BCNU Update Magazine Spring 2024

CONVENTION 2024 PROPOSED BYLAW AMENDMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS PLUS RATIOS

MINIMUM NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIOS ARE COMING TO BC

Critical policy solution promises to improve patient care and secure the nurses we need

HEALTH CARE MADE BETTER NURSES’ BARGAINING ASSOCIATION

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MISSION STATEMENT

The British Columbia Nurses’ Union protects and advances the health, safety, social and economic well-being of our members, our profession and our communities.

BCNU UPDATE MAGAZINE is published by the BC Nurses’ Union, an independent Canadian union governed by a council elected by our 48,000 members. Signed articles do not necessarily represent official BCNU policies.

EDITOR

Lew MacDonald

CONTRIBUTORS

Juliet Chang, Tina Cheung, Laura Comuzzi, Neil Fisher, Joel French, Jim Gould, Sophie Gray, Lexi Huffman, Kent Hurl, Kath Kitts, Caroline Flink, Shawn Leclair, Courtney McGillion, Tara McGuire, Christa Tran

PHOTOS

Neil Fisher, Lexi Huffman, Lew MacDonald

CONTACT US

BCNU Communications Department

4060 Regent Street

Burnaby, BC, V5C 6P5

PHONE 604.433.2268

TOLL FREE 1.800.663.9991

BCNU WEBSITE www.bcnu.org

EMAIL EDITOR lmacdonald@bcnu.org

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Publications Mail Agreement 40834030

BCNU respectfully acknowledges its offices are located on the traditional, unceded and ancestral lands of Indigenous communities across the lands now known as British Columbia. Update Magazine is produced at the BCNU head office in Burnaby, which is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəýəm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səÍilẃətaʔɬ (Tsleil Waututh) nations whose historical relationships to the land continue to this day.

ADRIANE GEAR

IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING

CONNECTING AND SPEAKING

with members every day is the highlight of my job. It’s nurses’ commitment to their patients and co-workers that keeps me inspired. But I recognize how extremely hard it is right now for so many of you. I’m acutely aware of the struggle BC’s nurses are facing as they continue to deliver patient care in the midst of an unprecedented staffing shortage, whether it’s working your third 16-hour-shift in a row, facing risk to your personal safety, or seeing patients suffer because of unsafe staffing levels. But I know we have the solutions to address this crisis.

In early March, your voices and first-hand stories were on my mind when I joined health minster Adrian Dix to welcome the government’s announcement outlining the province’s commitment to implement minimum nurse-topatient ratios in six distinct hospital-based care settings across BC. In fact, the change puts our province on the path to becoming the first jurisdiction in the world to have a minimum staffing standard of one nurse for every four patients in medical/surgical units 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

This milestone follows months of work and consultation between BCNU, the Ministry of Health and health employers. And it’s just the beginning. Now, we are focused on working with health authorities to ensure the successful implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios at every step of the way and bring ratios to remaining hospital and non-hospital settings, such as long-term care and the community.

There is plenty of work ahead of us, and I am more committed than ever to ensuring the province pursues the nurse retention and recruitment strategies needed to alleviate the pressure on health-care settings across BC. The government’s recent announcement of $169.5 million for the expansion of provincial retention incentives and $68.1 million for training and licensing investments will certainly go a long way to securing the staffing we so desperately need.

Nurse compensation is also critical to our success. Nurses’ Bargaining Association members received a wage increase of three percent, effective April 1. This includes an additional one percent cost-of-living adjustment increase for year three of the 2022–25 provincial collective agreement, in recognition of the inflationary pressures facing all workers today. Together with other contract improvements to overall compensation, this final wage increase makes NBA members the highest paid nurses within the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.

Safe staffing and working conditions also remain a top priority for me and your union, which is why we’ve launched “Not Okay” – a province-wide health and safety reporting initiative that will help BCNU highlight the need for safer workplaces and health authority accountability during our provincial lobbying efforts this May. Whether it’s exposure to harmful substances and weapons, acts of violence or unsafe staffing levels, we know that nurses are subjected to serious health and safety risks every day – and we need to hear from you. Visit the BCNU website, participate in our survey and share your personal experience of unsafe working conditions.

There is no better time to get involved in your union as we gear up for a busy spring. Put your name forward today to participate in upcoming surveys and focus groups to help monitor and evaluate minimum nurse-to-patient ratios at worksites across the province. Attend your next regional meeting ahead of our annual convention in May and be sure to take part in BCNU events at your worksite.

Together, our collective voice will bring change for the better. As we continue to forge ahead, I remain immensely proud to represent you all, in celebrating our shared commitment to patient care and the nursing profession. •

In solidarity,

NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE SEEKS NEW MEMBERS

Special election for positions on the union’s non-partisan electoral body

FOUR VACANT positions on the union’s nominations committee will be filled in a special election at BCNU’s annual convention this year.

The nominations committee oversees the union’s general and special elections, including elections for members of the provincial executive committee and the union’s 16 regional executives.

learned more about BCNU leadership and how to ensure a transparent, inclusive and culturally safe election process.

“As a committee member, you are required to be neutral to ensure a fair and equitable election,” says Chambers, who’s been a registered nurse for more than 25 years and a BCNU steward for 10.

During an election, nominations committee members

“As a committee member, you are required to be neutral to ensure a fair and equitable election for union members.”

BCNU Nominations Committee chair Will Chambers

Regular committee elections are held every three years, in the year prior to the union’s provincial elections, and special elections take place when there are vacancies.

Will Chambers is the current chair of the committee. He says he loves being on the committee because he’s

determine candidate eligibility, investigate member or candidate complaints received during a campaign or election period and make recommendations for corrective action. The committee also monitors voting and addresses any concerns that arise.

Chambers is also responsible for notifying all candidates

of the election results before they are shared publicly.

“Being on the nominations committee and serving as chair is quite rewarding,” he says. “The work is really time intensive during the election, but you work with a great team to get all the tasks done.”

BCNU members interested in running for a position on the committee must be members in good standing. They may be union stewards but they cannot hold a union position above that of worksite steward. They cannot state a political preference or endorse in any way a candidate in any provincial or regional BCNU election.

Each committee candidate will be given the opportunity to deliver a three-minute speech at an all-candidates meeting held during the annual BCNU convention, May 27 – 30 at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver. If a candidate is not attending the convention, they may submit a speech in writing that will be available for delegates to read.

This year’s elected committee members’ term will run to Aug. 31, 2025. Voting opens on the first day of the convention and closes on the last day of the convention. Only delegates at the convention can vote. •

If there are four or fewer eligible candidates to fill the four vacancies, the vote will be dispensed with, and the BCNU president will declare those candidates acclaimed.

DUES AND TAXES

If you are contacted by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regarding the union dues amount you claimed on your 2023 income tax return, you should provide them with the following:

1. Your T4 (or T4s if more than one was received); this shows the amount of union dues your employer deducted from your salary and submitted to BCNU in 2023.

2. The receipt you received from the BC College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNW) as proof of payment of your annual membership fee. This documentation should help you satisfy CRA investigation audit require¬ments if you undergo one.

If the CRA requests proof that the union dues noted on your T4 were paid to BCNU, you should contact your employer’s payroll department and request a brief letter confirming they remitted the dues to BCNU in the 2023 tax year on your behalf. BCNU does not issue receipts for proof of union dues noted on your T4.

Please visit the CRA website for information regarding union dues and professional fees claimed on your tax return:

Canada.ca > Taxes > Income tax > Personal income tax > Claiming deductions, credits, and expenses > Line 21200 – Annual union, professional, or like dues

If you are a Nurses’ Bargaining Association member, please consult your tax professional with questions about the BCNMW membership fee amount you are eligible to claim as dues, as your employer should have reimbursed you for a portion of the fee under the terms of your collective agreement.

PINK

LIFT EACH OTHER UP!

BCNU MEMBERS at worksites across the province were dressed in pink on Feb. 28 as they stood with others across the country to raise awareness and take action to end bullying and promote respect in the workplace.

Bullying and harassment are prevalent in health care. Exposure to workplace bullying not only affects individuals but can also affect their co-workers and people close to them, causing stress, anxiety, sleeplessness and fatigue. It is also associated with nurses leaving their jobs or the profession entirely.

“It’s important that we foster a workplace culture where we treat each other with dignity and respect. Care and consideration for others should be the norm,” says BCNU interim executive councillor for occupational health and safety and mental health Denise Waurynchuk.

“If you witness, or are

the recipient of bullying, report it!” she adds. “Talk to your supervisor, contact your local BCNU Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee representative or BCNU steward. It’s also important to be an ally to those subjected to discrimination, oppression or bullying and harassment in the workplace.”

Waurynchuk says that ensuring psychologically safe workplaces that recognize the lived realities of BCNU’s diverse membership was an important priority for the union during the last round of Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) collective bargaining.

She highlights new contract language that identifies the harms of colonialism faced by Indigenous peoples in BC’s health-care system, whether as users, patients or staff. The 2022 – 25 NBA collective agreement commits health employers and the union to confronting and

healing systemic racism and creating a culturally safe and welcoming health-care system for all.

Also new is a memorandum of understanding on gender diversity and inclusion, which specifically addresses discrimination in the forms of deadnaming (using former names) misgendering (using incorrect pronouns) and doxxing (intentional sharing of personal information, such as old photos or medical information, to harass someone).

Pink Shirt Day was started by two Nova Scotia students who organized a protest to support a Grade 9 boy who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Since then, Pink Shirt Day has become an international event to show allyship and denounce bullying in all its forms.

Contact your steward or BCNU’s health and safety department if you have any questions about bullying at your worksite.

•

PEOPLE IN PINK BCNU’s Provincial Executive Committee members spread kindness on Feb. 28 – Pink Shirt Day. From left: vice president Tristan Newby, provincial treasurer Sharon Sponton, president Adriane Gear, interim executive councillor Meghan Friesen and executive councillor Aida Herrera (on leave).

SHIRT DAY

CHECK IN NEWS FROM AROUND THE PROVINCE

CELEBRATING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF BLACK NURSES IN BC

Despite historical milestones, many concerns need to be addressed to achieve cultural safety

FEBRUARY IS Black History Month, a time when BCNU encourages all its members to reflect on the many contributions Black nurses and health care workers have made to the country’s health-care system. For decades, Black people were not permitted to study or practise nursing in Canada. Bernice Redmon broke through the barrier in the 1940s, becoming Canada’s first Black public health nurse and paving the way for many more.

Adigo Angela AchobaOmajali is a nurse of African decent and a clinical practice educator working for Interior Health in Kamloops. She is also a steward and the professional responsibility advocate for BCNU’s Thompson North Okanagan region. In 2020, she co-founded the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC (CACBN) as a response to the antiBlack racism she and other nurses had experienced. The founding followed in the

wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

Recognizing Black History Month is critical for BCNU to make its Black members feel valued and fully included in the union. “Let every fabric of BCNU reflect the work it’s

“Let every fabric of BCNU reflect the work it’s doing to include the African, Caribbean and Black community.”

Adigo Angela Achoba-Omajali

doing to include the African, Caribbean and Black community,” Achoba-Omajali says.

While a key focus of Black History Month is celebrating Black health care workers’ stories and accomplishments,

it is also about recognizing the work that still needs to be done to realize cultural safety for Black people. In 2021, CACBN issued an open letter to BC health-care leaders with the aim of addressing the “deeply entrenched and pervasive workplace racism” faced by Black nurses in BC’s health-care system, confirmed by a community survey the group conducted.

“Black nurses experience bullying and harassment. And the difficult part of it all is the lack of support they get from colleagues and managers,” Achoba-Omajali says. “Some colleagues will tell you… they’re afraid of those managers, in terms of reprisal. And so, it’s very difficult for coworkers who witness racism to speak up.”

The open letter makes many recommendations, including changes related to training and awareness, data collection, representation, mentorship and licensing for Black workers. AchobaOmajali points out that many African, Caribbean and Black nurses are internationally educated and face many obstacles to putting their skills and training to work in BC.

“Internationally educated nurses in our group have expressed their frustration at the many barriers and challenges around the licensing process in BC, which is still ongoing, irrespective of the money the government throws into that process,” she says. “It’s still not taking

away the challenges that you’re faced with.” (Read more about the work BCNU is doing to support internationally educated nurses on page 52).

In 2014, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the decade from January 2015 to December 2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent, committing to help bring about their full enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, and their full and equal participation in all aspects of society.

In February the federal governement extended the decade to 2028 in recognition of the achievements of Black nurses in Canada and to acknowledge the work that remains. •

LEADING LIGHT BCNU Thompson North Okanagan region’s Adigo Angela Achoba-Omajali co-founded the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC as a response to the anti-Black racism she and other nurses have experienced.

WHAT HURTS TODAY CAN BECOME AN INJURY TOMORROW

BCNU OHS reps raise awareness of musculoskeletal injury

KIMBERLY YU KNEW something was wrong when she felt the sharp pain in her right wrist.

“I thought, ‘that's unusual,’ but I shook it off and I continued doing what I was doing, like many of us do and I continued working until my break, when I finally applied ice to my wrist.”

Earlier in her shift, Yu was helping a confused patient in the washroom. “I was doing my hourly rounds when I noticed she wasn't in her bed. The washroom door was open, so I peeked in to check in on her,” she recalls. “The patient was flustered and it looked like she needed to use the toilet, so I offered to help, and before I could position her over the toilet seat, she lost balance and was about to fall. My protective reflex kicked in and I reached out to grab onto her to rebalance her.”

Yu had suffered a musculoskeletal injury that ended up changing her

career trajectory and affecting her personal and professional relationships.

“That injury had a huge impact on my life because I couldn't do simple things like washing my hair or brushing my teeth. I had to quit my volleyball team because I couldn't play.”

Musculoskeletal injury (MSI) –including repetitive strain – is the leading cause of lost-time injury for nurses in BC. For this reason, BCNU members joined workers across the country on Feb. 29 to recognize Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Awareness Day. They participate in worksite activities to learn more about the signs and symptoms of RSI and help ensure that what hurts today doesn’t become an injury tomorrow.

“When an MSI develops, it is often painful and disabling, and can interfere with all kinds of tasks at work and at home,” explains BCNU interim executive councillor for occupational health and safety and mental health Denise Waurynchuk. She says the main hazards for

work-related MSI disorder include awkward body postures, repetitive movements, especially the rate of repetition and the use of force when performing tasks.

