November 20, 2013

Public Service Alliance of Canada Atlantic Regional Health and Safety Conference
The Atlantic Joint Learning Program (JLP) had a presence at the 2013 Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Atlantic Region Health and Safety Conference, which was held in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, from November 1 to 3.

The Regional Field Coordinators promoted the upcoming Atlantic Facilitator Orientation session and encouraged conference attendees to request workshops for their place of work from the JLP suite of workshops.

National Capital Region Networking Event
The National Capital Region (NCR) hosted a networking event on November 1st 2013. Present at the event were 35 facilitators, organizers, managers and representatives of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. It was an opportunity to provide information on recent and future activities, updates on workshop content and on the development of a new workshop related to mental health in the workplace.

Also, in recognition of the commitment and support to the Joint Learning Program, the following facilitators received a recognition award for facilitating 10 or more workshops in the NCR: Bruce Roy, Shelley Adams and Diane Belanger-Vena (Public Works and Government Services) and Jo-Anne McCullough (Public Service Commission).

From left to right Jo-Anne McCullough,
Diane Bélanger-Vena, Bruce Roy and Shelley Adams

Orientation Session in Winnipeg - New Facilitators
18 facilitators have been recently welcomed in the Prairies/Northwest Territories facilitators' pool.

Regional Field Coordinator (RFC) Carol Casey welcomes Campbell Alexander,
Irene Berube, Sean Burkowski, Nadine Byas, Carmen Tétreault-Coulombe, Tracey Cozman, Dominique-Marie Fillion, Sean Friesen, Melanie Gerhardt Peters, Krista Horrox, Donna Huen, Michelle Jones, Céleste Sabourin, Michael Schell, Lindsay Self, Ricknold Shaw, Mona Simcoe, and Linda Zacharias. The orientation session was held from October 28 to November 1 and was facilitated by Rachel Besharah (JLP Program Officer) and Angela Léger (Atlantic RFC).

The participants

The Quebec, National Capital and Atlantic Regions Welcome New Facilitators
The Joint Learning Program (JLP) Quebec Region hosted an orientation session for facilitators in Montreal from October 28 to November 1. Marcia Vergara (JLP Program Officer) and Monique Bernier (Service Canada) were the facilitators of the session.

During this week, the Quebec Region celebrated the delivery of its 500th JLP workshop and highlighted 10 years of involvement with the JLP for several facilitators.

Carolle Lajoie and Manon Bouchard of the Quebec Region, Alex Roussakis and Linda Iezzi, National Capital Region, and Angela Léger and Wanda Thomas Atlantic Region Regional Field Coordinators, welcomed 16 facilitators from different departments, agencies and unions. They are Denise Desloges, Marie-Hélène Brosseau, Méliza Boucher, Jean Pineault, Murielle Saint-Lot, Louise Caron, Chantal Bérubé, Pierre Proulx, Isabelle Bégin and Franck Philippe from the Quebec Region, Andrew Barker, Deirdre Brown, Josée McSween and Isabelle Corriveau from the National Capital Region, andSophie Pitre-Arseneault and Hélène Bégin from Atlantic Region.

The participants

Celebrations of the 500th Workshop in the Quebec Region
June 12, 2013 was an important date for the Joint Learning Program’s (JLP) Quebec Region, as this was the day that the 500th workshop was delivered. Quebec is the first region to reach this milestone and this achievement was celebrated on October 29 at a luncheon during the Facilitators’ Orientation Session in Montreal. Regional Field Coordinators (RFC) Manon Bouchard and Carolle Lajoie invited participants of the orientation session, facilitators from the Montreal area, the organizers and facilitators of the 500th workshop. Also in attendance were Magali Picard, Regional Vice-President, Quebec Region, Public Service Alliance of Canada and Martine Tremblay, Acting Director General of the Federal Council of Quebec. Ms. Picard and Ms. Tremblay took the opportunity to express the support of their organizations for the JLP.

