Human Rights Day is celebrated every year on December 10 — the day on which the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
The Declaration states that each person is entitled to fundamental rights, including the right to equality, and the right to life, liberty and security of the person. It also recognizes the right to freedom of religion and speech and the right to participate in the cultural life of the community.
The union representing 12,000 education workers in Alberta says a new report calling for additional classroom support is stating the obvious.
“There’s nothing new in this ‘new’ roadmap. We all know we need more staff in classrooms, and the UCP needs to make it happen,” said CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal.
“The issue of classroom complexity isn’t all that complex. We need more staff, not more reports.”
Uppal said the strike by education support staff last winter and the teachers’ strike last month were caused by UCP budget cuts.
“Alberta has had the lowest education funding levels in Canada for years,” said Uppal. “They keep promising more staff, and then they keep failing to deliver.”
Uppal says the government’s promise of 1,500 new Educational Assistants is about half of what is needed to catch up to 2019 levels.
“We all know we need more staff in classrooms, and we all knew it back in 2023 when more staff were promised. The UCP needs to make it happen.”
Sent on behalf of Raj Uppal, CUPE Alberta Division President:
Working Albertans are being hurt by our provincial government.
Teachers had their constitutional rights taken away. Health care is being privatized in an unprecedented way; even in ‘conservative’ Alberta, the government is courting separatists, planning to sell off our Canada Pension plan, and is fighting every group of workers it can.
In the last month, the United Conservative Party has used the ‘notwithstanding clause’ to take charter rights away from people.
Our members are increasingly pushing CUPE to fight back, and they want to know what they can do.
CUPE Alberta is working on our own fight, and we will update you soon. But in the meantime, there are many ways individual citizens can take on this government.
We are committed to providing you with ongoing information and resources to share with your members to provide education, information and opportunities to fight for our movement:
AUPE Files 72 Hour Strike Notice
As of 7:55 this morning, AUPE has filed a 72 hour strike notice for locals 41, 43, 44, 45, and 46, their Alberta Health Services Nursing Care locals. After prolonged negotiations and mediation, they still haven’t been able to reach a tentative agreement, and the offer simply isn’t good enough. They continue to fall short on wages, hours of work improvements, limits on banked overtime and more. It is essential that we support our brothers and sisters in AUPE who are fighting for wages and conditions that will have ripple effects throughout the healthcare sector. Please keep an eye out for next steps and opportunities to show up in solidarity!
People from across Alberta are filing applications to recall their UCP MLAs; they’ve had enough of the attack on our workers’ rights and massive cuts to public services we depend on Operation Total Recall has created a site which allows organizers to keep track of upcoming signing opportunities and the status of recall applications. You can learn more about the details and steps of the recall process here. We recommend that locals look into opportunities to support or spread the word about recall initiatives in their home community.
Calgary-Bow – The Calgary-Bow recall process for Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides is well underway. They have until January 21, 2026, to collect 16,006 signatures from constituents in Calgary-Bow, and they need your help. If you are a Calgary (or area) based member, we recommend connecting with the campaign to volunteer to help collect signatures and hold Nicolaides accountable. They are in crunch time and need folks to help collect signatures door-to-door in the constituency. If you haven’t gone door-to-door before, they will be happy to connect you with an experienced volunteer who can show you the ropes and take care of the talking!
After the success of the Forever Canadian Citizen Initiative Petition, another major petition is in the works to stop the funding of private schools. Alberta is the only province which funds private schools at a rate of 70% of the funding received by our public and catholic schools, and we even provide funding for construction and capital costs. This diverts money away from our public system, which is in desperate need of more funding and support. Alberta already spends the least per student in all of Canada, and we know that our students and education staff deserve better. The petition needs to collect over 177,732 signatures before February 11, 2026, and they need your help. Please check out Alberta Funds Public Schools.