Waurynchuk stresses that work-related MSI disorders do not happen overnight, and that it’s important for workers to recognize the signs and symptoms so they can report an injury, treat it and recover. She advises members experiencing symptoms to seek first aid and follow up with their doctor. They should also request an ergonomic assessment or changes to their work environment, equipment or processes and start a WorkSafeBC claim for medical treatment or missed time.

Yu agrees.

“One of the most important things I've learned is that we must report injuries right away and get treatment if needed. Otherwise, you might not get the support you need from WorkSafeBC and from the union to get better and get back to work, That's our duty to ourselves and to our families,” she says.

“You know your body best. Please take care of it because nobody else is going to.” •

Contact your BCNU Joint Occupational Health and Safety (JOHS) Committee worker representative or steward for more information about MSI, including strains, sprains, patient handling, equipment, education and training.

STRESSING SAFETY

Vancouver General Hospital renal nurse Kimberly Yu suffered musculoskeletal injuries early in her career, changing her career trajectory and impacting her personal and professional relationships. Listen to her story.

PUTTING FACES TO NAMES

Council members meet with MLAs in Victoria

THIS PAST autumn, senior BCNU leaders gathered in Victoria for two days of informal meetings, creating a platform for meaningful dialogue. Union leaders met with Premier David Eby and members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), including MLAs from the BC NDP, BC United Party, and BC Green Party. The event marked a critical juncture, particularly for those council members newly elected, presenting them with a rare and valuable chance to engage personally with MLAs from their respective regions.

Well before sunrise, in a quaint corner of the Fairmont Empress Hotel, Premier Eby expressed his deep gratitude to the nurses of BC for their unwavering dedication throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, remarking, “I know you’ve had to put up with an unbelievable amount

of garbage, and thank you for holding civilization together.”

During these meetings, BCNU council members seized the opportunity to convey their experiences and the stories of their colleagues. They detailed how the prevalent nurse shortage is adversely affecting both nurses and patient care within their communities. These narratives, filled with emotional and personal accounts, illuminated the human aspect of the crisis.

“Our BCNU council members provided compelling and vivid perspectives that starkly contrast with the impersonal nature of data and statistics,” says BCNU President Adriane Gear.

“Such heartfelt stories are more likely to resonate with the MLAs, potentially prompting them to relay these accounts in discussions with health authority leaders, fostering greater awareness and action,” she explains.

Though the topics discussed by BCNU council members and MLAs varied slightly depending on the region and party, an obvious consensus crossed regional and partisan lines: the critical need for minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

“Thank you for holding civilization together.”

Premier David Eby

This unified stance highlighted a collective recognition of the staffing solution as vital for addressing the ongoing crisis afflicting BC’s health-care system.

Premier, candidly acknowledged the complexities inherent in rectifying the nursing shortage, emphasizing realism and patience.

“I understand new nurses will not magically appear once minimum nurse-to-patient ratios are established,” he said, but acknowledged to the group that the introduction of ratios would serve as a catalyst, making the nursing profession more appealing, attracting new members to its ranks.

In her address to MLAs, Gear reinforced the importance of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios as a critical policy solution that will improve patient care by helping retain the nurses we currently have, return nurses back to the bedside and recruit the new nurses we need to staff the emergency rooms, care homes and community health programs that constituents rely on.

“The union will continue to push government and health authorities to make minimum nurse-to-patient ratios a reality in BC,” she says. •

THE PEOPLE

1. Left to right: Interim Executive Councillor, Pensions and Seniors Health Meghan Friesen, Vancouver-Langara MLA

Lee, Shaughnessy Heights

Michael

Interim Regional Council Member

Gurvir Sekhon. 2. BCNU Council members with members of the NDP caucus. 3. Left to right: North Vancouver-Seymour

MLA Susie Chant, South Islands

Regional Council Member Leanne Robertson-Weeds, health minster

Adrian Dix, BCNU Vice President

Tristan Newby, Central Vancouver Regional Council Member Antonio Ortiz, BCNU President Adriane

Gear. 4. Left to right: VancouverKensington MLA Mable Elmore, South Fraser Valley Regional Council Member Glesy BantonVictoria, Executive Councillor, Pensions and Seniors Health

Michelle Sordal (on leave), Central Vancouver Regional Council Member Antonio Ortiz, Premier

David Eby, Minister of Labour

Harry Bains, BCNU Executive Councillor for Occupational Health and Safety and Mental Health

Aida Herrera (on leave). 5. Left to right: North East Regional Council Member Danette Thomsen, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice and

North West Regional Council Member Teri Forster. 6. Left to right: Coastal Mountain Regional Council Member Angela Crawford, Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA

Joan Phillip. 7. Left to right: South Fraser Valley Regional Council Member Glesy BantonVictoria, Leader of the Opposition

Kevin Falcon and South Fraser Valley Regional Council Member

Peggy Holton. 8. Left to right: Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson, North East Regional Council Member Danette Thomsen. 9. Left to right:

Richmond-Vancouver region steward liaison Sherrill Harmer, BCNU Executive Councillor for Occupational Health and Safety and Mental Health Aida Herrera (on leave), BCNU President

Adriane Gear, South Fraser Valley Regional Council Member

Peggy Holton and Surrey South

MLA Elenore Sturko. 10. Left to right: BCNU Executive Councillor for Occupational Health and Safety and Mental Health Aida Herrera (on leave), health minister

Adrian Dix, South Fraser Valley Regional Council Member Glesy Banton-Victoria.

INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF NURSING LEADERS

Three

BC student nurses

share

their

experiences

of the CNSA 2024 National Conference

THE CANADIAN NURSING Students’ Association (CNSA) National Conference is an annual event that attracts nurses from every corner of the country. This year’s event, themed “Nursing Without Limits: Exploring the Endless Opportunities,” took place Jan. 17-19 in Edmonton, Alberta.

From bedside care to influential positions in research, education, and policymaking, the conference highlighted the multifaceted career opportunities available in the nursing profession and celebrated the diversity and versatility of nursing roles across the continuum of care.

BCNU sponsored 16 students to attend the gathering. They, along with hundreds of other participants

“I was amazed at just how strong the bond felt among all my peers from across the country.”

Arianna Rosen

engaged in interactive sessions on a variety of topics that included specialty exploration, the role of nurse practitioners, understanding workplace rights as a student, engaging in research and transitioning from student to professional nurse.

Kitimat’s Ankur Patel says the con-

ference was an incredible experience that helped them on their journey from dedicated student to inspired leader.

“It provided me with the opportunity to connect with student leaders from across the nation, causing a profound shift in my own mindset,” they reflect.

Patel strongly encourages other students to participate in future conferences.

The conference’s presenters were a highlight for Patel. These included Canadian Nurses Association president Sylvain Brousseau, Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association chief executive officer Marilee Nowgesic, Ontario Nurses' Association vice president Angela Preocanin, and Dr. Leigh Chapman, Chief Nursing Officer of Canada.

Topics covered included immigrant health, transitioning new grads to the workforce, naloxone provision, patient de-escalation and more.

Arianna Rosen is a second-year student at Prince George’s College of New Caledonia. She admits she did not expect the breadth of learning and advocacy opportunities that were available at the conference, and is grateful for the strong sense of community and shared purpose she experienced among nursing students.

COASTAL COHORT BCNUsponsored delegates attend the CNSA 2024 National Conference.

CNSA 2024 NATIONAL CONFERENCE

“I was amazed at just how strong the bond felt among all my peers from across the country,” she reflects.

Rosen says the conference illuminated critical issues within the nursing field, including the staffing crisis and the multifaceted pressures faced by nursing students, all of which underscore the urgent need for ongoing advocacy and systemic improvement.

CANADIAN NURSING STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

A bilingual and pan-Canadian organization advocating for the needs of all nursing students

“It's an opportunity that can truly shape your nursing journey.”

Megan Palmer

Coquitlam’s Megan Palmer describes the conference as no less than a “transformative experience” that reshaped her understanding and appreciation of the nursing profession.

“The interactive workshops and sessions featuring educational speakers provided a unique platform to explore

career diversity and leadership opportunities within the nursing profession,” she reports.

Palmer says BCNU Council student liaison Teri Forster’s presentation on compassion fatigue stood out for her. “It was not only informative but eye-opening,” she reports, and praised Forster's ability to provide practical coping strategies to address an alltoo-common challenge within the profession.

Palmer is grateful to BCNU for sponsoring her attendance, and encourages other BCNU student members to apply for next year’s conference. “It's an opportunity that can truly shape your nursing journey,” she says. •

THE CANADIAN NURSING STUDENTS’ Association is the national voice of Canadian nursing students. Its goal is to increase the legal, ethical, professional and educational aspects which are an integral part of nursing. It is actively dedicated to the positive promotion of nurses and the nursing profession as a whole.

Since 1971, it has represented the interests of nursing students to federal, provincial and international governments and to other nursing and health care organizations.

CNSA members have the opportunity to interact with other nursing students on educational, professional and social levels. Members connect with each other through annual national and regional conferences, member forums and social media.

With nearly 30,000 members, the CNSA is an affiliate member of the Canadian Nurses Association and an associate member of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. It also has a reciprocal relationship with the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing.

Interested in becoming a member? Contact the Director of Membership Development at membership@cnsa.ca or visit www.cnsa.ca

WISE WORDS BCNU North West Regional Council Member Teri Forster presents to conference attendees.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE

NEW BURSARIES OFFER SUPPORT FOR MORE NURSING EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES

AN RN WHO’S BEEN working for 24 years, Meredith Lapp thought she’d never go back to school

But then Lapp, who has been a site leader at Burnaby Hospital for the past eight years, started thinking about possible next steps in her career. She knew due to her role as an occupational

health and safety (OHS) representative for BCNU’s Simon Fraser region, she was interested in patient health and safety. After speaking to some nurse colleagues about different courses, she decided to pursue professional development in infection prevention and control.

Lapp applied for the Infection Prevention and Control Online Professional Development Course through Queen’s University and then filled out an application for BCNU’s Member Education Bursary, which was renamed the Debra McPherson Member Education Bursary at the union’s annual convention in 2023.

With bursary funding, BCNU helps ease the financial burden of tuition for members like Lapp who are working to advance their nursing careers. Through the Debra McPherson Member Education Bursary, Lapp received partial funding for her course. She completed her course in February.

“I was the only income in my household at the time,” said Lapp. “It really helped me and my family out.”

This past January, BCNU announced three new bursaries: the Internationally Educated Nurse Bursary, the Indigenous Member Bursary and the Student Nurse with Disability Bursary. They are in addition to the Debra McPherson Member Education Bursary, the Indigenous Nurse Student Education Bursary, the

Student Nurse Advocacy Bursary and the Student Nurse Education Bursary.

Lapp encourages BCNU members to apply for any bursaries they are eligible for because there can be many benefits to furthering nurse education. She says in addition to learning new skills for her current job and any future roles, she also met OHS professionals and people who specialize in infection control and research while taking her course.

“I used to think bursaries were only for young nurses.”

Meredith Lapp

“I used to think bursaries were only for young nurses,” said Lapp. “But it doesn’t matter how old or how young you are. You have to put yourself out there. The worst thing that can happen is you are told no.”

Lapp also supports members looking at other opportunities offered through the union. As a member of the Simon Fraser regional executive, Lapp has taken BCNU OHS courses and attended leadership events. She is going to the annual convention in May.

“A colleague of mine encouraged me to get more involved in health and safety,” said Lapp, who has also served as a worksite steward at Burnaby Hospital. “It’s been good to be involved in the union and work with other representatives to help members learn and fight for their rights, advocate for themselves and highlight the concerns of workers.” •

LIFELONG LEARNER BCNU Simon Fraser region’s Meredith Lapp received funding for her professional development through BCNU’s Member Education Bursary.

PROMOTING SUCCESS

THIS YEAR BCNU LAUNCHED three new bursaries to help ease the financial burden of tuition on members working to advance their nursing careers.

The Internationally Educated Nurse Bursary is awarded annually to five internationally educated nurses to assist with expenses associated with licensing through the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives. Each recipient receives $1,000.

The Indigenous Member Bursary is given annually to five members or student members enrolled in a nursing program in BC. Each recipient receives $1,000. This bursary reflects the union’s ongoing support for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, in particular the call to increase the number of Indigenous professionals in health care.

The Student Nurse with Disability Bursary is awarded to student LPNs, RNs and RPNs who are BCNU student members and identify as a person with a disability. This $1,000 bursary is awarded to one member from each of BCNU’s 16 regions.

Visit the bursaries and funding page on the BCNU website for a full list of education funding opportunities.

MEMBER EDUCATION

MEMBERS KEEP SHARP WITH BCNU SKILL LABS

B CNU’s SKILL LABS ARE ONLINE, LIVE 50-minute education sessions available for all members. They’ve been a regular part of BCNU’s member and steward education offerings since the spring of 2022.

“The skill labs were borne out of COVID when we were all adapting to digital-only meetings,” explains BCNU President Adriane Gear. “We started hosting three ‘how-to zoom’ offerings a day that were quick to fill up.”

The labs, initially designed for stewards to review and practise their skills, are relevant and available to all members.

“These interactive drop-in sessions have proven to be popular lunch time learning sessions.” says Gear. “Each session is live and includes a brief overview on the topic with time for attendees to review.”

She say BCNU has worked hard to ensure members have multiple ways to access information on their collective agreement rights, occupational health and safety, pensions and more.

Gear says one of the more popular skill labs, How to Read and Interpret a Collective Agreement is necessary knowledge for all BCNU members, especially new nurses who may need an introductory overview on how to read their own contract.

“We have received positive feedback on this lab, and participants appreciate the support they’ve gotten from our member educators in helping them search their collective agreement and learn about its various articles,” she reports.

Gear encourages all members to visit the Learning and Development section of the BCNU website to learn more about skill labs today. •

SKILL LAB TOPICS

Skill lab sessions can be taken multiple times

• Difficult Conversations

• Employer Investigations

• How to Read and Interpret a Collective Agreement

• Note Taking

• Union Investigations

• Union Management Meetings.

Visit BCNU’s website to view upcoming available sessions.

Please note that skill labs are not salary reimbursed.

GUIDING LIGHTS

ON THE FIRST DAY OF spring, Carly Koeppen is enjoying the 20°C sunshine while her two cats, Kitten and Stinky, fight for her attention. “Yes, I’m a crazy cat lady,” she laughs. Koeppen is the lobby coordinator for BCNU’s South

Islands region and works as a clinical nurse educator at Victoria Mental Health Center, which provides community mental health services.

