Greetings from the SP Group Executive! We hope that our SP Group members were engaged with the recent SP Group AGM. We have a new Executive, and already lots of planning is underway for the upcoming year!
Representatives at the SP Group National AGM - April 2025
Reminder to Active Members to join the SP Active Chat
Are you interested in becoming more involved with the SP Group and PIPSC as a whole? We encourage members to create a PIPSC email address and join the conversation. You can request an email address here:
https://pipsc.ca/member-tools/email
When you have your unique PIPSC email address, send us an email at Ask_sp@pipsc.ca and we will connect you with the group chat.
Also, you can communicate directly with the SP Group Executive by sending an email to us, we welcome your questions and comments: Ask_sp@pipsc.ca
Recognition Awards – by Joanne Papineau, retired SP Group Member
The SP Group encourages members to nominate peers/colleagues for recognition who they believe have gone beyond in contributing their time, knowledge, expertise and energy in various capacities (ex: Steward, Executive of SP Sub-groups, Branches, Committees, Consultation groups, etc.).
The SP Executive would like to recognize the following nominated members’ service to the SP Group and PIPSC as a whole. Your time and commitment to advocate for members is sincerely appreciated.
BC - Maria Cornthwaite
NCR - Sally Hanna and Violina Thomas
Ontario - Maegan Harrison and Dan McDonnell
We invite you to nominate a fellow member for the SP Group Recognition Award Program, using the following online form:
https://pipsc.ca/groups/sp/sp-group-recognition-award-program-0
Reflection on the Federal Election – by Bryan Van Wilgenburg, SP Group President
Canadians voted for moderation and stability. As the saying goes, the voters are never wrong. There are reasons to be cautiously optimistic, but there are many unresolved issues in Canada that leave SP members in a precarious position. Trade disputes and challenging economic headwinds provide justification for employers to freeze salaries and cut jobs. Governments will be expected to follow suit, and ultimately someone has to pay for the election promises. We need to make sure that the path of least resistance to a balanced budget isn’t over our members.
It's important to be positive, nothing is ever gained through defeatist cynicism. At the same time, we need to be realistic. There are few that will fight for those that don’t fight for themselves. Most Canadians do not have unionized work environments, or pensions. We will never be safe so long as private sector employees envy us. While we work to lift them up, we need to continue to demonstrate our value to the government and Canadians. Most of all, we need to be ready for anything.
You can do your part by staying informed, or you can do more by reaching out to ask_sp@pipsc.ca with the subject line “here to help”.
Federal Workers in the United States
As we witness change across the Federal public service in the United States, we must consider what is at stake here in Canada, the following article is an excellent read:
If you are interested in what is happening with unions in the United States, the American Federation of Unions is regularly providing updates:
“The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) works tirelessly to improve the lives of working people.
We are the democratic, voluntary federation of 63 national and international labor unions that represent more than 15 million working people.”
What is Workforce Adjustment? – by Kevin Jacobs, SP Group Member
You may have heard the term workforce adjustment and have wondered what it means. A work force adjustment (WFA) situation arises when the employer determines the service of an indeterminate employee is no longer required because of lack of work, discontinuance of a function, a relocation of a work unit where the employee does not wish to relocate, an alternative delivery initiative
Every PIPSC collective agreement in the core public administration has an appendix specifically dealing with workforce adjustment. In the case of the Applied Science and Patent Examination Group it is Appendix “G”. It is very important that members understand the provisions of the collective agreement as there are specific time limits that apply to workforce adjustment situations. The primary objective of workforce adjustment is to ensure continued employment. However continued employment does not necessarily mean continuation of work in the same or a similar position, or occupational group; accordingly, employees must not assume that their new job will be identical or similar to the vacated position.
Term and casual employees are not covered by the Workforce Adjustment Appendix. Term employees are entitled to a 30-day written notice period if their term isn't renewed or is terminated early.
