The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, in Canada is a community based organization rooted in the labour movement formed to give voice to Black trade unionists within our workplaces, Unions and communities. Members of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists will not remain silent or be censored in the face of the horrors that we are witnessing:
In just a matter of days, thousands of innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilians have been killed following Hamas’ October 7th attack and the Israeli government’s subsequent declaration of war;
On Tuesday, the bombing of the Anglican Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of people, most of them children. Over 5,000 people had been sheltering inside. This is a war crime;
The Gaza strip is facing a complete siege as food, water, electricity, and fuel have been cut off. The last functioning seawater desalination plant shut down on Sunday after running out of fuel;
UN shelters have also run out of water and hospital workers are warning that thousands more civilians could die if access to water, fuel and medicine is not restored;
Israel continues to prepare for a catastrophic ground war and intensified bombing;
As hostilities escalate, they are fueling forced displacements of Palestinians coupled with a rise of Anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism world-wide;
To prevent the further loss of life, a greater humanitarian disaster than what we have already witnessed and an escalation of war to the entire region, CBTU demands that Canada:
Palestinians have the right to be free along with all peoples in the region to live in peace and security based upon the fundamental principles of freedom and self-determination.
For more information
This CBTU statement is based upon a joint statement from 50 other labour, faith, Arab, Palestinian, Jewish, and civil society organizations to raise a united call for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid to Gaza. If you would like to endorse the united call, please visit: https://ceasefirenow.ca.
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