CUPE Alberta launched a campaign to “Axe the Vax Tax!”. Charging for vaccines means fewer people get protected. Families living paycheck to paycheck will skip vaccines. Workers will get sick, especially healthcare and education workers. That means more outbreaks, more pressure on hospitals, and bigger bills for all of us. Please sign the petition and spread the word that Albertans shouldn’t be paying out of pocket for vaccines that keep us safe and healthy.
The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) is fighting back against Bill 2 in the courts and the chronic underfunding of our education system. Take a minute to send an email to your MLA to tell them you’re standing with Alberta’s teachers, you’re demanding action on class sizes, and learn how underfunding impacts your local community schools. It is essential we keep the pressure on and let this Government know that we value our public services and we’re willing to fight for them!
UCP Annual General Meeting
The UCP are hosting their Annual General Meeting from November 28th to 30th at the Edmonton Expo Centre. Various groups are organizing to create protests outside the venue to signal to all UCP MLAs, their leadership and their members that they are on the wrong path. Consider joining them to tell them to respect workers, our right to fair and free collective bargaining and standing up for our public services, which are under constant threat of privatization.
Friends of Medicare – An Urgent Conversation Tour
Our long-time ally, Friends of Medicare, are teaming up with well-known public health care advocate, Dr. Paul Parks to tour the province to hear from Albertans on what we are experiencing in our health care system, and to discuss what changes could make our lives and our health better. They’ve already held very well attended events in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, but have more stops scheduled in Fort McMurray, Red Deer, St. Albert and are planning even more in Leduc/Beaumont, Airdrie, Edmonton and Calgary. Check out their website for more details.
It has been over 30 years since the murder of 14 young women at Polytechnique Montréal (December 6, 1989). This act of violent misogyny shook our country and led Parliament to designate December 6 as The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
On December 6, we remember:
Geneviève Bergeron
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Maryse Laganière
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michèle Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
As we mourn their loss and remember their lives, we reaffirm our commitment to fight the hatred that led to this tragedy, and the misogyny that still exists today. In Canada and around the world, women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals face unacceptable violence and discrimination. Gender-based violence in Canada has been magnified and amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been reports from police services, shelters, and local organization of an increase in calls related to gender-based violence across Canada during the pandemic.
The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is about remembering those who have experienced gender-based violence and those who we have lost to it. It is also a time to take action. Achieving a Canada free from gender-based violence requires everyone living in this country to educate themselves and their families and communities on gender-based violence, centre the voices of survivors in our actions and speak up against harmful behaviours.
On this day, we wear a white ribbon to honour the victims and call for an end to gender-based violence. The White Ribbon Campaign is a global movement of men and boys in more than 60 countries working to end male violence against women and girls. It began in Toronto in 1991 in response to the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre.
Across all regions, persons with disabilities and their households face challenges and barriers in the attainment of social development objectives:
They are more likely to live in poverty;
They continue to face discrimination in employment, receiving lower wages and being overrepresented in the informal sector;
Social protection systems are uneven in coverage and inadequate when considering extra disability-related costs, frequently excluding persons with disabilities in the informal sector; and,
Many persons with disabilities’ experiences within care and support systems continue to be marked by the denial of their dignity, autonomy and agency.
The three core themes of social development, i.e. poverty eradication; promotion of full and productive employment and decent work for all; and social integration, are interrelated, mutually reinforcing and require an enabling environment so as to be achieved simultaneously. The inclusion of persons with disabilities as both agents and beneficiaries of social development is indispensable. Disability inclusion in all aspects of social, economic, cultural and political life is therefore an imperative.
Photos from Say No to Bill 9 and No To Notwithstanding and Save Trans Rights Rally, November 20
Read the latest Union Matters Bulletin November
Premier Danielle Smith took an alarming step. She used the Notwithstanding Clause to silence collective bargaining and override the rights of Alberta teachers.
This is a dangerous precedent. Once a government learns it can switch off rights with a single vote, no one’s rights are safe. Not workers. Not teachers. Not families. Not you.
CUPE Alberta has fought for generations to protect the rights of working people. Every benefit we have, safe workplaces, fair pay, collective bargaining, was won because people stood together. Those victories did not come easy, and we cannot allow them to be erased by a Premier willing to trade democracy for control.