The Institute has prepared a website including frequently asked questions, recorded webinars, and other materials if you or someone you are supporting find yourself in a workforce adjustment situation.
https://pipsc.ca/news-issues/understanding-work-force-adjustment
If you believe an employer is not properly applying the provisions of the workforce adjustment appendix please reach out to a steward, your regional PIPSC office, or your National Consultation Team President.
Using Your Leave Codes – by Robert MacDonald, retired SP Group Member
Heads up SP Sub Groups! Robert MacDonald has created an excellent presentation on using your leave codes, it is available by request, and is a great topic for regional lunch and learns. The presentation covers everything from standard leave options, to the nuances of leave without pay, and leave with income averaging. It also covers new and improved leave options such as travel status leave, caregiving leave, domestic violence leave and bereavement leave.
To request a list of all available presentations please reach out to our Content Coordinator Leslie Nasmith at leslienasmith@pipsc.ca.
Profile on attendee Gabriel Picard – SP Group Member
Gabriel recently participated in an SP Group Executive meeting, and these are a few words from him:
I had the opportunity to participate as an observer at the National SP Executives meeting as well as the SP Presidents meeting the following day. Observing these meeting gave the opportunity to see the inner working of these higher-level executives and better understand how they work together to make decisions, share information and connect to the branches. The meetings displayed an impressive array of diversity of issues and people. It was interesting to hear the unique challenges of each region, and motivating to hear the commonalities of the challenges we face and solutions that could be brought forward. At the SP Executives meeting, I was given the opportunity to present on some of the issues and concerns specific to my area of work, and I valued the chance to share and connect the strategic nature of the conversations to the live issues faced by my colleagues. I left the event feeling confident and inspired by the dedication, organization and drive that each volunteer brought to the meeting. It allowed me to bring back to my own work a sense of the vision, connection to the bigger picture, and inspiration to continue the work we do to represent our fellow members. It was an excellent opportunity to gain insight on how national and branch executives make decisions, and make connections between the work I do for my colleagues and fellow members as a steward and activist. I truly hope that the executives continue to offer this opportunity to others.
Profile on Daniel MacKenzie – SP Group Member
Daniel recently participated in an SP Group Executive meeting, and these are a few words from him:
Hello everyone, my name is Daniel MacKenzie and I am a SP member working as a PC with the Department of National Defence in Gander, NL. As one of the three grand prize winners of the SP Activist Survey and Contest I had the pleasure of being an observer at the SP Executive Meeting in Montreal on 4 April. With this I also had the opportunity to present a topic of interest to the Executive. Being an active person working around military members you could say that I am jealous they are able to spend part of their work day at the gym while I have to squeeze a quick trip in at lunch. This is where the idea for my presentation to the Exec came from. I would like to see wellness time added to our collective agreement. It would provide members time as part of their work week to engage in activities towards their personal wellness. Examples would be gym workouts, yoga, meditation, etc. Increased physical activity has shown to have many benefits for both the individual and the employer: improved health and wellness, gains in productivity and creativity, more positive morale and workplace culture, decreases in absenteeism and work-related injuries, reduced sick leave usage, and reduced costs to health plans. I personally think the Public Service should be a standard for all Canadians and considering 37.2 per cent of Canadian adults were reported as physically inactive in 2022, providing wellness time for public servants is a good place to see improvement on that number. If you like this idea please reach out to the SP Exec or leave a note in the next bargaining survey.
Scientific Integrity – by Karen Hall, SP Group Member
Anyone else feeling a little shocked by the complete attack on science lately happening across the border? It seems rather unbelievable yet the reality, for many cross border federal scientists and those in science that depend on federal funding. It is hard to look away when you see individuals placed into senior positions that have little to no science experience and no background that would suggest critical thinking is one of their key skill sets. But mostly, there is no scene being set that would establish scientific integrity within a decision-making process – at this point evidence seems optional. There will be generations of consequences based on these actions for the world not just those within the country. But we shouldn’t forget that it wasn’t so long ago that we also saw a loss of decades worth of science data and knowledge within our own country, Canada. Not quite as dramatic but just as serious.
