Buzz Hargrove is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. Is the head of the Canadian Auto Workers' Union pissed at the Conservative government for selling out Canadian workers in global trade talks? Or for cutting millions of dollars from the Court Challenges program and Status Of Women Canada? Or for axing what promised to be Canada's first attempt at creating a universal child care program?
No, you guessed wrong. Buzz is mad at those pesky environmentalists for daring to suggest that climate change is enough of a threat that people should think twice before using their gas-guzzling SUVs to drive to the corner store.
"Politicians are running with it now because Canadians are saying it's a key issue in the upcoming election and it just infuriates me," said Hargrove in a recent speech to union members. Instead of promoting an industrial strategy that aims to protect the environment and people's jobs, the head of one of Canada's biggest unions has chosen to vilify Canadians for caring about the future of the planet.
Hargrove made these astonishing remarks in a week where I was thinking about how the queer community could stand to learn a few things about solidarity from Canada's union movement. Last month, the documentary Out At Work was screened in Ottawa, detailing the impact of vicious homophobia on restaurant and factory workers in the United States in the 1980s. A key turning point for many of the beleaguered workers was when their unions jumped on board, and started fighting against gaybashing and for benefits for same-sex couples.
In Canada, queers often made gains at work in having our relationships recognized before we won the same rights from the state. Unions were early champions of gay rights, and are now pushing the envelope on trans rights by working to end discrimination against employees based on gender identity and gender expression.
Canada's unions have also had a huge impact in supporting struggles for social justice around the world. In the 1980s, massive boycotts of South African products led by Canadian unions helped contribute to the fight against apartheid in South Africa. And since the mid-1980s, the labour movement has been one of the harshest critics of economic globalization and its impact on workers both at home and around the world.
Now, why do I bring this all up? Because Buzz Hargrove's shocking slight against Canada's environmental movement stands in marked contrast to the individual actions of a couple of Jewish lesbians in Toronto who are truly demonstrating what "solidarity" is about.
Jean Hanson and Diana Ralph have been renovating their basement bedroom, installing extra-thick carpet on the floor, so when Hassan Almrei is finally released from jail, his knees won't get sore from praying five times a day. Almrei has been imprisoned for over five years, but he hasn't been charged with any crime, and has no access to the evidence being used against him.
He's one of five Muslim men who have been accused of being involved in terrorism, and are being held on Security Certificates. The Supreme Court Of Canada recently struck down Security Certificates as being unconstitutional, and gave the Canadian government one year to come up with a law that counters potential terrorist threats without subjecting suspects to Kafka-like conditions.
Ralph and Hanson befriended Almrei after they agreed to post $10,000 bail for his release. They had never met him before, but according to a recent report by CBC News, they had no qualms about supporting him. It was the principle of the matter.
Apparently Almrei was initially fazed by the couple's lesbianism and attempted to convert them to Islam. But the two women responded with good humour, and have formed a tight bond with their future houseguest. By showing compassion for Almrei and daring to stand up against oppression of Muslim men in the post-9/11 era, Ralph and Hanson have opened a dialogue about how people with differing religious views and sexual orientations can live and work together.
Unlike Buzz Hargrove's blind partisanship and single-minded focus, Ralph and Hanson serve as an example. They show how the queer community can use the lessons we've learned in securing our own rights to stand up for the rights of others who are being marginalized and oppressed. This is what solidarity looks like.