Thursday afternoon panel • Feb 24, 2:30 PM MST
Workers Leading a Just Transition
Workers on the front lines of the energy transition need to lead the discussion about how best to transform Canada’s energy economy. The Canadian union movement has been instrumental in developing the concept of just transition and has considerable experience in its implementation in different sectors of the economy. This panel discussed the key principles and actions planned by the labour movement to support workers and their communities through the transition to a net-zero carbon economy.
Featured panelists
Lyle W Daniels is the Building Trades of Alberta’s new community and Indigenous director, a role he will utilize to help young Indigenous people in Alberta begin a rewarding career in the unionized construction trades. Lyle comes from the George Gordon First Nation in Treaty 4 and recently moved to Treaty 6 territory for his new role with BTA. He is the national chair for the National Indigenous Diabetes Association and was recently appointed to co-chair the Equity Working Group with the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum.Read more
Meg Gingrich is the assistant to the national director at the United Steelworkers (USW) Canadian National Office. She also serves as president of Blue Green Canada. Meg got her start in the labour movement working on a successful organizing drive at a Nordia call center in Montreal, where she worked in 2006. She then went on to study at Stockholm University in Sweden, where she wrote her master’s thesis on unions and environmental action. Read more
Ken Bondy is a National Representative for Unifor, the largest private sector union in Canada, with more than 315,000 members working in every sector of the Canadian economy. Originally working out of the Ford Motor Company Engine and Casting plants in Ontario, he has represented workers in various capacities for 34 years. Read more
Moderator
Jamie Kirkpatrick is the program manager for Blue Green Canada, an organization founded in 2010 by an alliance of Canadian labour unions and environmental/civil society organizations. By promoting solutions to environmental issues that have positive employment and economic impacts, Blue Green Canada advocates for working people and the environment. Read more