“I love my job! I’ve always worked in psychiatry. It’s the only kind of nursing I liked in school.”

Koeppen became a steward after being bullied in the workplace. “No one should be made to feel the way that I was made to feel.” Only six months into the role, her regional council members convinced Koeppen that she’d make a good mental health advocate. “So I joined the South Islands regional executive, and that’s how it started.”

Reluctant to call herself an activist until recently, Koeppen’s current passion projects include representing members who might not have a voice – like new nurses who need help navigating the new grad program. She also advocates for folks with disabilities. “I saw this group of nurses out there on their own with no contact, just struggling. I thought, well, we have funding; why don’t I start up a long-term disability network? And it’s been absolutely incredible.”

But it’s the stories she hears from veteran nurses that keep her inspired. “Tell me how you’re still here,” she asks, “because you’re obviously still fighting.” •

10 QUESTIONS WITH CARLY KOEPPEN

What is one word you would use to describe yourself? Curious!

If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be? I am working on being kinder to myself and learning to set boundaries.

What is one thing about you that people would be surprised to learn? I am an introvert and quite shy.

Where did you go on your last vacation? 70,000 Tons of Metal – the world’s largest heavy metal cruise.

Name one place in the world you’d most like to visit. Niue.

What was the last good thing you read? Poem titled “Autobiography of Eve” by Ansel Elkins.

What was the best piece of career advice you’ve received? Always apply for the job. You can always make up your mind after.

What do you like most about being a nurse?

I love getting to know my patients and hearing their stories – what gives them hope.

What do you like least about being a nurse?

The moral distress of not being able to provide the services or level of care that is needed.

Name one change you would like to make to the health system. I would like to see the employer being held accountable when nurses are injured on the job, and see the burden of health care lifted off the shoulders of nurses and placed back on to the employer.

PHOTO: JOHN YANYSHN

HEALTH

CARE MADE BETTER

Nurses’ Bargaining Association contract is helping to deliver the health care patients expect and the working conditions nurses need

ON APRIL 1, BCNU MEMBERS COVERED BY THE Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) collective agreement received a wage increase of three percent. This was the last of three annual wage increases contained in the 2022-2025 NBA contract.

LEAD NEGOTIATOR BCNU Interim CEO Jim Gould says the latest Nurses’ Bargaining Association collective agreement delivered unprecedented compensation gains for members.

The raise included a two percent general wage increase and an additional one percent cost-of-living adjustment in recognition of the inflationary pressures facing workers today.

BCNU Interim CEO Jim Gould was the contract’s lead negotiator. He says the value of the compensation contained in the agreement can’t be overstated.

“This final wage increase sees members receiving a raise of 13 percent over three-years, and together with other contract improvements to overall compensation, it makes NBA members the highest paid nurses within the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.”

Gould adds that these raises, together with an expanded wage grid that recognizes nurses for service beyond nine years, means many experienced members saw an increase in net income of between 20 and 40 percent or more, depending on their designation and seniority.

Enhanced shift premiums and special allowances, and full employer-paid college registration fee coverage round out the major highlights of a contract that is unprecedented in the history of nurses’ collective bargaining in the province.

There are many other important gains and provisions in the collective agreement, and effective contract implementation requires stewards and members to be familiar with the newly negotiated language. For this reason, the union organized a series of NBA contract information sessions last fall for members to hear first-hand from BCNU labour relations staff on the progress made since the contact was ratified.

The wage premiums have made a serious difference to my pension.”

Lisa Hennebery

UNPRECEDENTED PREMIUMS

The NBA contract now contains a range of new and enhanced wage premiums and allowances that recognize the many unique challenges working nurses face. Members attending the information sessions spoke about the importance of compensation that goes beyond an hourly wage, and incentives like shift premiums, on-call rates, responsibility pay and isolation travel allowance that make otherwise less attractive shifts more worth taking.

Shaughnessy Heights region member Lisa Hennebery has been nursing for 25 years. She said the negotiated wage premiums mean she’s seeing a difference now and in her future. Hennebery reports being worried about retirement before the new wage premiums and allowances for certain types of work or shifts came in to effect. Now, she feels as though she can make it work.

“[The premiums] have made a serious difference to my pension. Previously, I thought it wasn’t

SHARING INSIGHTS BCNU stewards and members attended NBA contract information sessions last fall to learn more about improvements to collective agreement and share their experiences implementing the contract at their worksites.

enough to help maintain my lifestyle after retiring. But I entered the new dollar amount in the pension calculator it was significantly more,” she said.

Some nurses are also happy to see the new wage premiums because they believe it could help attract people to profession or to taking on more shifts, because they’re finally being fairly compensated for additional roles.

“I can see how the premiums may be an incentive for our younger nurses or casual nurses who decide now to work a fulltime line instead of a casual position because it is a significant difference if you choose to do a night shift over a day shift,” said Simor Fraser region member

Anthony Cheung “Being a preceptor for many years, it’s nice to know that nurses are finally getting recognition instead of free training for hospitals,” added the Ridge Meadows Hospital geriatric nurse clinician.

BOOSTING BENEFITS

Numerous surveys have told us that nurses want to be better supported in times of crisis or hardship. Members attending the information sessions learned more about the negotiated Nurse Support Fund designed for this purpose and in recognition of the stresses health-care workers face.

The one-time, $60-million fund is broken into multiple funding streams to address specific needs. The first stream – Hardship Assistance – is now available, and provides financial support to nurses experiencing hardship when other benefits have been exhausted. Its funding is a response to the growing number of health-care workers around the province experiencing a loss of wages because of circumstances beyond their control, such as evacuation due to environmental disasters, sudden changes in family status or family crisis, or an immediate need for food, shelter or medical support not covered by health-care benefits.

Another stream – Supplemental Mental Health Benefit – is being developed by the union in partnership with extended health-care providers, and will provide NBA members with access to up to $5,000 to cover cost of a registered psychologist or a registered clinical counsellor BCNU South Fraser Valley region’s Sukhjit Kaur works at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

“It’s a great achievement that we have this money for mental health,” they remarked during a contract information session last October. “We have a great health plan with great extended coverage but at the same time, we

BETTER FOR NURSES BETTER FOR PATIENTS

SUPPORTING NURSES’ WELL-BEING

DURING THE LAST ROUND OF bargaining BCNU negotiators secured unprecedented funding to support members’ well-being with the establishment of the Nurse Support Fund, a one-time $60-million fund that is being used to support two new benefits for Nurses Bargaining Association members

Hardship Assistance

New financial assistance is available for members experiencing unexpected hardship. This fund is designed to provide nurses across the province with financial assistance to help manage their mental health and well-being. NBA Hardship Assistance will provide a lifetime maximum of $1,500 to nurses who can demonstrate hardship related to the specific circumstances.

Learn More

Supplemental Mental Health Benefit

This new extended health benefit is currently being established to address the need for enhanced mental health support. It is being developed in partnership with the Health Benefits Trust and Pacific Blue Cross. It will reimburse the cost of a registered psychologist or a registered clinical counsellor for members who have used up the annual $900 benefit under their existing plans, up to a maximum lifetime amount of an additional $5,000.

Q&A BCNU manager of labour relations Jennifer Mark and labour relations coordinator Russell Hnatiuk answer questions about the NBA collective agreement during a contract information session last fall.

have a $900 annual limit. That money goes fast. Nurses are crying out for mental health help now and money can help to provide mental health services.”

Kaur and other members learned that a committee of nurses and staffing experts is working to establish eligibility criteria and ensure accessibility. Further funds will be established to address student hardship and other potential mental health and wellness issues.

EMBRACING DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

The ratification of the current NBA agreement was a landmark moment in BCNU’s pursuit of more just and equitable workplaces. Article 2, which lays out the agreement’s purpose, for the

It’s a great achievement that we have this money for mental health.”

Sukhjit Kaur

first time acknowledges the harms of colonialism faced by Indigenous peoples both past and present. It commits the union and employers to confronting and working to heal the wounds of systemic racism that have been evident for so long.

Those harms have been extensively documented, and are contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

SURVEY

HEALTH AND SAFETY

NURSES PROVIDING CARE ARE subjected to serious health and safety risks every day – and it’s not okay.

BCNU wants to hear from you!

The union is asking members to share personal experiences of unsafe working conditions by completing a short, online survey.

The data collected will help BCNU highlight the need for safer workplaces and health authority accountability during its provincial lobbying efforts this May. The collection of site-specific information will also support the union’s on-the-ground advocacy work at various health-care settings around the province. Members are

of Canada’s final report, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report and the provincial government’s In Plain Sight report on the widespread systemic racism against Indigenous people in BC’s health-care system. All three of these documents are explicitly referenced in the NBA contract, and represent a genuine commit-

reminded that the survey does not replace any other formal reporting mechanisms currently in place for reporting injuries, violence, or any other safety concerns

Any member who has experienced a workplace incident should report it to the Provincial Workplace Health Contact Centre at 1-866-9229464, even if there is no injury or immediate illness. Employers have a legislated responsibility to investigate every incident that is reported to this number.

ment to truth and reconciliation and cultural safety in the healthcare system for users, patients and staff alike.

Charlene Copley is an Indigenous RN and a steward for Community Virtual Care. She’s also the union’s Pacific Rim region representative on the BCNU Indigenous Leadership Circle. She sees the new Article 2 language as a call for change from the way things have been for too long.

“This article is just bringing to the forefront what has been going on for many, many, years and it needs to stop,” says Copley. “The disrespect, the racism, and providing a safe work environment for everyone.”

For many years, Canada denied Indigenous peoples their inherent right to participate in their cultural and spiritual practices. For example, the potlatch, an important ceremony to several First Nations, and was legally banned for nearly 70 years until the law was repealed in 1951. The NBA agreement aims to acknowledge this injustice by providing for Indigenous members with paid leave to participate in their nations’ ceremonial, cultural and spiritual traditions.

Copley hopes to use the provision to attend the Kamloopa Powwow hosted by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, the community where the unmarked graves of more than 200 Indigenous children were found in May 2021, at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Copley’s generation is the first in her family not to attend residential school, and she sees participation

in cultural events as part of healing the intergenerational trauma her family has endured.

“There’s an emotional gap when you’re raised in residential schools and you come from huge trauma,” she says. “As a child, my mom would take us to different powwow events, but we were little. We didn’t really understand. So now as an adult I’m trying to reconnect with that part of my ancestry.”

Copley hopes such opportunities will not only allow her and other Indigenous members to attend, but that the growing profile of such events will draw interest from the general public.

“I think for a long time, Indigenous workers have been quiet about what they’re doing on their leaves,” she says. “Powwows are open to the general public, but lot of people don’t attend. I’m hoping that the more these things are talked about and shared…that people will get curious.”

Another NBA contract success is the establishment of four new full-time steward positions tasked with promoting truth and reconciliation, cultural safety and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. These positions, known as DEI stewards, were filled this winter. Tracia BatsonDottin and Gurvir Sekhon are two members who were hired for the roles. Batson-Dottin describes the position as a “bridge” between the employer, union and members, and that will help pull communities together for one common goal.

“[DEI stewards] are a source of compassion and give strength to members’ voices,” she says. “My hope is that the introduc-

tion of these positions will see fewer grievances being filed, and the promotion of better relationships to improve the health-care experiences of staff, members and patients.”

Sekhon believes the new positions reflect BCNU members’ recognition that workplace inequity is problem and that solutions could be pursued at the NBA bargaining table.

“There are definitely things happening at our workplaces that shouldn’t be,” he says. “We’re in 2024 and you’d think there would be more tolerance.”

Workplaces that are inclusive and welcoming environments for Two-Spirit, gender-diverse and

The new contract language will produce a more inclusive and equitable working environment.”

Tracia Batson-Dottin

transgender people has also been a top priority for BCNU. 2SLGBTQIA+ members have continually experienced barriers to respect, representation and safety, and many reported being unable to bring their full selves to the workplace. NBA bargaining was an opportunity to address the issue.

The new provincial contract takes aim at gender discrimination by prohibiting deadnaming (using someone’s former name), misgendering (referring to someone using pronouns that do not reflect their gender identity) and doxxing (sharing someone’s personal information, old photos or medical information to harass them). It also allows members to change their personal information with their employer, including their legal name and gender, and use bathrooms and change rooms that align with their gender identity.

Sekhon says the changes are about creating a work environment where people can be themselves.

“No one should have to go to work in fear,” he says. “It should be safe for everyone.” He also says the changes are about a bigger picture. “When you’re making the environment safe for one group of individuals, you’re making it safer for everyone. It has a ripple effect.”

Batson-Dottin says the now-prohibited behaviours can cause severe stress on members of the

2SLGBTQIA+ community.

“The workplace becomes very toxic, absenteeism increases, and individual safety comes into question in that kind of workplace,” she remarks. “The new contract language will produce a more inclusive and equitable working environment for members and patients. And it will allow these members to truly be free to be who they are, not fear victimization and be treated equally and with respect.”

THE NEXT ROUND

Gould is proud of the bargaining committee’s efforts which resulted in record contract gains in the last round of bargaining but notes that “making health care better for nurses and patients is a job that’s never done”.

“A record number of members (40,526) voted last April during the ratification process. It is our hope that we can build upon this number and have all members participate in preparing for the next round of bargaining,” he says. “The current contract expires next March, that means preparations for the next round of negotiations are already underway – please be sure to read your BCNU eNews and attend your regional meetings to keep up-to-date and get involved in the bargaining process.”

•

NORTHERN NURSES SPEAK UP

Untenable conditions in Northern Health take their toll on health-care workers and patients

THIS WINTER, IN THE heart of Northern BC, nurses from both Dawson Creek and Fort St. John buttoned up their warm jackets, grabbed their placards and braved the snow to gather in front of their respective hospitals, armed with the collective goal to rally for safer staffing and safer working conditions for nurses in their communities.

While the two northern towns are located about an hour apart, the healthcare challenges facing the nurses and residents across northern BC run parallel. Nurses in the North have been working around the clock to provide patient care while facing unprecedented staffing challenges, limited health-care services and dire working conditions.

The grassroots activism began on Nov. 15, as nurses held a rally in front of the beleaguered Dawson Creek and District Hospital, calling on Northern Health to address the nurse shortage that has created dangerous and unacceptable working conditions in the emergency department. Passing cars honked in support as nurses waved signs that read, “Patients Deserve Safe Staffing,” and “Nurse-Patient Ratios Work.”

BCNU North East regional council member Danette Thomsen put her activist hat on and joined the group. “It seems like wherever you go, nurses

have reached a breaking point,” she said, noting they were compelled to share their concerns with their health authority, media and the general public by holding public rallies like the one in Dawson Creek.