Magali Picard and Martine Tremblay

Other representatives that spoke in appreciation of partnerships with the JLP were, Claude Duchesneau, Regional Vice-President, Union of the Solicitor General Employees, Marie-Ève Charest, Human Resources Manager, Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) for the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CSC and Ron Moran, Vice-president, Customs and Immigration Union, for the MOU with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

RFCs took this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of five individuals to the JLP.Monique Bernier, Audrey Concillio, Jean Bonhomme Milford and Manon Bouchardreceived gifts of appreciation for their facilitation work with the JLP over the last 10 years.Edmond Maltais who was absent will also receive an award for his contribution over the last decade.

From left to right Manon Bouchard, Jean Bonhomme Milfort,
Audrey Concilio and Monique Bernier

The facilitators of the 500th workshop were invited to cut the cake and to close the event highlighting this achievement.

The topic of the 500th workshop was Creating a Harassment-Free Workplace and it was held in Lacolle, Quebec. The workshop was part of the MOU with the CBSA. Facilitators were Benoît G. Hébert (Union) and Gabriel Duteau (Employer) and the organizers wereDiane Lacombe (Union) and Alexander Girard (Employer).

Ron Moran, Manon Bouchard, Gabriel Duteau,
Benoît G. Hébert and Carolle Lajoie

Labour-Management Consultation Kit Clinic in the British Columbia-Yukon Region
The British Columbia - Yukon (BC-YT) Region hosted a kit clinic for Joint Learning Program (JLP) facilitators from BC-YT and the Prairie Regions on October 29 and 30, 2013 in Richmond British Columbia. The objective of the clinic was to familiarize facilitators with the new edition of the Labour-Management Consultation (LMC) kit and to provide them the opportunity to explore the learning activities included in the kit. Both days were packed full with learning and practice facilitation, as well as dialogue and discussions on tips and methods to facilitate a LMC workshop.

Karla Backer and Jayne Billington, Regional Field Coordinators for BC-YT welcomed participants from BC including Catherine McPhillips, Rebecca Davis, Bev Martin, Randip Prihar, Sunny Naidu, Theresa Gray, Kirsten Jensen, Anna Correia, Diana Freethy, Tracie Komarniski and Keith Palmer, and participants from the Prairies Region including June Winger, Alec Goertzen, Corrinne Mitchell, Naomi Ashton, Dina Juras and Mary-Lou Thevenot.

Frank N Stein was a special guest

Canada Employment and Immigration Union National Conference
Alex Roussakis and Linda Iezzi, Regional Field Coordinators, National Capital Region, had the opportunity to spend more than three hours on October 26, with 30 delegates and observers attending the Canada Employment and Immigration Union National Conference. They facilitated a segment of learning activities from the Duty to Accommodate kit. This sampling of activities was to encourage participants to promote the workshop in their workplaces and learn more about the program.

Public Service Alliance of Canada National Capital Regional Council
On October 5, Alex Roussakis and Linda Iezzi, Regional Field Coordinators, National Capital Region, attended the Public Service Alliance of Canada National Capital Regional Council meeting. They hosted a kiosk and made a presentation to 80 participants followed by a question & answer period about the JLP. The aim of this activity was to promote the program and to recruit potential facilitators.

Public Service Alliance of Canada Triennial Atlantic Region Women's Conference
This past May, the Joint Learning Program (JLP) Atlantic hosted a kiosk at the Tenth PSAC Triennial Atlantic Region Women's Conference held in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Debi Buell, a JLP facilitator with Veterans Affairs Canada/Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees strategic partnership, stopped by the kiosk to talk about how JLP workshops are contributing to labour-management relations and the satisfaction she gets from co-facilitating.

Debi Buell

Calendar of Activities
Watch the upcoming activities:

Public Service Alliance of Canada Equity National Conference, November 18 to 22, Toronto, Ontario
Facilitators’ Orientation Session Correctional Service of Canada, November 25 to 29, Abbotsford, British Columbia
28 workshops between November 19 and 28