News - February 2010             Previous Month         Following Month

Headlines of the current month's news items are listed immediately below. Click on the headline of your choice to see the entire text of the article.

Local 4 backs CFIA Social Committee’s support to ‘Cammie’

as the little PEI girl courageously fights cancer

2009: An active and successful year for our Social Justice Fund

Our 2010 Rand recruitment contest: we have a first monthly winner!

Impressive results at mid-point of two-year Mozambique project

supported by our Social Justice Fund

PSAC issues call for 2010 National Access Conference for members with disabilities

Now ‘Agriculture’ is truly ‘green’

Local 4 backs CFIA Social Committee’s support to ‘Cammie’ as the little PEI girl courageously fights cancer

(Posted February 22, 2010)

Cameron Richard turned three on February 5. For parents Melissa Hackett and Greg Richard, their daughter’s birthday was more than special. It was in many ways miraculous. For some had feared that ‘Cammie’ might not survive to reach it.

As this is written, the brave little girl continues to beat the odds, successfully continuing a lengthy and difficult battle against neuroblastoma – an insidious form of cancer that is the most commonly found in infants under age two.

Cammie’s struggle for life began in the spring of 2009, when she was rushed from her Prince Edward Island home to Halifax’s IWK Health Centre, the leading children’s care hospital in the Maritimes. There, surgeons found cancer tumours throughout her tiny body. A vigorous course of chemotherapy and successful surgeries in Halifax were followed up with a six-week stay at Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital while receiving bone marrow stem cell treatment. From the very start, Cammie’s plight drew the attention of the PEI media and the entire Island community, including CFIA’s Social Committee. Committee members decided that all their 2009 fund-raising would be donated to offset the medical, travel and accommodation expenses incurred by Cammie and her family in the course of her treatment. Thanks to the generosity of Local 4 members and other Island organizations, the Social Committee raised $3,000 through a wide variety of activities that ranged from bingo games to 50/50 draws to an on-line auction.

Although not yet out of the medical woods, Cammie continues to defy the odds. She was released from the IWK Health Centre at the end of 2009 and is staying with her mother at her aunt’s home in Halifax while undergoing radiation treatment on an outpatient basis.

Our hearts and hopes go out to Cammie and her family as this sweet but tough little girl makes continued progress.

2009: An active and successful year for our Social Justice Fund

(Posted February 18, 2010)

The Agriculture Union’s Social Justice Fund enters 2010 with a solid record of achievement over the past year.
Our SJF marked 2009, its first year of operation, with an active and successful series of investments in social and economic development both here and abroad.

A special Committee, drawn from the National Executive and National Council, administers the SJF. It vets and approves specific projects and programs proposed by Agriculture Union members within parameters set in place by the National Executive.

Our Social Justice Fund supports projects, big and small, both in Canada and abroad. Last year, the SJF Committee authorized the donation of $55,915 to the following 10 projects:

CANADA

          • Support for production of a video on the history of the National Farmers Union;
          • Gift packages for individuals and families at homeless shelters, Halifax, Nova Scotia;
          • Programs to counter student drop-outs at Polyvalente Hyacinthe Delorme secondary school, St. Hyacinthe,

                 Quebec;
          • Breakfast Program at Hope Cottage, Halifax, Nova Scotia;
          • Awareness-raising on social justice issues in a largely rural area, Grande Prairie, Alberta; and
          • Donation of beef to food bank, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia.

INTERNATIONAL

          • Operation Christmas Child, Africa;
          • Community development in Mozambique;
          • Integrated rural development project in the village of Musepur, Uttar Pradesh state, India; and
          • Agriculture development project in Mukeu, Kenya.

The Fund was off to a quick start in 2010, making a $10,000 donation to the Canadian Red Cross for Haitian earthquake relief work.

Agriculture Union members can be assured that our SJF contributions are being used wisely and are bringing relief, education and improved lives to thousands of individuals.

General information on our Social Justice Fund can be found HERE. Specific project information can be found HERE.