“Nurses in that community are being pulled into the ER from other units to fill empty lines – even if they haven’t been adequately trained to do so, and that is extremely unsettling,” Thomsen says.

“It’s heartbreaking to hear about the impact current working conditions are having on the mental health of so many nurses here. It’s time Northern Health finally realizes this crisis is not going away – it’s only getting worse.”

The same concerns were echoed two days later when nurses at Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa, about 75 kms away from Dawson Creek, rallied in front of their community’s healthcare centre to highlight the untenable working conditions severely impacting patients and workers. The Fort St.

John facility, and those who provide care there, are buckling under the pressure of balancing the health-care needs of the growing local community. Neighbouring towns such as Tumbler Ridge, Fort Nelson and Chetwynd have all had severe cuts to services as well as closures of emergency departments, forcing patients to travel to Fort St. John for urgent care.

“Patients are being placed on diversion and ending up in Fort St. John’s ER, and the ER is drowning,” says Thomsen. “Not only are these hospitals short staffed–they are also caring for more patients than if they were fully staffed.”

Nurses in Dawson Creek welcomed news last summer that the government would be replacing their aging hospital with a brand-new, state-of-the-art 70-bed facility that’s scheduled to open in 2027. But, Thomsen says, what nurses really want is a plan that tackles the various crises facing health-care services in the region.

“Nurses will continue to speak up for patients, their colleagues and their profession for as long as it takes to finally see some action and some tangible solutions,” says Thomsen. •

“Nurses will continue to speak up for patients, their colleagues and their profession for as long as it takes to finally see some action and some tangible solutions.”

BCNU North East regional council member Danette Thomsen

AT THE BREAKING POINT BCNU members rally outside of Fort St. John Hospital last November to call for safer staffing and safer working conditions

(Photo: Jordan Prentice, Energeticcity.ca. Reprinted with permission).

SAFE HOURS SAVE LIVES

New report shines light on impact of exhaustion in the workplace

There are no federal

or

provincial regulations governing the work hours of nurses.

Other industries have safeguards.

LONG SHIFTS AND A SHORTAGE OF STAFF are putting patients and health-care workers at risk across the country, according to the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions’ recent Safe Hours Saves Lives! report.

The report, released on Jan. 19, uses research compiled from in-depth reviews of already existing

scientific studies on the consequences of occupational fatigue and excessive work hours. It’s also an environmental scan of work hours and scheduling policies and practices. The report uses interviews with nurses and the staff of colleges, unions and academic institutes to produce evidence-based findings on the impact of overworked health-care workers in Canada.

“We will not stop advocating for regulations in support of CFNU’s recommendations.”

BCNU President Adriane Gear

Unlike other industries, such as aviation and transport, nurses do not have regulations governing the number of hours they can work in a day or a week. This, combined with staffing shortages, leads to well-known safety risks now being passed on to those receiving health-care.

“Federal, provincial and territorial governments must establish legislation and regulatory limits on consecutive work hours for nurses, mirroring the safeguards already in place for other safety-sensitive industries,” says CFNU President Linda Silas.

“Pilots, for example, have regulations in place stating their maximum duty period is 13 hours. A plane is rightly delayed in the event this threshold is breached. The safety of passengers matters. So should the safety of patients.”

Results from the study clearly show that exhaustion has a negative effect on nurses, patients and safety in the workplace. The study looked at how occupational fatigue due to excess hours increased the risk of safety incidents, the risk of workplace conflicts and lateral violence among colleagues, and the risks posed to overall health and well-being.

CFNU also conducted numerous interviews with key informants, including nurses actively working in health-care settings. Findings from those interviews highlighted serious

safety risks and the impact of the ongoing staffing crisis, which was amplified during COVID-19.

Interviews also revealed the danger not only to patients under the care of nurses working 16-hour shifts or more, but also the risk to nurses themselves.

“You’re working with all these meds, and yet you can’t even drive yourself home ….” said an RN working in community health nursing. “That post-shift period of drowsy driving, the increase of risk of accident is something like tenfold; I mean it’s absolutely crazy, especially if you have been working nights and you don’t even know if your car is moving toward the middle of the road. Some of us turn up the radio and roll down the windows, but I still always tell myself it’s the grace of God sometimes, because you’re physically so compromised.”

Recommendations that emerged from the report include the enacting of new legislation and regulations on safe hours of continuous work, shaping the language in collective agreements regarding employers’ obligation to ensure safe work hours, conducting effective interventions for fatigue management, supporting nurses in escalating concerns around safe hours of work in a timely manner and ensuring nurses do not lose their licence if leaving the workplace due to unsafe hours of work.

BCNU continues to advocate for safe working hours in line with recommendations coming out of CFNU’s report, with the inclusion of new language in the current NBA collective agreement to help protect and limit shift hours and by lobbying the provincial government to make BC the first province in Canada to enact minimum nurseto-patient ratios.

“The safety and well-being of our members is our main priority, and the results of this report show that it is more important now than ever,” says BCNU President Adriane Gear.

“Our success toward establishing minimum nurse-to-patient ratios is a major step in the direction of protecting nurses from being overworked, but we know there is more that needs to be done and will not stop advocating for regulations in support of CFNU’s recommendations.” •

To read the full report and find out more about CFNU’s Safe Hours Save Lives! campaign, visit nursesunions.ca.

LEARN MORE

Safe Hours Save Lives! delivers a critical examination of escalating burnout among Canadian nurses due to excessive work hours, and underscores the dramatic increase in overtime and its impact on nurse wellbeing and patient safety. The report advocates for mandated safe hours of work regulations, robust fatigue management strategies and supportive work environments, paralleling safety measures in other industries, to protect both nurses and their patients.

Read the executive summary on your mobile device.

NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIOS ARE COMING TO BC

Chronically short staffed and facing burnout, BC nurses have been struggling to provide patients with the care they deserve. Now, a critical policy solution promises to improve patient care and secure the nurses we need.

IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING – AND now that it’s here, it’s just the beginning. The government announcement on March 1 outlining the province’s commitment to implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in six distinct hospital-based care settings across BC was the culmination of an effort that started years earlier, when nurses began advocating for an effective policy solution to address their ongoing frustration with the way health care is staffed and managed in the province.

At the same time, health minister Adrian Dix’s announcement was but an early step on a new path and in a new policy direction whose ultimate course has yet to be charted.

The event followed months of work and consultation between BCNU, the Ministry of Health and health employers. Since the fall of 2023, working groups comprised of union leaders and staff, the health ministry and the Health Employers’ Association of BC have been meeting regularly to prepare for the planning and implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

This ongoing effort includes establishing frameworks for monitoring and evaluating the impact of ratios, and developing polices for effective nurse retention, return and recruitment that will be crucial to the success of the effort.

The executive steering committee overseeing all of this work operates by consensus, and the announcement followed an agreement on the part of BCNU, the government and employers that BC will have a minimum staffing standard of one nurse for every four patients in medical/ surgical units 24 hours per day, seven days per week, making our province the first jurisdiction in the world to establish such a standard (see table on p. 30).

BCNU President Adriane Gear joined Dix for the announcement and spoke to reporters about the importance of ratios for her members.

“We believe minimum nurse-topatient ratios are the single most important policy solution available to address the staffing crisis that is gripping our health-care system,” she said, noting that ratios have been proven to improve job satisfaction, promote safe, healthy and supportive workplaces and generally improve the practice conditions needed to attract a new generation of nurses the province desperately needs.

“Today’s announcement also provides hope for nurses who are working in the health-care system now,” she added.

“We have a nurse staffing crisis and our focus must be on creating a robust nursing workforce,” she stressed. “We believe the framework in today’s announcement,

Ratios are a strong, simple, clear mechanism that transparently indicates nurse staffing expectations across the province.”

BCNU Interim CEO Jim Gould

along with a strong and competitive collective agreement, should go a long way to attracting those nurses who have left the healthcare system to come back to the bedside.”

Attracting those nurses should be made easier with the $237 million

in one-time funding initiatives that Dix announced to help retain, return and recruit new nurses into the health-care system to support the implementation of ratios. This includes $169.5 million for the expansion of provincial rural retention incentives and $69.5

HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT BCNU President Adriane Gear joins Health Minister Adrian Dix in Vancouver on March 1 to respond to the government’s commitment to minimum nurse-topatient ratios in hospitals, long-term care and assisted living, and community settings across the province.

ADVOCATING

SUPPORTING MINIMUM NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIOS WITH RETENTION AND RECRUITMENT INCENTIVES

million for training and licensing investments (see sidebar on p. 31).

Patients and families are the ultimate beneficiaries, said Gear.

“It’s important to recognize that nurse-to-patient ratios will improve patient care by allowing nurses to devote time and attention to patients’ needs. The evidence shows that ratios save lives because they reduce patient mortality and incidents of missed care,” she noted.

“The promise of safer patient care makes us excited to get to work and puts BC on the map as the first province in Canada, and one of the first jurisdictions in the world to make ratios a reality,” she said.

The specific ratios announced at the news conference cover the majority of the acute care sector, but Dix also reiterated the government’s commitment to minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in longterm care and assisted living, and community and non-hospital care settings across the province.

Gear says the working groups are now focused on ensuring the successful implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in remaining hospital and non-hospital settings. An announcement for those sectors is scheduled for this June.

Staffing to support the implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios requires incentives to retain and recruit the nurses we need. BCNU has negotiated a provincial investment of $169.5 million in one-time funding to address the unique staffing challenges faced in rural communities and staff difficult-to-fill vacancies in urban and metro communities. This includes:

Expanded rural retention incentives

• Starting April 1, the Provincial Rural Retention Incentive (PRRI) will be expanded to support 56 new communities, bringing the total number to 74. All nurses in these communities working regular positions are eligible to receive up to $2,000 per quarter (prorated to productive hours) to a maximum of $8,000 per year.

GoHealth BC signing bonuses

• To reduce reliance on nursing agencies, some nurses will be eligible to receive up to $15,000 in signing bonuses when taking a regular position with GoHealth BC, the province’s travel nursing program. This incentive will focus on net-new entrants to the health-care system to prevent churn and competition between employers.

Rural and remote communities signing bonuses

• Starting April 1, eligible nurses who sign a twoyear return-of-service agreement will receive as much as $30,000 to fill high needs vacancies in the North and as much as $20,000 in other rural and remote areas.

Signing bonuses for difficult-tofill vacancies in urban and metro communities

• Starting April 1, eligible nurses who sign a two-year returnof-service agreement may receive as much as $15,000 to fill permanent positions in difficult-to-fill/high needs vacancies. Eligibility is focused new nurses and nurses returning to the health-care system.

FOR CHANGE BCNU Interim Chief Executive Officer Jim Gould (right) speaks with Minister of Post-Secondary Education Lisa Beare (left) and Minister of Municipal Affairs Anne Kang in Victoria last October. Lobby efforts like these were an essential to achieving agreements on minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

The March 1 announcement may have signalled the beginning of the implementation process, but the starting point really began in April 2023, when the NBA, headed by lead negotiator and BCNU interim CEO Jim Gould, signed an agreement with the government committing the province to the adoption of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

This agreement established the initiative’s executive steering committee and governance structure and secured funding to begin

We have a unique opportunity to learn from the successes in other jurisdictions.”

implementation of ratios, including $200 million in 2023/2024, $250 million in 2024/2025 and $300 million in 2025/2026.

Gould says the time had come to push hard for ratios. Prior to the 2023 agreement, over 80 percent of BCNU members polled ahead of NBA bargaining said ratios were a top priority for improving working and practice conditions – the third highest after wage and staffing increases.

MINIMUM NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIOS ARE BEING ESTABLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING ACUTE HOSPITAL CARE AREA SETTINGS:

This is unsurprising. For over 25 years, BCNU has advocated for minimum nurse-to-patient ratios as an effective tool to address staffing and workload challenges. However, Gould notes that provincial governments had resisted the policy. Meanwhile, the existing tools negotiated to manage workload had broken down, resulting in lost trust.

“The workload assessment process in previous NBA contracts saw nurses face ongoing challenges reaching agreement with managers when attempting to align staffing levels with patient care needs,” he says, and notes the frustration members have reported when compelling employers to follow through with their staffing commitments.

Gould says he’s looking forward to nurses putting those days behind them.

“With ratios, we have a strong, simple, clear mechanism that transparently indicates nurse staffing expectations while providing a path forward to helping repair that trust.

BCNU Interim CEO Jim Gould

“I’m very pleased the BC government has finally recognized the transformative potential of ratios and made a significant commitment to their funding and implementation across the province,” he adds.

BUILDING ON THE EVIDENCE

Gould’s optimism is inspired by the success of minimum nurse-topatient ratios in other health-care systems.

“We have a unique opportunity in BC to learn from the experience of nurses and employers in California and Australia, and tailor our approach to achieve the successes seen in those jurisdictions,” he says.

In Sacramento, nursing vacancies decreased by 69 percent within four years of the implementation of ratios. And hospitals across California saw turnover and vacancy rates fall below five percent, well below the national average. Meanwhile, in Victoria, Australia, the number of employed nurses grew by more than 24 percent, with over 7,000 inactive nurses returning to the workforce after the implementation of minimum nurse-patient ratios in that state.

Numbers like these tell Gould that the sooner BC’s health-care system can be stabilized with nurse staffing ratios the sooner the province can end the use of costly and destructive nursing agencies.

The exodus of nurses from the public health-care system following the COVID-19 pandemic has seen health authorities turn

continued on page 34

SUPPORTING MINIMUM NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIOS WITH TRAINING AND LICENSING INVESTMENTS

The successful implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios requires investments in education. BCNU has negotiated a provincial investment of $68.1 million to bolster and support the growth of new nurses in BC. This includes:

Nursing-student tuition credit

• Between September 2023 and August 2026, students enrolled in public post-secondary practical nursing programs and bachelor of science in nursing and psychiatric nursing will receive an annual tuition credit of $2,000. Indigenous students receive an additional credit of $5,000.

Expanded access to bridging education for internationally educated nurses

• IENs will have increased access to transitional or remedial education programs, helping them complete their required courses and begin practising in BC.

Increased availability of bursaries for nursing students, including Indigenous students

New Kwantlen Polytechnic University LPN to RN bridging pilot program

• LPNs practising in Fraser Health with a minimum of three years of work experience will have a streamlined pathway to enter KPU’s bachelor of nursing program and be able to complete their BSN in a shorter period of time.

