On October 17 and 18 faculty association representatives from all over western Canada were in Saskatoon for the annual Western Regional Conference of Faculty Associations, hosted this year by the USFA.

The theme of this year’s conference was Organizing for Success. In addition to reports from associations about their year, attendees heard from several presenters and panelists.

Samantha Becotte, President of the Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation (STF), provided insights into her union’s efforts to build support, among STF members and the public, for the union’s efforts at the bargaining table to enshrine workplace improvements in the collective agreement. Since the STF strike, an additional 500 teachers have been hired in the province to deal with classroom complexities and class size problems.

A highlight of the conference was the presentation by Verna St. Denis, Special Advisor to the President on Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression and Distinguished Professor Emerita, Educational Foundations, University of Saskatchewan. Entitled Indigenous Faculty: Reflections and Research on Strengthening Faculty Associations, Verna described her experiences in academia. Her unvarnished description provided insight for faculty association representatives into what sadly continues to be the experience of many Indigenous faculty in Canada.

Rachel Loewen-Walker, a former USFA member, spoke about the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion, and the need for unions and union members to keep pushing for these important rights.

Attendees heard the story of the unionization of faculty at Royal Roads University. Richard Kool, a retired professor from Royal Roads who was very involved in this process, told attendees about the lengths faculty went to in an attempt to work with university administration to address workplace issues facing faculty, and how ultimately, faculty forced administration to do something by unionizing.

The conference also included a panel of representatives from unions representing U of S employees. These unions have been connecting and working on common workplace issues off and on for quite some time and in recent years have been meeting monthly to keep in touch. While sometimes there are contrasting issues, there is more often common ground, and the open avenues of communication are beneficial to workers.

Every Western Regional Conference has a President’s Banquet. Administration from the host’s university typically provides some form of sponsorship or financial support, and the President of the university provides a keynote address. U of S President Peter Stoicheff was unable to attend and in his place Scott Walsworth, Vice-Provost Facutly Relations, spoke to those in attendance.

Next year’s Western Regional Conference of Faculty Associations is taking place in Winnipeg.