May 1st, 2024
Greetings CBTU Members:
The Executive Board would like to have a meeting to prepare for the busy months ahead. There is so much happening quickly and it's important that we can get information to you. Please ensure you are signed up to the current Whatsapp chat.
Please continue to follow the WhatsApp CBTU Ontario chat :
We will be having a General Membership Meeting on May 15th via Zoom We are asking the membership to support.
WEDNESDAY MAY 15TH, 2024
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
We ask that all members register for the meeting and do not share the link. We want to ensure only members have access.
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtc-mtrjsoHNP9Ix3e-z7SmClVdTt99Eam
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Agenda
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Peace and Solidarity,
CBTU Canada Chapter Executive President: Yolanda McClean, 1st Vice President Chris Wilson, 2nd Vice President Holmann Richard, Treasurer Christine Maclin, Recording Secretary Andrea McCormack, Communications Secretary Isabelle Miller, Communications & Social Media Officer Mark Brown, Membership Secretary Chris Campbell, Member At Large Dennis Williams, Under 40 Representative Juanita Forde, Retiree Member At Large - TBD
Greetings, CBTU Family:
November 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of our organization becoming a Chapter of the CBTU, and the beginning of our year of celebration! Please take a moment to read our Special 30th Anniversary Edition Chapter Newsletter, where we have highlighted to accomplishments of several of our dear chapter members.
On behalf of the Chapter's Executive Board, we wish you all safe, happy, and healthy season's greetings and look forward to seeing and celebrating with you at our General Membership Meeting December 16 at 6pm.
Dear CBTU chapter members,
We are 30! This year marks 30 years of being a chapter of the International CBTU. To celebrate our history and the contributions of our members towards the Canadian Labour Movement, past and present, we invite you all to a special CBTU General Membership Meeting on Tuesday, December 16 in the evening. Location TBD and will be included in our newsletter coming out within a week. Yes, of course there will be food, it wouldn't be a proper celebration without it☺️
We look forward to seeing you there!
Dear members and friends of CBTU,
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) is holding its 18th Biennial Convention from November 17 – 21, 2025. We are proud to see so many members of the CBTU have, an continue to, step forward to announce their candidacy for elections for various roles at the convention. It has always been part of our Mission Statement to: “Challenge systemic forms of racism within the Labour Movement itself by: (a) promoting access and opening doors for Black workers and workers of colour within the Labour Movement; (b) promoting the rights of equality seeking groups to the benefit of all workers within Unions; (c) organizing and maximizing our political influence within the Labour Movement; (d) encouraging and supporting the full participation of Black workers and workers of colour in their Unions.”
The CBTU Ontario Canada Chapter was founded in 1995, but its origins began long before, in the 1980’s, when the organization was called the Ontario Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (OCBTU). In 1987, the activism of OCBTU members was instrumental to the attainment of affirmative action seats for racialized workers of the OFL. As a result of the advocacy, the OFL elected its first racialized vice-president to its executive board, Herman Stewart. Since then, several other prominent labour leaders and members of the CBTU have been successfully elected to the OFL.
While the CBTU does not endorse any individual candidates regardless of their membership status, we certainly applaud the increased number of candidates that are also members. The CBTU is not a union. We do not hold any delegated seats at the convention. Our membership’s actions are individual and do not represent the CBTU as an organization. We are, however, extremely proud to see our Chapter’s members flourishing in leadership positions across Canada. The CBTU Ontario Canada Chapter’s Executive Board agreed to provide this letter to reaffirm, for all members and friends of our organization, that a lack of endorsement from CBTU for any of our individual members should not be viewed by any delegates to the convention as a lack of support: it is our policy.
The CBTU aims to: “Increase union involvement in voter registration, voter education and voter turnout projects to advance policies that are in working-class interests and the interests of the African-Canadian community as a whole such as Black youth unemployment; publicly-funded education; universal health care; employment equity and fair employment practices; consumer protection especially against inflation
on basic necessities; social programs at federal, provincial and municipal levels; a strong social safety-net; community development initiatives and programs along with all other policies adopted by CBTU members through our demographic processes.” We show no favour to any one individual member, and
our organization has made quite clear that we do not provide endorsement of any kind. Rather, we
applaud each and every candidate that comes forward and can successfully push forward the agenda of the CBTU to create a vehicle for advancing the inclusion of workers of African-descent in all spheres ofour society. Thank you, and best wishes to all candidates.
In Solidarity,
The Executive Board, CBTU Ontario Canada Chapter