Bursaries for new graduates’ licensing exams

• Retroactive to Jan.1, 2023, new graduate nurses are provided with a $500 to help cover the costs associated with their licensing exams.

MINIMUM NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIOS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE SOLUTION

FOR TOO LONG, NURSES IN BC HAVE STRUGGLED TO PROVIDE CARE AMID a severe staffing shortage and doing everything they can to ensure patients receive the standard of care they deserve. For many, the untenable conditions have led to burnout and moral distress and forced many to leave the profession altogether.

But there is new hope on the horizon. On March 1, the province announced that it had established minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for six health-care settings in acute care facilities. This is an important first step, and an investment BCNU has been advocating for many years. The announcement also comes with many questions. Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

left and recruit the new nurses we need to address the staffing shortage.

What other jurisdictions use mNPRs?

BC will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to adopt mNPRs. California, Oregon and Australia already have them in place, and they have shown to create safer care and more satisfied nurses.

How did mNPRs come about?

What are minimum nurse-to-patient ratios (mNPRs)?

mNPRs are a critical policy solution aimed at addressing the severe nurse staffing shortage in BC’s health-care system. mNPRs represent the minimum number of nurses deemed necessary to care for a maximum number of patients on a given unit, and provide a simple, clear formula that transparently indicates staffing requirements for licensed practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses and registered nurses throughout the province.

Who will benefit from mNPRs?

mNPRs will drastically improve patient care across the province and make BC the best place in the country to be a nurse.

mNPRs will allow nurses to do what they were trained to do: devote time and attention to patients’ needs and provide the health care everyone deserves. Addressing the staffing shortage will see patients benefit from reduced medication errors, and hospital-acquired infections as well as a measurable and significant reduction in patient mortality.

Who is involved in implementing mNPRs?

The implementation of mNPRs is guided by a provincial executive steering committee made up of leaders from BCNU, the Nurses’ Bargaining Association, health authorities and the provincial government. The committee was established in the fall of 2023. It operates by consensus, and provides provincial recommenda -

tions to the Ministry of Health on the multiple investments outlined within the agreement.

Four working groups are responsible for the following topics: planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation, and recruitment and retention. These groups provide the executive steering committee with mNPR policy recommendations for endorsement to present to the health ministry.

What effect will mNPRs have?

The evidence shows mNPRs save lives. They reduce patient mortality, as well as nurse occupational injuries, incidents and missed care. They help create the safe, healthy and supportive workplaces required to retain the nurses we have now, return nurses who have

BCNU has advocated for mNPRs for over 25 years. Until now, however, provincial governments had resisted the move. In April 2023, the Nurses’ Bargaining Association signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health to introduce mNPRs in hospitals, long-term care and assisted living, and community and non-hospital care settings.

Our sister nursing unions in California and Australia engaged in years-long campaigns to achieve mNPRs for their members. In 1999, the nurses of the California Nurses Association successfully sponsored and lobbied the California Legislature to pass a bill that made mNPRs a requirement throughout the state, and they were implemented 2001. mNPRs were first implemented in Australia in 2004.

Do mNPRs work?

The evidence from California and Australia, where mNPRs are currently in place, clearly demonstrates positive outcomes for patients, nurses and health-care organizations. After the implementation of mNPRs, California hospitals saw nurse turnover and vacancy rates fall below five percent, well below the national average, and nursing vacancies in Sacramento, California, decreased by 69 percent within four years. The results of California’s mNPR mandate show that it has enabled three hours a day more nursing care to each patient. In Victoria, Australia, the number of employed nurses grew by 24 percent, with more than 7,000 inactive nurses returning to the workforce after mNPRs were implemented.

Where will the nurses come from to staff units to ratio?

The nurses needed to staff our health-care system are in our midst. These are nurses who have left the current system because they are unwilling or unable to tolerate the dire working conditions and demands of their work environment. mNPRs are a simple and transparent way of setting minimum safe working conditions to help stabilize staffing, retain the nurses we have now, return inactive nurses back to the bedside and recruit the nurses we need to fix the staffing shortage.

How will mNPRs be enforced?

BCNU and the Ministry of Health are working together to monitor implementation of mNPRs

at every step of the process. The ministry is consulting BCNU and health employers to develop metrics which will be used to report on the success of the initiative on a quarterly basis and support a continuous quality improvement process.

The ministry is also requiring compliance reporting from health authorities. Compliance with mNPRs will be regularly monitored using pre-established reporting mechanisms and submitted to the health ministry for analysis and integration into the quality improvement process. Metrics will be tracked and shared with BCNU through the provincial executive steering committee.

How much will mNPRs cost?

The provincial government has allocated $200 million in 2023/2024, $250 million in 2024/2025 and $300 million in 2025/2026 to implement mNPRs. To support implementation, the province also announced in March 2024, an investment of $237 million in one-time funding initiatives to help retain, return and recruit new nurses into the health-care system. This includes $169.5 million for the expansion of provincial rural retention incentives and $68.1 million for training and licensing investments. •

HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD RATIOS

DIRECT CARE NURSE

engagement is critical for the planning and implementation to minimum nurse-patient ratios in BC. We’re consulting with members in acute, long-term and community settings through surveys and focus groups, and seeking nurses’ participation in monitoring and evaluating nurse to patient ratios at worksites across the province.

Want to get involved?

Scan the QR code to complete our expression of interest form.

MEMBER’S VIEW

The work is now underway to make BC the first province in Canada to implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in health care settings. We asked a group of BCNU South Fraser Valley region members about their hopes for nurseto-patient ratios in addressing the staffing challenges nurses face.

My hope is that nurse-to-patient ratios will work. I work on a medicine unit and I feel that medicine is such a huge bulk of the patient population in many of the hospitals but there is less focus on it. There is a lot of turnover in medicine despite the hiring efforts. It’s hard to retain people these days and I think it’s because of the high workload. I’m hoping that, with ratios, we can hold the employer accountable and find a way to provide excellent care with the right amount of patients for each nurse.

One of my hopes for nurse-to-patient ratios –especially for RNs – is that they address not just the number of patients we handle, but also the acuity level. We are dealing with patients who are more acute since COVID and patients’ issues are more complex. I also hope ratios mean more students and younger nurses will stay in the profession to help sustain the health-care system.

Better ratios means better care! And safer care, too. My hope is that the implementation of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios means families can get all-encompassing aspects of physical, emotional and spiritual support from me. It also means less risk of caregiver burnout and fewer mental health challenges for nurses to manage.

NURSE-TO-PATIENT RATIOS ARE COMING TO BC

continued from page 31

increasingly to these expensive forprofit staffing businesses, spending tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to staff unfilled positions. But the grueling and unsustainable working conditions mean many nurses have no interest or ability to return, and the more than 5,000 nurse vacancies in the province are making it increasingly difficult to meet people’s health-care needs.

The Ministry of Health put a moratorium on onboarding new agency contracts in November 2022, but existing contracts remain.

“The over-use of agency nurses is destroying the team-based culture necessary in the long-term to support a healthy work environment and optimal patient outcomes,” says Gould, who notes that health authorities are spending millions of dollars on for-profit agencies to bring nurses to the bedside and fill the staffing gap.

BC agency nursing hours saw a four-fold increase between 2019 and 2023, with over 1.1 million hours worked by agency nurses in the 2022/23 fiscal year. Gould says it’s an expensive and unsustainable health human resources strategy that’s grown from at least $8.7 to $64 million since the pandemic began.

CONTINUING THE WORK

Gear says she’s keen to observe how

LYANNE LAMANILAO Langley Memorial Hospital

BRYANT GANADIN Surrey Memorial Hospital

COURTNEY GLOUX Surrey Memorial Hospital

Direct care nurses’ involvement will be critical for the implementation of ratios in BC.”

BCNU President Adriane Gear

minimum nurse-to-patient ratios will improve patient care by helping retain the nurses we have now, return nurses back to the bedside and recruit new nurses. But the promise of ratios depends on her efforts and that of Gould and a host of BCNU elected leaders and staff who have been working on a daily basis for months to tackle the details of policy planning and implementation.

“Almost all of the work of the executive steering committee and working groups involves detailed analyses and negotiations before all parties reach consensus,” she explains

“Operational considerations, such as unit and bed gap analyses, reporting and monitoring methodologies, retention and recruitment strategies and approaches to change and risk management

are all part of the nurse-to-patient ratio implementation planning template we are creating with health employers.”

BCNU members and staff on this project are also working to finalize the Ministry of Health’s policy directive that spells out specific employer obligations on a range of policies related to staffing ratios. Much of this work has involved developing and reaching consensus on such things as the definition of med./surg. – where the majority of acute care nurses work – and the definition of chronic overcapacity for the purposes of creating rotations that are able to achieve the 1:4 ratio. It has also involved discussion on how and what kinds of relief to include in the ratio and the use of absolute vs. average numbers of nurses when determining if a unit is in ratio.

WORKING GROUPS MAKE RATIOS A REALITY

A SHARED JOURNEY

Gear says direct care nurses’ involvement will be critical for the planning and implementation of ratios in BC, and the effort’s success will depend on BCNU members’ participation in monitoring and evaluating nurse-patient ratios at worksites across the province.

“The work has just begun,” she says. “It’s important that nurses have their voices heard. That’s why we’re consulting with members through surveys and focus groups and seeking nurses’ participation in monitoring and evaluating mNPRs at worksites across the province.”

Gear encourages all members to visit the BCNU website and submit an expression of interest to participate in the monitoring and evaluation process at their worksite. (see sidebar on page 33)

“Let’s do this together and make nurse-patient ratios a reality!” •

SINCE THE FALL OF 2023, WORKING GROUPS COMPRISED OF LEADERS AND STAFF OF BCNU, THE NURSES’ BARGAINING Association, the Ministry of Health and the Health Employers’ Association of BC have been meeting regularly to develop policies and coordinate the successful establishment of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. All of the groups report to the executive steering committee.

MONITORING, REPORTING & EVALUATION IMPLEMENTATION

RETENTION & RECRUITMENT

PLANNING COMMUNICATIONS

he numbers are in. And the numbers are not good.”

So began an Update Magazine interview with BC’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe published some two years ago.

These words could easily have been written today. The article spoke of “failed drug prohibition policies, institutional inertia and a shortage of political will that continues to protract the crisis.”

At that time, Lapointe was speaking to her annual Illicit Drug Toxicity Deaths report for 2021. She said, “It's hard to think of anything else happening in this province resulting in the deaths of six or seven people every single day that would not elicit a massive, coordinated response.”

Sound familiar?

Sadly, the numbers have only gotten worse. Unregulated drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in BC for persons aged 10 to 59, accounting for more

deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural diseases combined.

Looking for good news about the toxic drug crisis only leads to disappointment. More deaths, more statistics, more mothers holding photographs of their lost children, but very few meaningful changes. And with Lapointe’s retirement in February, the provincial harm reduction community has lost one of its most articulate and qualified allies.

CRITICAL RESOURCES NEEDED

Nanaimo’s Chris Bigelow-Nuttall is a clinical nurse educator working in addictions medicine, substance use outreach services and com-

CARING IN A DANGEROUS TIME

Ongoing unregulated drug toxicity deaths have nurses and others calling for stronger action to confront the public health crisis

munity outreach response. Based primarily at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, his work often involves helping the city’s at-risk population, such as those who are unhoused or living with mental illness.

Community nurses like BigelowNuttall acknowledge the daunting task of advocating for a comprehensive, culturally safe and trauma-informed system of substance use care, incorporating the education, prevention, harm reduction,

treatment and social support that were needed even before the public health emergency was declared. But he tries to remain positive about his team’s approach to addressing the crisis.

“We're doing a lot of good things in the field of harm reduction that are saving lives and cutting down on the disease, disability and mortality associated with people who use substances,” he says, “especially in the age of highly synthetic, highly potent, unregulated toxic drugs.”

The spectrum of recent harm reduction approaches includes a broad category of prescribed opioid alternatives. Community nurses like Bigelow-Nuttall and his colleagues utilize a number of relatively new pharmacologic tools in their efforts to help individuals reduce their use of unregulated opioids. The most common of these has been hydromorphone, but other novel therapies, like Fentora, which is a dissolvable fentanyl formulation, are beginning to prove

valuable, he reports.

“We have fentanyl patch programs and injectable opioid agonist therapy programs starting to become more commonplace in our communities, which have anecdotally helped a number of folks find some stability in their unregulated substance use, especially when followed by community or primary care teams or case management teams who are addressing some of the other barriers that these individuals face.

“But we're still bringing knives to a gunfight when it comes to the scope of the problem,” he remarks, and says that, despite the growing number of resources available in Island Health to help people struggling with substance use disorder, the response is still inadequate.

“The demand outstrips the supply. At our local intake office, there are up to 400 people on the waitlist to see a psychiatrist. Timely access to wrap-around mental health and substance use treatment continues to be a struggle for many.”

Bigelow-Nuttall, who is an addictions medicine consult service

PHOTO: JOHN YANYSHN

LIFESAVER Community nurse Chris Bigelow-Nuttall.

leader, says one of the biggest obstacles for community nurses trying to support people who want to address a substance use disorder is finding a safe place for them to live. If services are not available when they need them, many of these individuals are lost back to the street or lose the progress they have previously made.

“[Treatment and recovery] is a very dynamic, non-linear process of change. And when we're working with limited resources, that makes for big challenges,” he says.

This January, the provincial government announced funding for 83 treatment and recovery beds scheduled to open across BC this summer, adding to the 97 beds already funded in the past year. There are now 3,596 publicly funded adult and youth substance-use treatment beds in BC. But even with increased funding, advocates say the wheels are moving too slowly to effect meaningful change. The coroner estimates that as many as 225,000 people in BC remain at risk of unregulated drug injury or death.

Many of the treatment and support programs and services that Bigelow-Nuttall and other nurses provide to address the crisis will take years to expand and evaluate. The coroner’s expert review panel has argued that the current reality should spur the development of immediate initiatives to ensure that people who use drugs are not forced to rely on an unregulated drug supply until a comprehensive approach is available (see page 39: An Urgent Response to a Continuing Crisis).

During her final news conference in February, Lapointe lamented a "one-off, beds and projects" response to the emergency that she

“There is no indication that prescribed safer supply is contributing to unregulated drug deaths.”

said has claimed more than 13,000 lives in the past seven-and-a-half years.

"We see these ad hoc announcements but sadly what we haven't seen is a thoughtful, evidence-based, data-driven plan for how we are going to reduce the number of deaths in our province,” she said.