That is why we are promoting Forward Canada’s Save the Charter campaign today. Because this fight is about more than one law. It is about the kind of Alberta we leave behind. One where rights belong to everyone, not to the government of the day.
If we stay silent, this becomes the new normal. But if we act now, we can stop it before it spreads.
Add your name now to defend the Charter and protect our rights:
Here is what is at stake:
Whether you are a CUPE member or an Albertan who believes in fairness, your voice matters. This is a moment for all of us to stand up together.
Let us remind Alberta’s leaders: working people built this province, and we will not stand by while they tear down our rights.
In solidarity,
CUPE Alberta
P.S. Show solidarity with Alberta workers by joining the Alberta Federation of Labour’s Solidarity Text Line. Text Resist to 55255 or visit [afl.org/action-pages/resist/] for updates
Will We Fight for Our Basic Human Rights?
The decision yesterday to invoke the “notwithstanding clause” to force teachers back to work and accept an agreement that 89.5% of teachers had voted against is a gross removal of a fundamental right. Rights only exist in reality if people are willing to defend them. History has shown that when those in power violate the rights of one group, it is not long before the rights of other groups are also violated, unless people fight back.
In 2015, the Supreme Court established that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects a right to strike. “The right of employees to strike is vital to protecting the meaningful process of collective bargaining,” wrote Justice Rosailie Abella in their decision. Collective bargaining, backed up by the ability to strike, have been the essential tools that enabled the labour movement to raise wages and improve working conditions. This allows the creation of a prosperous middle class, which we have enjoyed for decades, but now see being eroded. This right is what allows most of us to prosper, and the ease with which our government has chosen to violate this right threatens this shared prosperity.
Rights, backed up by courts, are fundamental to democracy. Since the beginning of democracy, people have recognized that even the rule of a democratically elected government can become dangerous, especially to minority populations, if it is not held in check by legal protections (rights) backed up by the power of the courts. This is why the international movement of human rights grew out of the horrors of what was a democratically elected Nazi Germany. The notwithstanding clause overrides both these rights and the protection of these rights provided by the courts.
Our government did not need to use the notwithstanding clause – they could have legislated the teachers back to work, because the strike is causing “irreparable harm,” which would then bring the settlement of this strike to binding arbitration, in which both sides would have to live with the decision of an objective third party. Why did our government choose to violate fundamental rights instead? This is a question that all Canadians need to be asking.
What this means is that the teachers are not only fighting to preserve our public education system so that it can provide a quality education to our children, but they are also fighting to preserve the fundamental rights we all share. This is a fight that we all have a stake in. As a parent, I would rather have my children at home a while longer than have the rights we all rely on violated.
Our strategy team met last night. As an Alliance, our first step is to call on all of our members to write their MLA and the premier to push back against this violation of our rights. This is only an initial response. We will engage with our labour partners to decide on a medium and long-term strategy. In the meantime, we are also calling on all of our members to:
2) Use your networks to ask others to write as well.
3) Educate your communities about why this is important and why they need to remember what our government is doing, not just in the coming weeks, but in two years when our government faces an election.
Do you want to learn more?
The CBC has an article on the constitutional history of this:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-notwithstanding-clause-teacher-strike-9.6955608
And on the back to work legislation and its implications for the teachers’ strike:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-teachers-back-to-work-bill-9.6955558
From the Globe and Mail:
https://apple.news/AVfzq9tM3S8Wde6ndsgjH-Q
Here is a video explanation from the Alberta Federation of Labour about why this is significant for labour:
https://youtu.be/h8j-LpHVlF0?si=A__srZ050Euy8bUm
And the statement from labour unions from across our province.
https://afl.org/statement-union-leaders-warn-ucp-government-do-not-invoke-notwithstanding-clause/
You can read Bill 2 yourself at:
Submitted by Ryan Andersen, Lead Organizer (Calgary Alliance for the Common Good)
