I started as a school secretary

I was born in Sherbrooke and came to Ontario in 1999. In 2006, I joined Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir as a school secretary.

That’s where I come from. And to this day, it guides the way I represent members.

I know what work in a school is like because I’ve done it. I know the days when everything happens at once, the responsibilities that pile up without anything coming off the list, the job descriptions that don’t always match reality, and the sense that support staff work is essential… but too often invisible.

Just like teachers, we hold different roles, but we share many of the same challenges: workload, lack of recognition, health and safety issues, and the need to be heard and respected.

A year after I started, I became my worksite’s liaison. Someone tapped me on the shoulder!!! I was invited to join the team!!!

Then the responsibilities followed one another: treasurer in 2008, vice-president in 2010, unit president in 2011, and co-chair of District 32 the same year. Since 2009, I have also served as a Provincial Councillor and as a delegate to AMPA.

But titles only tell part of the story.

Twenty years of learning from members

For nearly twenty years, my real learning has also happened on the phone, at the bargaining table, in a school, during an investigation, at a grievance, or simply listening to a member who no longer knows where to turn.

• An educational assistant given responsibilities beyond her classification.
• A secretary handed yet another new task.
• An early childhood educator still waiting for pay equity to finally become real.
• A library technician whose work keeps evolving while her classification doesn’t.
• A member called into an investigation who needs to know someone will be there.

That’s where unionism truly makes sense to me.

Our job isn’t only to know a collective agreement. It’s to understand what that agreement means in a member’s daily life — and to know what to do when it isn’t respected.

Field experience. Training. Governance.

I have always believed a good union representative needs all three.

Over the years, I pursued training alongside my union work: college studies in finance, a university certificate in management, advocacy training, training in conflict management and resolution, and the Labour College of Canada program, from which I graduated.

I have also built substantial experience in governance, collective bargaining, financial management, health and safety, mediation, collective agreement administration and member representation.

At OSSTF/FEESO, I have taken part over the years in many provincial committees, working groups and advisory groups. That work let me know our Federation from the inside: its structures, how it operates, its strengths, and the places where we can keep doing better.

And I have always brought the same perspective: that of the members who keep our schools running every day.

A francophone voice, throughout the Federation

Being a francophone in Ontario has also taught me something essential: our reality doesn’t stop at a district’s borders.

OSSTF/FEESO’s francophone members are everywhere in the province. Their voice must therefore be heard everywhere in our Federation.

Over the years, I have worked to make that reality better understood and built into our structures, our communications and our decisions.

For me, standing up for the francophonie doesn’t mean working on the margins of the Federation. It means making sure all our members can fully see themselves in their Federation.

More than 130 workplaces. Hundreds of realities. One solidarity.

OSSTF/FEESO District 32 represents members working for three employers: Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir, Conseil scolaire Viamonde and the Consortium de transport scolaire Francobus.

It is a huge territory, comparable in size to Belgium, stretching across a large part of central and southern Ontario. More than 130 workplaces, hundreds of kilometres to travel and, above all, a multitude of professional and human realities.

Our members hold roles as diverse as they are essential: educational assistants, early childhood educators, secretaries, administrative staff, library technicians, IT staff, social workers, speech-language pathologists, cultural and pastoral animators, school transportation staff and many other classifications.

But District 32’s reach goes well beyond its workplaces.

District 32 is affiliated with more than 15 labour councils, and its territory covers 55 electoral ridings — not to mention the many municipalities and school boards we must work with.

That reality demands much more than knowing collective agreements. It calls for an understanding of political, economic and community issues, and the ability to build relationships, form alliances and make our members’ voices heard before many decision-making bodies.

Behind every job title are people who help our schools and education services run every single day.

Representing such a vast territory taught me something fundamental: there is no single union reality.

Challenges vary by region, employer, classification and workplace. The needs of a member in a small rural school aren’t necessarily those of a member in a large urban setting. Yet all of them deserve the same attention, the same respect and the same quality of representation.

That experience taught me to look beyond geographic boundaries and job classifications, to understand different realities and to look for what brings us together rather than what sets us apart.

It also taught me that union representation doesn’t stop at the doors of our schools and workplaces. It continues in our communities, with labour councils, municipalities, school boards and elected officials. It is by taking our place in those spaces and building solidarity that we can truly influence the decisions that affect our members.

Because a federation’s strength isn’t measured only by the number of members it represents, but by its ability to make each of their voices heard, whatever their role, their employer or their workplace. We must never lose sight of what brings us together.

Respect for everyone’s work.
Recognition of their value.
Protection of their rights.
And a Federation that is there when they need it.

From District 32 to the whole province

Today, I want to put that experience to work for an even broader representation.

OSSTF/FEESO means members all across Ontario.

Teachers and support staff. Francophones and anglophones. Members in large urban communities and in rural or more remote regions. Different professions, classifications, collective agreements and realities.

No one should have to fit into a single box to have a place in our Federation.

My path has taken me from school secretary to District 32, then to the many provincial bodies, committees, advisory groups and working groups I have served on over the years.

At every step, my territory grew.

The way I represent hasn’t changed: go to the members, listen, understand and act.

Today, I am ready to widen that territory once more.

From District 32 to all of Ontario.

Not to move away from the field, but to bring that knowledge of the field to the provincial table.

Because a strong Federation is built from its members. Members who need to know they are seen, heard, respected and represented — whatever their profession, their classification, their language or wherever they work in Ontario.