There is no question that, based

on sheer numbers, the crisis is getting worse. The Coroners Service’s most recent report issued in January confirms that toxic, unregulated drugs claimed the lives of at least 2,511 people in the province in 2023, the largest number of drug-related deaths ever reported. The total number of lives lost in 2023 equates to an average of 6.9 deaths per day and is five

NUMBER OF TOXIC DRUG DEATHS PER YEAR IN BC

Source: BC Coroners Service

BC chief coroner (retired) Lisa Lapointe

AN URGENT RESPONSE TO A CONTINUING CRISIS

A PANEL OF 21 SUBJECT-MATTER experts convened by the BC Coroners Service is calling for increased access to a safer supply of drugs and the creation of an evidence-based continuum of care to better support substance users and reduce the number of illegal drug-related deaths in BC.

The standing death review panel was established in the wake of BC’s toxic drug crisis – the province's first-ever public health emergency – following an alarming increase in drug-related emergencies and deaths. It was tasked with providing ongoing advice related to public health and safety and the prevention of deaths caused by the unregulated drug supply. More than seven years later, the public health emergency remains in place, and more than 13,000 people have died.

The panel has been convened three times to make recommendations published in reports issued in 2018, 2022 and 2023. In response to the continued increase in unregulated drug-related deaths, the chief coroner convened the third death review panel in December 2022. The panel’s latest report, released last November, reaffirms the need for a comprehensive and timely approach to the crisis and recognizes that, in the short term, the fastest way to reduce deaths is to reduce dependence on the unregulated toxic drug supply for people who use drugs. This requires creating access to a quality-controlled, regulated supply of drugs for people at risk of dying.

The most recent findings reviewed by the panel show:

• The drug supply has become increasingly toxic

• Drug poisoning deaths have continued to increase

• The unregulated drug supply is the primary driver of the increased deaths

• The unregulated drug supply remains increasingly volatile, inconsistent and toxic

• The current medical model for provision of safer supply faces a number of overwhelming challenges, including scalability, geographic reach within the province and the adequacy of available drugs to meet the needs of people accessing the unregulated drug market

• The medical model should be reviewed and enhanced to ensure innovation and maximum effectiveness for people accessing the service

• Non-medical models to distribute safer supply are needed

• Existing responses, initiatives and services, and their associated allocated resources, have not been commensurate with the urgency, magnitude and scope of the crisis

• First Nations people are disproportionately affected by the public health emergency

• Individuals who are living in poverty, and those with housing instability, are particularly vulnerable

• Effective interventions for youth at risk of death and injury from the unregulated drug supply are also needed

• This is a province-wide health and social issue. While the highest rate of death is in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, deaths are increasing in

urban, rural and remote centres throughout BC.

• Due to the rapidly changing unregulated drug supply, interventions need to be monitored and quickly adapted to remain effective

• People with lived and living experience must be involved in planning and implementation as they are experts on their own needs and have a realtime understanding of the rapidly evolving crisis itself

Reaffirming the need for a comprehensive strategy to address the ongoing crisis, the panel focused on short-term priorities intended to significantly reduce preventable deaths caused by the unregulated drug supply. The panel’s advice includes four recommendations for the adoption, implementation and evaluation of non-prescribed access to quality-controlled, regulated alternatives that it says would urgently reduce the number of people dying:

Immediately apply to the federal Minister of Health and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions for a class exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow access without a prescription to the class of opioid and stimulant drugs

Develop an application for agencies to apply for licensure and delegated authority to distribute the regulated substances on a non-prescription basis

Engage with people with lived and living experience with substance use and family/caregivers to ensure the planning, implementation, and evaluation process meets the needs of people most at risk of dying from the unregulated drug supply

Respect Indigenous self-determination and further fund, support and engage with Indigenous leadership to identify Indigenous solutions to the crisis that could include but are not limited to recommendations 1 to 3 Read

TAKING ACTION

NO END IN SIGHT AND MUCH MORE TO BE DONE

BC HAS BEEN IN A TOXIC DRUG public health emergency for eight years. In that time, we will have lost more than 13,000 people to the toxic supply of opioids. Thousands of years of life and potential gone. We must turn this tide. Heath-care and policy leaders from all quarters – from the Coroners Service to the Association of Chiefs of Police to health-care providers and community advocates – agree that action must be taken in four broad areas:

PROVIDE ONGOING HARM REDUCTION MEASURES such as the widespread provision of naloxone, the expansion of overdose prevention sites, supervised consumption sites and drug checking services

INCREASE ACCESS TO SAFE SUPPLY with prescribed pharmaceutical alternatives to reduce drug users’ reliance on a profit-driven illegal drug trade that depends on growing its customer base to increase its profits. Encouraging nurses and physicians to prescribe alternatives to their patients will save lives

BUILD PROVINCIAL MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT AND RECOVERY SERVICES that are regulated, evidence-based and economically and geographically accessible, and ensure this treatment is available when people are looking for it. Waiting weeks and months for access to recovery and treatment services means the difference between life and death

END THE CRIMINALIZATION OF PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS. We know that decades of stigma and punishment have brought us to the devastating place we are in today. We need to move from punishing and blaming to supporting and healing

percent more than the previous high of 2,383 deaths recorded a year earlier in 2022.

"As we approach the eighth anniversary of the declaration of the public-health emergency that has cost so many lives across BC, our province needs a coordinated, evidence-based response that is commensurate with the scale of this health crisis,” said Lapointe.

“Deaths due to drug toxicity are preventable and I urge our political leaders at all levels to collaborate on a thoughtful, comprehensive plan that puts people first.”

Bigelow-Nuttall and other community nurses know the death rate could be lowered if basic human needs were met.

“Whether people are using substances or not, if we can get them under a roof, into a bed, food in their belly, physical and environmental safety, their level of health and wellbeing will increase regardless of whether they're continuing their substance use,” he says, noting how these humane measures give health-care workers time to assess, stabilize and connect people to the appropriate resources while they wait for their detox or treatment bed to come up.

“Patients need timely access to supportive recovery infrastructure and programming to fill the gaps [when they are] between detox and treatment,” Bigelow-Nuttall explains.

For BCNU President Adriane Gear, the coroner’s most recent report is a reminder of how much work still needs to be done to address the crisis – and the devasating toll it is taking on some of the most marginalized in society.

“BCNU is renewing its call for an immediate expansion of harm

reduction strategies, and in doing so, we acknowledge that the rate of drug poisoning deaths among Indigenous people in BC is over four times higher than that of other residents,” she says.

Gear is also calling on politicians to listen to nurses like BigelowNuttall when responding to the crisis.

“Nurses and other health-care providers can offer their wisdom and knowledge to create a more equitable health-care system – one that approaches the health-care needs of persons coping with substance use issues from a perspective of harm reduction – with kindness and compassion,” she argues.

SUPPORTING A REGULATED SUPPLY

The gravity of the public health crisis has not prevented some politicians from ignoring the evidence and advice of health-care workers and harm reduction advocates and calling for the reversal of initiatives that have saved lives.

This includes opposition to even the limited expansion of safe supply programs to prevent more deaths. The most recent Coroners Service toxicological testing confirms that illegal fentanyl continues to drive the health crisis. Fentanyl and its analogues were by far the most regularly detected substances, appearing in more than 85 percent of test results conducted in 2023.

“There is no indication that prescribed safer supply is contributing to unregulated drug deaths,” wrote Lapointe in her final report.

Nevertheless, many public health advocates are frustrated by populist legislators like federal opposition leader Pierre Poilievre

“When we're working with limited resources, that makes for big challenges.”

Chris Bigelow-Nuttall

and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, whom they say have been oversimplifying the issues for their own partisan interests, and are blaming substance users for their own deaths.

Bigelow-Nuttall believes disparate views on the correct path forward in an era of political and social polarization are stalling real progress. He points out the current NDP government’s reluctance to fully engage in harm reduction strategies surrounding broader access to a supply of consistently

dosed, unadulterated, predictable, and regulated substances.

“I think they are hesitant to provide widespread access to safer supply, likely due to the large social and political backlash to the concept, and especially in an election year,” he notes.

“Until we address the elephant in the room, which is the ongoing illicit supply of toxic and unregulated drugs that are directly contributing to the deaths of so many people, I’m not optimistic we’re going to see the numbers of toxic

drug deaths decreasing.”

Last November, Minister of Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside rejected the Coroners Service Death Review Panel’s urgent recommendation to expand safe supply by allowing agencies to apply for licensure and delegated authority to distribute regulated substances on a non-prescription basis. She responded that non-prescription models for the delivery of pharmaceutical alternatives are not under her ministry’s consideration, and noted the provincial government’s expansion of access to mental health and addiction care.

Bigelow-Nuttall is not impressed with the oversimplified discourse surrounding the problem. “We often see the pitting of harm reduction against recovery,” he says. “But harm reduction is recovery, and recovery is harm reduction –

LIFELINE Harm reduction advocate Chris Bigelow-Nuttall says far more resources and leadership are needed so community nurses like him can effectively address the province’s ongoing toxic drug crisis.

it’s not black or white. There are many shades of grey in such a complicated and nuanced process of change,” he explains.

“And we have to recognize that we need investments in both harm reduction and recovery-oriented services. People can’t recover if they’re dead.”

In the meantime, Bigelow-Nuttall says public health orders expanding nurses' scope of practice and authorizing RNs and RPNs to prescribe pharmaceutical alternatives to toxic street drugs have been an important part of the solution to addressing the crisis.

“I know that having advanced practice nurses prescribing opiate agonist therapies is life saving for members of those communities where there is an acute shortage of prescribing physicians and a lack of addiction medicine specialty services,” he says.

KEEPING NURSES SAFE

Safeguarding members’ well-being will always be BCNU’s number one priority, and there is no shortage of health and safety issues health employers should be addressing more effectively. One of these is exposure to substances used by patients in nurses’ care.

On Jan. 31, 2023, the federal government granted the province a three-year exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to remove criminal penalties for people who possess a small amount of certain illicit substances for personal use.

Decriminalization means people in possession of 2.5 grams or less of certain illicit substances will no longer be arrested, charged or have their drugs seized. The primary

“I’m not optimistic we’re going to see the numbers of toxic drug deaths decreasing.”

Chris Bigelow-Nuttall

goal of decriminalization is to destigmatize substance use and thereby improve access to health and social services. The move is an important part of BC’s response to the toxic drug crisis.

Since the exemption, however, some nurses have raised concerns about patients’ possession and consumption of substances within health-care facilities. Gear says health employers need to be doing more to enforce policies that guide practice and keep patients and workers safe.

“It is imperative that all health employers have occupational health and safety policies and procedures in place to guide safe patient possession and consumption while in care,” she says. “This includes exposure control plans for illicit substances that contains effective risk assessment procedures to address patient possession and consumption.”

Gear says harm reduction strategies cannot come at the cost of nurses’ safety. She encourages any concerned member to talk to their manager, professional practice lead or clinical nurse educator, and to contact healthandsafety@bcnu.org if no guidelines are available or direction seems incomplete.

Bigelow-Nuttall echoes BCNU’s support for strategies that ensure the rights of nurses and health-

care workers to facilitate harm reduction in safe and inclusive work environments. This includes psychologically healthy workplaces that reduce the moral injury community nurses confronting the toxic drug crisis commonly experience.

“We continue to see some folks getting discharged from treatment back to the streets, which is terrible. Some of those folks will die because of it, and most will inevitably relapse because of the current lack of longer-term follow-up supports,” he reports, adding that efforts to provide safe and affordable recovery-oriented housing must be dramatically scaled up.

The statistics on deaths from the poisoned drug supply are devastating, but Bigelow-Nuttall says he is not giving up.

“Looking to the future, I hope to see significant investments in longer-term supportive recovery housing and the development of holistic therapeutic communities that will help people maintain the positive changes they have made,” he says.

“Recovery from substance use disorder can be a long journey, and a diverse number of supports needs to be in place to maximize people’s chances of success.”

And with hope, soon, the coroner’s numbers will reflect those successes. •

MONDAY, May 27

2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Convention Check-in

3:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. Delegate WHIP Information Meeting

3:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. Scrutineer and Sergeant-atArms Meeting

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. New Delegate Session

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Dinner Break

7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Meet and Greet

TUESDAY, May 28

7:00 a.m. – 7:45 a.m. Wellness Activity

7:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Convention Check-in

8:30 a.m. – 8:35 a.m. Call to Order

8:35 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Indigenous Welcome/Blessing

8:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Moment of Silence Introductions and Climate Goals

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. President's Opening Remarks

9:30 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. Vice President's Report

9:50 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Executive Councillor's ReportOHS and Mental Health

10:00 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Executive Councillor's ReportPensions and Seniors

10:10 a.m. – 10:40 a.m. Health Break

10:40 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Finance Report

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. CEO and COO Report

11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Finance Report

12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Q&A on Reports

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Health Break

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Open Forum

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Keynote

5:30 p.m. Day 1 Adjournment

5:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. Resolutions Committee Meeting

WEDNESDAY, May 29

7:00 a.m. – 7:45 a.m. Wellness Activity

8:30 a.m. – 8:35 a.m. Call to Order

8:35 a.m. – 8:50 a.m. CFNU Update

8:50 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Bylaws and Resolutions

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Health Break

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Bylaws and Resolutions

12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Bylaws and Resolutions

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. BCNU Leadership Awards and Closing Remarks

3:30 p.m. Day 2 Adjournment

5:30 p.m. – 10:15 p.m. No-host Bar

6:15 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. Banquet

THURSDAY, May 30

9:00 a.m. – 9:05 a.m. Call to Order

9:05 a.m. – 9:10 a.m. Year in Review Video

9:10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Bylaws and Resolutions

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Health Break

10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Bylaws and Resolutions

11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Rally Prep

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Rally

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Lunch Break

2:30 p.m. – 2:35 p.m. Education Offerings (BLC) Video

2:35 p.m. – 3:55 p.m. Bylaws and Resolutions

3:55 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Rally Summary Video

4:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Closing Remarks (President)

4:15 p.m. Day 3 Adjournment

The agenda is tentative and may be adjusted prior to convention.