What does one do though as we watch this unfold? At a minimum, it affords us an opportunity to reflect on what has changed in the last decade for federal science and scientists and ask the question: Has it gotten better?
Several years ago, Matt MacLeod, an RE and activist within PIPSC, wrote an opinion piece for Evidence for Democracy - "If Scientists are Unmuzzled in the Forest, Do They Make a Sound?". Matt noted that there was still a significant amount of work to do with respect to implementation and transparency, “The work of making government decision-making transparent did not end with the signing of the SIPs — it began there.” Our reality, as federal scientists, is that our journey into scientific integrity is still at the beginning stages and vulnerable to the politics of the day.
The majority, if not all departments where required, have a department specific scientific integrity policy. Yet implementation remains mostly a checkmark, and many do not know how to support scientists beyond the administration of the required process monitored by the Office of the Chief Science Advisor. Just having a policy isn’t enough if it is not functional to the science being conducted in the department. A few areas that I think about when considering, “has it gotten better?”:
● Are the current breach processes functional? There have been very few breach processes undertaken and unless you are in a science-based department it is likely that a breach investigation would be undertaken by an integrity officer with no science background. The process is often confusing and emphasizes the scientist’s role in the breach and not the decision maker or manager.
● Are there more scientists attending conferences and freely speaking on their science? Yes, but it has taken a significant amount of work post-policy implementation, and the onus seems to continue to be on the scientist to “prove integrity” and not the management structure that breaches the process. Many scientists remain silent to not create friction so we do not know the full breadth of grievances that should have been submitted.
● Do we all understand our roles and responsibilities in making and taking science-based advice into evidence-based decision making? Not really and the complexity of this is amplified if working with other departments with their own scientific integrity policy.
It is important to remember that we can only control what is in our control. Our call to action to defend science should be the normalization of scientific integrity principles and language into our everyday work. We need to normalize discussions around peer review and the many ways that it happens for various scientists in the federal government. We should be submitting grievances and calling out breaches when they happen – make the processes that we have work for us. Ask about the breach process at a team meeting and see if your manager or even those on your team know how to submit – use it as an opportunity to learn. I also strongly encourage you to be very clear to decision makers that when there are gaps in or a lack of data that the data is meant to support the advice you are providing and that you cannot provide the advice with scientific integrity and that their decision will not be evidence based. The departments need to clearly understand the risk when scientific integrity is not prioritized.
The normalization of scientific integrity in the work that we do as federal scientists is extremely important in preventing the slippery slope or absolute free fall that we are witnessing elsewhere. We are going to see a big push in the next year for more efficient environmental and regulatory processes and the need for innovation to make Canada stronger. Our scientists will be in the forefront of these changes, whether they are fisheries biologists contributing to an impact assessment or a patent officer, and it is up to us to ensure that scientific integrity in evidence-based decision making is a Canadian value.
Have Your Say, Join the Campaign on Remote Work
PIPSC, PSAC and CAPE are working together to advocate for access to remote work, check out the campaign here:
“Canada’s federal unions are committed to championing the rights and well-being of public service workers across Canada.
The Federal Government’s arbitrary government-wide office mandate was made without notice or consultation, and completely goes against a commitment made by the government during bargaining. Public sector workers prioritize the public, the government is prioritizing itself.”
Reading corner
Where can you find us on social media?
SP Group Bluesky account: @spgrouppipsc.bsky.social
SP Group Facebook account: www.facebook.com/PIPSCscience
Also, there is a new social media Instagram account developed by SP members Kevin Yang and Amanda Kui. You can contact them directly to request events or PIPSC information be posted on the Instagram account (kyang@pipsc.ca or akiu@pipsc.ca)
BC/Yukon PIPSC Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/pipsc.bcyukon/#
If you have information to be included in the next newsletter, please send us an email at ask_sp@pipsc.ca. We would love to highlight local events from across the country such as member engagement, outreach and lunch & learns.
Wishing you a fabulous summer and hope to see all our members out for Labour Day at local events across the country!
Tanya Evans,
Communications Coordinator
for the SP Group Executive Committee