Reflections Before the 2019 CUPE National Convention

10 years ago, I entered the convention hall at the Palais de Congres in Montreal and had no idea what I was getting myself into. It was my very first CUPE National Convention. I was new to the union, a young worker, and really overwhelmed by the size of the floor and the number of chairs in the room. I'll admit, I thought the whole "brother/sister" thing was super creepy. (I did not know the history of those terms, that I have come to love). There was so much going on - it was hard to keep track. The paramedics in BC were on strike and we all got t-shirts as a solidarity act and I thought that was pretty cool. Then we shut down the streets of Montreal and marched to city hall in support of local 301, Montreal's blue collar workers. That was FUN!

I went to the Young Workers caucus and there were maybe 20 of us there - probably less. Later in the week, I was approached by someone from the Young Workers' Committee to speak on one of their resolutions. I HATED public speaking (I was scared shitless to get to a mic) - but I thought this was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I had to push myself to do it. I remember the first time I went to a microphone so vividly. My local president followed me up there and took my photo and then Paul Moist called on me and I made a rookie mistake. I looked at myself on the screen. Whoops - that's super distracting - try to always look at the chair, it's much easier. Anyway, I did my thing, I didn't suck and the rest is history...sort of. I think for a couple of conventions at the new delegates forum, they used to use a video of me as a first time speaker. I think that's been long retired which is fine by me!
A decade later, I don't think I could have predicted that at the 2019 National convention in Montreal, I'd be attending as the President of CUPE 2950, a General Vice President of CUPE BC, an Officer of the BC Federation of Labour and our CUPE BC Caucus whip. When I looked out amongst the crowd at today's CUPE BC Caucus meeting, I saw so many people - folks who've mentored me, supported me, pushed me and inspired me. I see the members of my local out there, some of them new, hoping that they get as much out of convention as I did all those years ago.
Tomorrow we start debating the future of our union. We have the opportunity to make history - to live up to the values of equity and inclusion, justice and fairness. I couldn't think about what tomorrow holds without taking a moment to reflect on how I got here.
That is all.

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