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION AND BYLAW AMENDMENTS

AMENDMENT 1

BYLAW ARTICLE 5 – ELECTIONS

CURRENT WORDING

5.05(d) To prepare and present the ticket of nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee and for Regional Council Members to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Replace “To prepare and present the ticket of nominations {…}” with “To prepare, present and, where necessary, amend, the ticket of nominations {…}”

5.05(d) To prepare, present, and, where necessary, amend, the ticket of nominations for the offices of the Provincial Executive Committee and for Regional Council members to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

Moved by: Council

Seconded by: Scott Duvall

Costing: $0

AMENDMENT 2

BYLAW ARTICLE 7 – COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

CURRENT WORDING

7.08 All Member representatives of the NBA bargaining committee will be elected by delegates of the provincial bargaining conference.

Moved by: Stephanie Phoenix

Seconded by: Jodene Loewen

Costing: $8,500

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Replace “delegates of the provincial bargaining conference” with “members of the province”.

7.08 All Member representatives of the NBA bargaining committee will be elected by members of the province

AMENDMENT 3

BYLAW ARTICLE 4 – BCNU REGIONS

CURRENT WORDING

4.02(h) Pacific Rim –1 Council Member.

Moved by: Gerrie Miller

Seconded by: Kelly Woywitka

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Replace “1 Council Member” with “2 Council Members”.

Costing: $239,800 (total cost inclusive of compensation and meetings)

4.02(h) Pacific Rim –2 Council Members

AMENDMENT 4

BYLAW ARTICLE 1 – MEMBERSHIP

CURRENT WORDING

1.04 A Member who is employed by any other NBA union, is not entitled to:

(a) Attend Meetings;

(b) Hold an Elected Position; or

(c) Fill a temporary or permanent BCNU Staff position.

Moved by: Tristan Newby

Seconded by: Glesy Banton-Victoria

Costing: $0

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Add “or in any excluded position with any health employer” after “union”.

1.04 A Member who is employed by any other NBA union, or in any excluded position with any health employer, is not entitled to:

(a) Attend Meetings;

(b) Hold an Elected Position; or

(c) Fill a temporary or permanent BCNU Staff position.

AMENDMENT 5

BYLAW ARTICLE 7 – COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

CURRENT WORDING

7.08 All Member representatives of the NBA bargaining committee will be elected by delegates of the provincial bargaining conference.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

7.08 All Member representatives of the NBA bargaining committee will be elected by delegates of the provincial bargaining conference.

Moved by: Wendy Gibbs

Seconded by: Sharon Sponton

Costing: Dependent upon bargaining

Add new language “7.09 All Member representatives of the NBA bargaining committee, except for the President, will be put on paid union leave from their employer or their elected position, as deemed necessary by Council, in consultation with the NBA bargaining spokesperson.”

Re-number remaining articles 7.09-7.12

7.09

All Member representatives of the NBA bargaining committee, except for the President, will be put on paid union leave from their employer or their elected position, as deemed necessary by Council, in consultation with the NBA bargaining spokesperson.

Re-number remaining articles to 7.10 – 7.13

Continued on next page

The agenda is tentative and may be adjusted prior to convention.

RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION 1

Health and Safety App

Whereas, BCNU’s mission is to protect and advance the health and safety of its members;

Whereas, it has been voiced by multiple members at multiple BCNU meetings and recognized by our current Occupational Health and Safety department that the current OHS reporting system is too lengthy a process which can result in reduced incidents reported as well as trauma to the member from frequent reporting to various people and agencies1; and

Therefore be BCNU will develop a Health and Safety APP for BCNU members to report workplace health and safety it resolved, issues; and

Be it further BCNU will lobby the Ministry of Health and the Health Employers Association of British Columbia to allow resolved that, the Health and Safety App to be used as part of the provincial reporting system.

Moved by: Stephanie Phoenix

Seconded by: Jodene Loewen

Costing: Maximum $150,000

RESOLUTION 2

Digital Broadcasting and Recording of Council Meetings

Whereas, BCNU’s Constitution Article 2.07 states BCNU will strive to eliminate barriers to Members’ involvement and inclusion in BCNU activities;

Whereas, the office boardroom located at 4060 Regent St has limited capacity to accommodate meeting attendees;

Whereas, the BCNU Constitution & Bylaws does not include any article limiting attendees to BCNU board meetings;

Whereas, BCNU members have repeatedly made statements regarding a lack of transparency with respect to the way BCNU makes decisions and carries out the business of the union;

Whereas, BCNU is capable of hosting large townhalls and meetings on zoom; and

Therefore be BCNU Council Meetings, not including in-camera sessions, be broadcast digitally and live, commencing it resolved that, January 1, 2025; and

Be it further BCNU Council Meetings, not including in-camera sessions, be recorded and available to members via the resolved that, member portal, for a maximum of three (3) months from the recording date, and then destroyed.

Moved by: Candi DeSousa

Seconded by: Peggy Holton

Costing: $30,420

RESOLUTION 3

Investigation of MPP Investments

Whereas, BCNU members’ MPP investments may be invested in weapons production through the Municipal Pension Plan;

Whereas, BCNU’s mission states the Union protects and advances the health, safety, social and economic well-being of our members, our profession and our communities;

Whereas, BCNU’s 2020-2024 Strategic Directions section 4.1 states ensuring BCNU values are the foundation of our decisions, policies, procedures, and actions;

Whereas, BCNU core values include solidarity, integrity, and social justice; and

Therefore be it BCNU investigate members’ MPP investments in weapons production which may conflict with resolved that, BCNU’s mission statement, core values and strategic directions; and

Be it further BCNU will report findings of the investigation, provide recommendations to the membership at a resolved that, future convention, and post the findings on the Member Portal.

Moved by: Ben Fussell

Seconded by: Camille Lefort

Costing: Maximum $30,000

RESOLUTION 4

Human Rights and Equity Caucus and Network Name Change

Whereas, Current BCNU Policy 5.4.13 Human Rights and Equity Caucus and Non-Equity Seeking Group Name Changes requires a minimum of 10 (ten) representatives to propose a name change;

Whereas, the provincial multiple HRE caucuses frequently have less than 10 seats filled; and

Therefore be it the required number of caucus or network members voting in favour of a proposed name resolved that, change be amended to five (5).

Moved by: Courtney Blake

Seconded by: Frances Beswick

Costing: $0

Continued on next page

RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION 5

Respectful Workplace in BCNU

Whereas, BCNU subscribes to the principles of the Human Rights Code of British Columbia, which prohibits discrimination because of a person’s Indigenous identity, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, political belief, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age of that person, because that person has been convicted of a criminal or summary conviction offence that is unrelated to the employment or to the intended employment of that person, or other applicable protected grounds that may be added to the Human Rights Code1;

Whereas, BCNU’s Constitution Article 2.07 states an objective is to promote human rights and equity and strive to eliminate barriers to Members’ involvement and inclusion in BCNU activities2;

Whereas, BCNU protects and advances the health, safety, social and economic well-being of our members, our profession, and our communities;

Whereas, BCNU agrees that there shall be no discrimination, interference, restriction, or coercion exercised or practiced with respect to any Member or Staff for reason of union membership or activity3; and

Therefore be BCNU recognizes the right of Members and Staff to have a respectful workplace free it resolved that, from bullying and harassment, including but not limited to bullying and harassment based upon protected grounds;

Be it further BCNU will take all reasonable steps to minimize all forms of workplace bullying and harassment; resolved that,

Be it further BCNU will review internal policies and practices related to respectful workplace for both Members resolved that, and Staff; and

Be it further BCNU will provide a report with recommendations and actioned items to the following Annual resolved that, Convention.

Moved by: Paddy Kopieczek

Seconded by: Shelley Knowles

Costing: $0

RESOLUTION 6

HRE Representatives

Whereas, Human Rights and Equity (HRE) caucus and network representative roles are historically rarely filled in each region and most roles are filled by acclamation due to the low number of candidates running;

Whereas, BCNU has made commitments to advancing the principles of Truth and Reconciliation, diversity, equity, and inclusion;

Whereas, Council, despite strong and unanimous disagreement from the HRE provincial caucus and network chairs, revised policies in September 2023 impacting full-time stewards, stewards-at-large, and Enhanced Disability Management Program (EDMP) representatives preventing them from also holding HRE representative positions; and

Therefore be it any member in good standing who self-identifies with one of the caucuses or networks, and resolved that, holds a fulltime steward, steward-at-large, or EDMP Representative position, will be eligible to also hold the positions of regional HRE representative and provincial caucus or network chair, if so elected or acclaimed.

Moved by: Frances Beswick

Seconded by: Tracia Batson-Dottin

Costing: $0

RESOLUTION 7

Gaza Statement and Donation

Whereas, in November 2023, BCNU supported the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions’ (CFNU) call for a ceasefire in Gaza;

Whereas, BCNU Strategic Directions 2020-2024 section 4.1 states BCNU values are the foundation of our decisions, policies, procedures, and actions;

Whereas, on January 26, 2024, the UN’s International Court of Justice found that there is plausible evidence that Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of genocide;

Whereas, as of January 05, 2024, the WHO documented more than 300 attacks on hospitals and other vital medical infrastructure in Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of more than 330 healthcare workers, including nurses;

Whereas, in November 2023, over 300 BCNU members signed a letter calling on our Union leadership to take action on this issue by calling for a ceasefire and end to the siege on Gaza; and

Therefore be it BCNU will release a statement condemning the siege on Gaza, including the targeting of resolved that, healthcare workers and health infrastructure, and calling for unimpeded humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza; and

Be it further BCNU will make a $10,000 donation to Doctors without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières resolved that, (MSF) for humanitarian aid in Gaza and inform the membership of this donation via eNews.

Moved by: Lindsay Manning

Seconded by: Fraser Macpherson

Costing: $15,000 RESOLUTION

Expectations of Elected Officers and Stewards

Whereas, BCNU believes in equity, equality, and transparency;

Whereas, BCNU is a grassroots Union that represents all its members;

Whereas, there should be consistent expectations for Elected Positions, FTS, SAL, EDMP, and the general membership;

Whereas, BCNU is a defender of public health care and seniors; and

Therefore be it employment criteria and requirements of a member in their employer position be applied to the resolved that, member when they are in any Elected Positions, FTS, SAL, or EDMP reps; and

Be it further members in Elected Positions, FTS, SAL, or EDMP reps will remain job ready for their employer resolved that, positions should they need to return to their employer positions.

Moved by: Amandeep Grewal

Seconded by: London Vaughn

Costing: $0

Continued on next page

RESOLUTIONS

RESOLUTION 9

Senior Nurse Network

Whereas, there are multiple stressors on senior nurses, having to possibly take care of children and parents, all the while entering the twilight of their careers;

Whereas, senior nurses need to consider retirement planning;

Whereas, senior nurses may experience ageism as they enter the twilight of their careers;

Whereas, BCNU’s Constitution states it will promote human rights and equity and strive to eliminate barriers to Members’ involvement and inclusion in BCNU activities1; and

Therefore be it BCNU will form a Senior Nurse Network with the current Human Rights and Equity Network funding. resolved that,

Moved by: Sherril Harmer

Seconded by: Paddy Kopieczek

Costing: $98,600

RESOLUTION 10

Dual Roles and Holding Positions

Whereas, BCNU protects and advances the health, safety, social and economical well being of our members, our profession, and our communities;

Whereas, the BCNU’s position of members not being able to hold a full time position, while concurrently holding another union role or position, was established many years ago may not be relevant today;

Whereas, members in a union role or position may wish to transition from their current role or position to another;

Whereas, BCNU investment in training full-time leaders and activists can be recovered if they were allowed to keep working for the union and members; and

Therefore be it BCNU members be allowed to apply for, accept, and hold FTS, SAL, or EDMP union positions while in resolved that, another full time union role or position, to a maximum of two (2) full time union roles or positions;

Be it further BCNU members may only work in one (1) full time union role or position concurrently; and resolved that,

Be it further BCNU members may hold FTS, SAL, EDMP, or Council positions for which they were the successful resolved that, applicant for the shorter period of either 3 years or until the end of the term of their current position, at which time they would then be required to choose one of the two roles.

Moved by: Danette Thomsen

Seconded by: Meghan Friessen

Costing: $13,500 (EDMP) and $7,500 (FTS)

PRE-CONVENTION/CONVENTION MATERIALS DISCLAIMER

The inclusion of proposed bylaw amendments or resolutions is not intended to reflect the opinions or views of the Bylaws Committee, the Resolutions Committee, or the BCNU and its employees, unless otherwise expressly stated.

The respective movers are solely responsible the content and accuracy of any mover’s rationales provided and for compliance with the Constitution and Bylaws and the Policies and Procedures. The opinions expressed in the mover’s rationales are solely those of the respective movers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Bylaws Committee, the Resolutions Committee, or the BCNU and its employees.

Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact the accuracy of the information published, and the information may change without notice. The Bylaws Committee, the Resolutions Committee, or the BCNU and its employees are not in any way liable for the accuracy of any information provided.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

INTERNATIONALLY EDUCATED NURSES' EXPERIENCES STILL FULL OF CHALLENGES

Internationally educated nurses are badly needed to help address the nursing shortage, yet face many unnecessary delays and hurdles

HYEONJEONG (OLIVIA)

Lee knows the challenges internationally educated nurses face. She has encountered many of them herself. Lee studied nursing in her home country of South Korea, graduated in 2019, then immigrated to Canada with the aim of working in a variety of multicultural patient care settings. Upon her arrival in Vancouver, she attended Sprott Shaw College and Langara College, graduating in August 2022. Today, she works as a surgical RN at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH).

Lee was one of the attendees at a February dinner and discussion event for IENs that BCNU co-hosted together with the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and World Education Services. Many at the dinner shared their frustration with the lengthy delays and inexplicable inconsistencies while navigating the process of acquiring a licence to practise nursing in BC. Lee was one of the lucky ones –her process for becoming an RN was relatively smooth.

But after she began practising at VGH she ran into unexpected obstacles.

Lee’s work experience in health care was minimal prior to immigrating, so she began looking at professional development opportunities. Other RNs told her she could enhance her skills and knowledge by taking workshops focused on a wide array of topics including Indigenous cultural safety, code blue and trauma-informed care. She was told, however, that such workshops were not open to IENs because of limited space and resources. Lee was frustrated with the way the system excluded her.

“You want IENs to come and take care of people,”

she says. “But now that I’m registered, now that I’m here… you don’t have the same education sessions available to us as [you do for] the other locally trained nurses.”

Lee wouldn’t take no for an answer. She joined

with her managers, clinical educators, regional practice liaison and colleagues to advocate for change. A year later, in late 2023, the workshops on the Provincial Health Services Authority LearningHub became available to all IENs in the province.

