Nunavut Employees Union to host women’s leadership conference in December
Event coincides with National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
Nunavut Employees Union president Jason Rochon said a key theme of a conference the union will host inDecember will be discussing the work-life balance many women have struggled with during the pandemic. (File photo by Mélanie Ritchot)
The Nunavut Employees Union will host its first women’s leadership conference in Iqaluit this winter. from Dec. 4 to 6.
Union president Jason Rochon said the goal is to explore and address the experiences of violence so many women, girls and LGBTQ people experience, especially within Nunavut. It coincides with the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6.
Data from Public Safety Canada suggests women in Nunavut are the victims of violent crime at a rate more than 13 times higher than the rate for women in Canada as a whole.
Rochon said the conference is part of larger action the union is taking to ensure its members in the territory have better support from their workplace.
This includes advocating for family abuse leave for victims, a benefit the union most recently pushed for in its ratified contract for Government of Nunavut employees in July.
“Escaping violence shouldn’t mean losing pay, and women shouldn’t have to make that choice or anyone in a situation where there’s violence,” he said.
A key theme will be discussion of the work-life balance many female members of the union have struggled with during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with difficult situations at home, women who were working during the pandemic also experienced stress from trying to stay healthy.
“We know how hard it was during COVID for women and for all our members to be on the front lines and behind the scenes and making a lot of sacrifices,” Rochon said.
“I think this is a right time now that we could [talk about] things in person.”
The employees union is working toward an awareness campaign urging men and boys to address violence against women and children in their communities.
Along with the conference, Rochon said the campaign — which the union plans to launch in early 2023 — “will be a platform for members to use their voices and bring change.”
While the union is still confirming speakers and a venue for the women’s leadership conference event, Rochon said it will close with a walk to commemorate victims and survivors of violence and abuse.
His hope for the event is that “it will strengthen our union, our workplaces and communities.”
“The employees union is working toward an awareness campaign urging men and boys to address violence against women and children in their communities.”
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What does this mean? As a man, would you like me to intervene in women’s relationships to tell them their intimate partner is a d-bag?
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I know this is a sensitive subject, but there was recently a Nunatsiaq article about a woman who was murdered by her spouse. The spouse had previous convictions in 2009 and 2018 for assaults against this woman. They had four children, one of which was mentioned to be 11 when the murder happened in 2019. People will talk about the rates of intimate partner violence like each statistic is an individual woman being assaulted by their partner, but the reality is that a significant number of these are repeat victims.
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What exactly do you want me to do about that? She should have been gone long ago, but unfortunately this is a common theme. Women too often choose to stay with their partners despite clear signs that they should not.
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Save your money on this “leadership conference” and instead put the money towards family violence shelters.
Good point about $ for shelters but I suppose the union is trying to garner support for the special leave for people in abusive situations and possibly to seek recommendations on what would be useful in Nunavut compared to what gvt employee recently got, I think in the NWT. In the workplace there are men and women who both would benefit from coming together or separately to discuss the issue, to recognize it is a problem, to support each other. Women who “choose” to stay with violent partners may do so because they are in an abusive relationship and do not feel they are good or strong enough to leave and if they do want to leave do not have easy access to another home. So,while I generally agree we need more action (eg shelters) and less talk (eg meetings), we are social beings and we do benefit from coming together,discussing issues of concern, coming up with plans. Someone cares enough about violence towards women to organize a meeting about it (hopefully with some constructive objectives and outputs)? I say it is good.