Human Rights report
Canadian Media Guild
Friday, November 20 and Saturday, November 21, 2009

Prepared: Michael D’Souza
Director of Human Rights and Equity
Friday, November 20, 2009

Review
It’s been a busy six months since the last time we met. The redundancy at CBC has taken up much of my time but that time has been well spent. I’m a member of the Local Joint Employment Committee and it managed to do remarkable work saving jobs, especially jobs for members of equity seeking group. White males took most of the volunteer retirement packages and that is a reflection of the demographics of the workforce when they started their careers.

Committee
The Joint Human Rights and Equity committee held a telephone conference this Wednesday evening. While the largest number of members belong to the CBC Branch it also includes, encourages and welcomes members from all branches. Members from other locals of CWA/SCA also attend meetings. On Wednesday the committee agreed to expand its consultation process and is exploring the use of the CMG server to host an electronic forum. It is also working on short videos to profile equity issues and members of the committee. The committee is also looking into posting all the Human Rights and Equity reports posted on the CMG website.

School, College and University Outreach
This programme is continuing successfully. Robin Rowland spoke at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo earlier this month. A few weeks earlier journalism students from Connestoga College, also from Waterloo, visited the CBC Broadcasting Centre. And our linkage with Canadian University Press is flourishing with preparations for the annual conference in Edmonton in January.

CWA/SCA Canada
CWA/SCA Canada is adding a seat for equity issues to it executive. This seat will be filled at CWA/SCA Canada’s rep council meeting in the spring. Members of this executive should consider possible candidates for this position.