Lee feels heartened that the education sessions are now available for everyone who needs them. But she still sees the need for major changes. She emphasizes the importance of IENs to the successful functioning of

A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE BCNU, along with the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and World Education Services, co-hosted an evening event for internationally educated nurses (IENs) on Feb. 29 to hear their stories and learn how we can better advocate for improvements to the registration process and support these nurses in their workplaces. IENs play a critical role in BC’s health-care system and the recruitment and retention efforts underway.

the province’s health-care system, particularly in the context of the current staffing shortage. Registering more IENs is one of the critical recruitment tools the province has at its disposal, but the process for recognizing international credentials is fraught with delays and duplication, and certification is far more difficult than it should be.

BCNU has successfully pushed the government to take action, with changes in 2022 making it easier for IENs to enter the workforce sooner. But those who attended the February IEN discussion said problems still abound.

The process requires those seeking registration to do much of the navigating themselves, jumping through the hoops of several organizations, such as the regulatory college. IENs sometimes need to meet similar requirements multiple times for qualifications such as English language proficiency. Many said, with no standard

procedure, they rely on each other to share by word of mouth how best to approach the process.

The major theme emerging at the gathering was the need to streamline the process of recognizing international credentials in a way that is fair and efficient. The shared aim across the organizations involved in the registration process must be to help IENs meet the requirements to obtain their licence and to get them working in BC’s healthcare system as quickly as possible.

Indeed, the government’s agreement with BCNU to adopt minimum nurseto-patient ratios means thousands more nurses are needed. In addition to bringing nurses back to the bedside and retaining nurses who are already working, recruiting new nurses is a pressing need. Ensuring IENs have a clear, quick and efficient path to putting their skills to work in our health-care system must be a top priority. •

YOUR PENSION

SECURING YOUR FUTURE

SECURING YOUR RETIREMENT SAVINGS

For younger workers, the importance of a pension plan is greater than ever

MOST BCNU MEMBERS

are enrolled in BC’s Municipal Pension Plan (MPP). The plan is your most important benefit and will ensure you have a consistent source of income once you retire. But if you are a younger member, you may be wondering if your old age really is as secure as you’d hope.

News stories with headlines like “More than half of Canadians aren’t saving enough money for retirement” are not uncommon and data is increasingly showing that younger workers are saving less than their parents did. It’s a problem compounded by the reality that over 60 percent of people in Canada do not have a workplace pension.

A 2023 survey by tax preparation firm H&R

Block Canada found that half of Canadians plan to work a “gig job” in retirement to earn additional income. The survey also

shows that 36 percent of respondents between ages 18 and 54 believe they won’t ever retire. To complicate matters, workers today need

PUBLIC SECTOR PENSIONS? FOR WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM TO PAY FOR

Both employers and employees contribute to the plans, and their contributions are invested. The plans’ investment income finances about 70 to 80 percent of the benefits paid to members. Contributions from members and employers make up the remaining 20 to 30 percent.

to save more than previous generations because their life expectancy is anticipated to be higher. This retirement outlook is the new reality, and it underscores the importance of having a pension plan.

As a younger member of the MPP, you don’t need to climb the retirement mountain on your own. The MPP provides you with several advantages. First, every time you contribute to the plan, your employer also contributes; think of these as deferred wages that increase your savings. Second, your contributions are pooled with the contributions of other plan members and invested by British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, one of Canada’s leading public sector investment managers. Its mandate is to maximize your pension in a responsible way that keeps it secure for the future. Finally, trustees oversee the plan to make sure it remains strong and secure; their work is

Each generation pays in advance for its own pension benefits, and employers and employees equally share the risks associated with funding the defined benefit portion of the plans.

guided by provincial and federal legislation and industry best practices. Does this mean your comfortable retirement is all taken care of and there’s nothing more for you to do? Not exactly. “Think of your pension plan as one leg of a three-legged stool,” says Meghan Friesen, BCNU interim executive councillor for pensions and seniors’ health. “The other legs are your government pension through the Canada Pension Plan, and your personal savings, such as registered retirement savings. When you have three legs, your entire retirement savings plan rests on a solid foundation.”

Friesen is responsible for ensuring that members pension contributions and investments are managed effectively. She says members cannot overestimate the value of the MPP.

“A pension plan like the MPP is a BCNU member’s strongest ally as time goes by and your plan contributions increase,” she says, noting that it’s easy to glimpse the future with an MPP pension estimate. “Just sign in to ‘My Account’ on the MPP website and view your personalized pension estimates any time, and don’t forget to visit the BCNU Events Calendar on the union’s website and sign up for a BCNU pension workshop.” •

Retired Member eNews

>

Not

Here’s how you can get in touch with the right person to help you.

CONTACT YOUR Stewards for all workplace concerns. Regional Council Members if your steward can’t help, or for all regional matters. Provincial Executive Committee for all provincial, national or union policy issues.

PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT

Adriane Gear C 778-679-9968 adrianegear@bcnu.org

VICE PRESIDENT

Tristan Newby C 604-313-1308 tristannewby@bcnu.org

REGIONAL COUNCIL MEMBERS

CENTRAL VANCOUVER

Gerald Dyer C 604-786-0594 geralddyer@bcnu.org

Antonio Ortiz C 604-803-8468 antonioortiz@bcnu.org

COASTAL MOUNTAIN

Angela Crawford C 778-867-4161 angelacrawford@bcnu.org

EAST KOOTENAY

Denise Nelson (Interim) C 250-207-5774 denisenelson@bcnu.org

FRASER VALLEY

Parveen Gill C 604-309-3223 parveengill@bcnu.org

NORTH EAST

Danette Thomsen C 250-960-8621 danettethomsen@bcnu.org

NORTH WEST

Teri Forster C 250-615-8077 teriforster@bcnu.org

OKANAGAN SIMILKAMEEN

Candice DeSousa C 250-462-9517 candidesousa@bcnu.org

PACIFIC RIM

Kelley Charters C 250-816-0865 kelleycharters@bcnu.org

TREASURER

Sharon Sponton C 250-877-2547 sharonsponton@bcnu.org

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLOR

Denise Waurynchuk (Interim) C 250-919-2178 denisewaurynchuk@bcnu.org

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLOR

Meghan Friesen (Interim) C 604-250-0751 meghanfriesen@bcnu.org

RICHMOND VANCOUVER

Sara Mattu C 778-989-8231 saramattu@bcnu.org

SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS

Gurvir Sekhon (Interim) C 604-603-5097 gurvirsekhon@bcnu.org

SIMON FRASER

Wendy Gibbs C 604-240-1242 wendygibbs@bcnu.org

Roy Hansen C 778-668-7654 royhansen@bcnu.org

SOUTH FRASER VALLEY

Peggy Holton C 306-463-0106 peggyholton@bcnu.org

Glesy Banton-Victoria C 778-892-0978 glesybantonvictoria@bcnu.org

SOUTH ISLANDS

Caitlin Jarvis C 250-883-6593 caitlinjarvis@bcnu.org

Leanne Robertson-Weeds C 778-222-7997 leannerobertsonweeds@bcnu.org

THOMPSON NORTH OKANAGAN

Scott Duvall C 250-241-5952 scottduvall@bcnu.org

VANCOUVER METRO

Madelene Fraser (Interim) C 604-603-5291 madelenefraser@bcnu.org

WEST KOOTENAY

Shalane Wesnoski C 250-231-1005 shalanewesnoski@bcnu.org

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

BCNU VICE PRESIDENT TRISTAN NEWBY

QUICK FACTS

NAME Tristan Newby.

GRADUATED 2010

BScN (Hons), University of the Fraser Valley.

UNION POSITION

Vice President.

WHY I SUPPORT

BCNU? “I see where we are, and where we can be. Together we can all be a positive part of BCNU’s evolution.”

COUNCIL PROFILE

“As a leader, I think it’s vital to be grateful towards others” says BCNU vice president Tristan Newby.

TRISTAN NEWBY IS grateful when reflecting on his life growing up in Yarrow, BC. As a youth, he worked as a housekeeper, cook and care aide at Abbotsford’s Mountain View Home, a residential psychiatric facility owned and operated by his parents. Following in his father’s footsteps, he became a nurse, graduating from the University of the Fraser Valley in 2010 with a bachelor of science in nursing.

“Most branches of my family tree have a nurse,” says Newby. “My dad inspired me toward nursing, emphasizing its flexibility, travel opportunities and stable income. After graduating, I called him after every shift for a year to bounce ideas and decompress. I’m grateful he was there.”

Newby’s nursing journey included other gratifying experiences, like two assignments with internationally educated nurse Emerson Mangaoil who guided and mentored Newby twice: first when Newby was an employed student nurse, and again as a new grad. Mangaoil was “humble, knowledgeable, kind. If not for him I don’t think

I would’ve continued,” he concludes.

Newby is also thankful for his preceptor at Abbotsford Regional Hospital. “Leona Sawatsky was fantastic,” he recalls. “I asked for the hardest unit – they gave me hers. She challenged me and tolerated my endless questions, but we always shared a sense of humour. I’m so grateful we worked together.

“Without my dad, Leona, and Emerson, I wouldn’t be where I am,” he reflects. “They’d say, ‘I didn’t do anything,’ but they each profoundly impacted me.”

Cultivating gratitude is a practice close to Newby’s heart.

“As a leader, it’s vital to be grateful,” he says. “Practising gratitude is a learned skill that can be applied in union activism and ‘on-the-floor’ nursing. We can all benefit from consciously practicing gratitude for our team members – it makes the work feel so much more sustainable.”

As an ER specialist, Newby appreciates the impact of emergency nursing’s human side. “You’re with a patient on their worst day. I’m very grateful to be part of somebody’s life on those days. It’s hard, but great.”

Improving outcomes is why Newby became a BCNU steward in 2015. “I initially held a very cynical perspective of unions,” Newby reveals. “I was determined not to join one because I thought two percent of my wages was just taken away. I didn’t know why, so I attended union meetings and grew to appreciate the value for my investment.”

Newby was elected as BCNU Simon Fraser regional communications secretary in 2017 before being elected as one of the region’s council members in 2020. He was elected BCNU vice president in June 2023.

“I saw room for improvement and ran for election to ramp up member and steward servicing,” he says. “I still felt I could offer more and ran for vice president.”

In his new role, Newby also hopes to increase the value of BCNU in members’ minds. “I support BCNU because I see where we are and where we can be,” he projects. “We’re all a positive part of BCNU’s evolution which can include consciously choosing gratitude. A little effort makes a huge impact — simple as saying, ‘thank you for doing that.’” •

OFF DUTY

MEMBERS AFTER HOURS

REWRITING THE NURSING NARRATIVE AUTHOR DAPHNE LEONIE WRIGHT IS INSPIRED BY HER CAREER IN HEALTH CARE

DAPHNE LEONIE WRIGHT’s 30-year nursing career has given her much to write about. She has worked in many areas of the field including homecare nursing on the Downtown Eastside and a stint in the Middle East helping to open a hospital. She’s seen pretty much everything nursing has to offer.

Although nursing provided Wright with many challenging opportunities, she always knew she was interested in writing. She even earned her master of arts in liberal studies from Simon Fraser University. All the while, Wright continued to keep up her career as a nurse.

It was after encouragement from a close friend, who had recently published a memoir about her personal experience with breast cancer, that Wright finally decided to put her work into print. “My friend said to me, ‘If not now, when?’”

Wright had a germ of an idea for a story that she had been thinking about for almost a decade. “With the slower pace during the pandemic, I had the time.” That “germ” is now Wright’s first book, On Love and Death and Belonging, which was published in January 2023. Wright, an appropriate homophone, says she spent

40 hours a week for nearly a year in her living room developing the interwoven plot lines, writing and revising. “My husband jokingly called it my perch,” laughed Wright. As part of the publishing process, she learned about editing, cover design, font choices, page set-up and creating a blog on her new website. “It was a lot more work than I ever imagined. But it was also a lot of fun,” she said.

The always delightful and sometimes frustrating and sad story brings readers inside the late-night hallways and private rooms of Waterview, an assisted living residence full of colourful residents and staff. The multi-voiced narrative follows three main characters and the unexpected ways their lives intersect during their time on the long-term-care ward.

Brice is an aging, queer man who is faced with difficult decisions around revealing his sexuality, his debilitating illness and his shaky finances in order to access appropriate care. “I believe people should get the care they need no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, socio-economic status or mental or intellectual capabilities,” says Wright, which was the basis for developing Brice’s character. Brice brings a zing of colour and music to the pages.

The second main character, Adelina, a hardworking, immigrant cleaner, was inspired by the privatization of housekeeping and the dietary staff workforce within the hospital setting that

Wright witnessed during her years of nursing. Adelina not only faces discrimination at work as the cleaning staff are continually asked to do more work for less pay under new ownership, but she also has a big conflict at home with her abusive partner.

Then there is Fiona, a somewhat gruff veteran nurse with anger issues and a loud voice that overcompensates for her regrets and loneliness. Fiona demonstrates her hidden soft heart when the trio of unlikely friends face one of the hardest days of any of their lives.

Wright’s book demonstrates that nurses deserve to be main characters and don’t always have to play supporting roles. “Nurses often play bit parts,” she says. “But not this time –nurses and support staff are at the centre of the story where they belong!”

On Love and Death and Belonging explores many of the universal themes found at the crossroads of nursing and residential care: isolation, marginalization, ageism, the controversy and relief of medical assistance in dying (MAID) and the emotional cost of privatization and corporate greed in health care. These are heavy topics, but like life, says Wright, “there are many laugh-out-loud moments, too.” And in the end, the most important thing is the friends you make along the way. •

On Love and Death and Belonging can be borrowed from BCNU’s library or purchased from Wright’s website: www.daphneleoniewright.com.

PUTTING WORK INTO PRINT Daphne Leonie Wright always knew she was interested in writing, but it was her work as a nurse that finally encouraged her to publish a book.

APRIL 28 DAY OF MOURNING

Let’s honour their memory by committing to work together to prevent injuries, illnesses, violence, and fatalities in the workplace.

DELIVERING QUALITY CARE MEANS WORKING IN A SAFE AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT FOR WORKERS INJURED OR KILLED ON THE JOB

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CHANGING LIVES. SHAPING TOMORROW.

To celebrate nurses, BCNU will be hosting online events for members and students during National Nursing Week.

In addition, all members are invited to submit an expression of interest to attend the Australian College of Nursing’s National Nursing Forum taking place August 14-16 in Cairns, Australia. Four members will be chosen to attend.

Follow BCNU’s social media channels and subscribe to Member eNews for more details.

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