of the UFCW Minority Coalition is to develop a unified voice, and promote diversity and inclusion within the labor movement. United Latinos of UFCW The United Latinos of UFCW is a new group working to promote Latino culture and create a stronger bond between Latino UFCW members and their communities, and the labour movement. Chinese Canadian National Council The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) is an organization of Chinese Canadians that promotes equity, social justice, inclusive civic participation and respect for diversity. Locals 175 & 633 recently supported a fundraising drive and dinner to support the many programs of CCNC. Specifically, the Toronto Chapter of CCNC runs programs such as the Youth Engagement Initiative, Breaking the Cycle of Violence, Equity and Human Rights, and the Homeworkers Association. Together, these initiatives build education, cooperation and empowerment among Chinese youth, women, workers and the broader community. Coalition of Black Trade Unionists The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists advocates within ‘unions and central labour bodies to put issues of racism and discrimination – in the workplace and unions – higher on labour’s agenda’ and ensure the existence of affirmative action seats for racial minorities on the CLC and OFL Boards. |
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