The 8th Convention of MoveUP’s national union – COPE SEPB – officially opened on Thursday. Taking the place in the city of the iconic 1919 General Strike – Winnipeg, Manitoba – delegates across the country were able to feel the historic significance of being in this place at this moment.
After a Geraldine (Gramma) Shingoose from the Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation opened proceedings by talking about the importance of sharing stories and talking about her experience of talking about her time talking about her residential schools as part of the National , Melissa Dvorak, President of the Winnipeg Labour Council, took to the stage to welcome delegates to Winnipeg and talked about the great work of labour councils and encouraged COPE affiliates to ensure they affiliate with their local labour councils.
WATCH: Geraldine “Gramma” Shingoose’s address to Convention
WATCH: Melissa Dvorak welcomes Convention delegates to Winnipeg
Convention then got underway in earnest when COPE SEPB President Annette Toth, also MoveUP’s president, delivered her address.
“Building on our successes” is theme of the 2025 Convention, and Annette brought delegates back to our national union’s very first moment of success when we declared autonomy from the international OPEIU, and explained the courage and solidarity required from Canadian members of our union needed to make that possible. She talked about how that scenario – where the American-based OPEIU threatened our autonomy – paralleled today’s ongoing conflict between Canada and the United States.
She talked about the many successes in defending members and organizing new members that our union has experienced across the province, and how a lot of that success came was made possible due to the constitutional changes made at the 2022 Convention that ensured more money was left with locals and councils to do important work, especially on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Annette closed out her speech reiterating the importance of political action to deal with the anti-worker agenda of Conservatives at home, and the continuing threat of tariffs and trade war down south.
The keynote address was delivered by Fabrice Vil, a leading voice in Quebec on equal opportunity, anti-racism, and gun violence. In keeping with the theme of our Convention, he talked about how success can be measured in different ways and shared stories from his own journey – from his early childhood who had the opportunity to attend private school, to becoming a lawyer, to leaving that job to focus on working with youth. He also talked about his experiences dealing with depression.
Fabrice’s speech was delivered entirely in French.
See photos from the opening day of Convention.
The report of the national secretary-treasurer, as well as the reports for Region 1 and Region 2, were delivered on Thursday. All written reports can be found in the Reports to Convention booklet.
Resolutions that were debated and passed on Thursday are listed below. Visit our Convention 2025 webpage for the resolutions.
- Amended Resolution 5
- Amended Resolution 4
- Resolution 21
- Resolution 23
- Resolution 24
- Resolution 1
- Resolution 2
- Resolution 7
- Resolution 9
- Resolution 13
- Resolution 22
- Resolution 25