Our 2010 Rand recruitment contest: we have a first monthly winner!

(Posted February 17, 2010)

The Agriculture Union’s ‘Great 2010 Rand Sign-Up Contest’  is off to an excellent start!

And we’re pleased to announce our first monthly winner: Pierre-Marc Deschênes of Local 80, representing both AAFC and CFIA members in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec.

The object of signing up Rands is to strengthen Agriculture Union Locals right across the country. That benefits all members. Fittingly, then, our 2010 campaign will reward Locals.

The Local delegate entitlement to the Agriculture Union convention could increase by signing up more Rands. As well, the winning Local will receive an observer’s seat to our next convention, with all expenses paid by the National Office.

And, as for Pierre-Marc, he receives an Agriculture Union T-shirt and a warm welcome to our union!

Impressive results at mid-point of two-year Mozambique project supported by our Social Justice Fund

(Posted February 8, 2010)

Our Social Justice Fund has received an on-the-ground report of the progress being done on a major two-year community development initiative in the east-African nation of Mozambique. The project is sponsored by Marianne Hladun, a member of Local 22 in Saskatoon.

Don Kossick, of the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, recently returned from an inspection tour of the work being undertaken by the young ‘Zambo ni Zambo’ (Step by Step) community development team. The results, he says, are impressive.

“The degree of acceptance of the work of Zambo ni Zambo has been overwhelming. The communities view them as a key asset in building their communities, and a way of linking inter-generationally. They have paved the way for others to work with the communities as well. Their acceptance by communities has meant that important programs related to health and development can be explained and integrated in a much easier way.”

Zambo ni Zambo’s model of grassroots development involves local communities in all stages of the various projects. As a result, to date, employment and food security needs have been addressed through the construction of a community centre, chicken production units, sewing skills cooperatives, bakeries and gardens. Community development funds have been established to help generate micro enterprises.

The series of photos below give evidence to this development success story. An earlier report on this project can also be found HERE on our Web site.

The Zambo ni Zambo Team - Sonia, Flavia, Gildo, Anisio and Antonio

Zambo ni Zambo facilitating a community planning meeting

The building of a chicken production unit

Grand opening of the Community Development Centre in Tevele where Zambo ni Zambo

will support ongoing community development initiatives

Women play key role in any community health and development initiatives -

Tevele's new Community Development Centre is in background

PSAC issues call for 2010 National Access Conference for members with disabilities

(Posted February 5, 2010)

Our bargaining agent, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, has issued its official call for the 2010 National Access Conference for members with disabilities.

The Conference, entitled Let's Focus on Our Abilities!, will be held in Ottawa from June 4 to 6. It will address the following issues:

          • strategies to promote more inclusive work environments that ensure barriers are removed for people with

                 disabilities;
          • empowerment and engagement of persons with disabilities to take action and move disabilities rights

                 forward, including through lobbying;
          • providing tools that educate and advocate for disability rights in our communities, our workplaces and our

                 union;
          • better involvement and inclusion of persons with disabilities in our communities, our workplaces and our

                 union; and
          • defence of quality public services for persons with disabilities.

Delegate costs are covered by the PSAC. Please note that the deadline for BOTH registration and the submission of resolutions is 4 p.m. EST, Thursday, March 4, 2010. A registration kit is available from your Agriculture Union Local Executive.

Additional information on this Conference, including an application form, can be found HERE.

Now ‘Agriculture’ is truly ‘green’

(Posted February 1, 2010)

The Agriculture Union has formally adopted our own ‘green policy’.

As many of our members are directly involved in environmental and sustainable agriculture issues, our Union has long taken such ‘green’ concerns very seriously. Now, however, we’ve amalgamated a series of ‘best practices’ into one policy. We’ve also created a new page on our Web site, under the ‘About Us’ menu tab, to highlight Agriculture Union policies. We urge members to click HERE to read our green policy to use as a guideline for wise environmental practices both at work and in the home.