After two weeks of hard work, OPSEU has achieved its goals around the setup of the Public Inquiry into Ontario’s drinking water crisis.

“When the Public Inquiry was announced, we set ourselves three goals,” said OPSEU president Leah Casselman. “We wanted to make sure that the scope of the inquiry was as broad as possible; we wanted to make sure the inquiry was unbiased; and we wanted to make sure that OPSEU members were protected from reprisals if they came forward to speak. I’m happy to say that we achieved all three goals.”

A June 1 Action Fax called on OPSEU members to contact Premier Mike Harris to demand the broadest possible terms for the Inquiry. Many members did so. They called on Harris to guarantee an honest Inquiry by negotiating with the opposition parties. That’s exactly what he did.

“This government has never seen pressure like this,” said Leah Casselman. “That’s why we now have an Inquiry that is free to examine not only what happened at Walkerton, but what has happened with our entire drinking water system.”

On June 9, the Tories named Dennis O’Connor, of the Ontario Court of Appeal, as head of the Commission. On June 14, they announced the Commission’s lawyers, who will be in charge of bringing evidence before the Commission. Paul Cavalluzzo will work with Brian Gover and Freya Kristjanson to get out the truth about what happened in Walkerton; David Stockwood, and another lawyer to be named later, will explore broader issues relating to drinking water safety.

“This team is highly regarded in the legal community,” says Tim Hadwen, OPSEU’s staff legal counsel. “We have no reason to think that they will act in a biased manner.”

The real victory for OPSEU members was to force a change to the Public Inquiries Act to give all employees protection against workplace reprisals if they speak out as part of the Inquiry.

“Employees are the insiders,” Casselman told news reporters June 6. “All employees have a tale to tell about changes in the Ministry of Environment - and possibly other workplaces - that have seriously downgraded our ability to ensure the safety of our drinking water. Those people may never come forward if they believe they are risking their livelihood to do so.”

OPSEU legal counsel Tim Hadwen and legislative liaison Tim Little explained the need for whistle-blowing protections to opposition politicians, pushing hard for strong protections for employees.

It worked. On June 12, Attorney-General Jim Flaherty tabled amendments to the Act to make it illegal to take “adverse employment action” against employees for disclosing information to a commission, or commission staff, of a public inquiry.

Casselman said whistle-blowing protection has nothing to do with any alleged wrongdoing by OPSEU members.

“I want to make it absolutely clear that no evidence has come out to say that OPSEU members have done anything wrong, either in Walkerton or anywhere else. Whistle-blowing legislation is there to protect people who speak out, in good faith, to let the public know what is going on where they work.”

At its June 15 meeting, OPSEU’s Executive Board voted to set aside funds to cover the legal expenses of OPSEU members who participate in the public inquiry.

Details on how OPSEU members can play a part in the inquiry should be available next week through Action Fax and on the OPSEU web site. Members at the Ministry of Environment, the Ontario Clean Water Agency, the Bruce Grey-Owen Sound Public Health Unit, and Walkerton’s hospital will receive a letter at home.

It is now clear that the biggest problem with Ontario’s drinking water system is Queen’s Park refusal to take responsibility for it. After downsizing the Ministry of the Environment by 40 per cent, closing three Ministry labs that did water testing, and downloading more costs to cash-strapped municipalities, it was just a matter of time before a tragedy happened.

“On Sept. 19, 1995, we put out a news release under the headline, ‘Health at risk if environment enforcers cut,’” said Casselman. “For five years, we’ve been warning the public about the danger of cuts, privatization, and downloading, and not only for drinking water.

“Unfortunately, it took seven, possibly 14, deaths to open people’s eyes to what this so-called ‘Common Sense’ Revolution is all about. In the weeks ahead, it’s our job to keep informing the public about what this government’s really doing to our public services.”

About 35 OPSEU members were among over 500 delegates to Rise Up! Act Up!, the National Women’s Conference of the Canadian Labour Congress, held in Ottawa June 11-14.

Sisters from as far away as Mexico, Palestine, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone were guests at the conference, and spoke of the power of international solidarity in supporting women everywhere.

A key event was a march on Canada’s Big Five banks (the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Bank, and the Toronto Dominion Bank). The event let bankers know that women will not sit quietly while banks take in greater profits while demanding more tax cuts - tax cuts that undermine the social programs women depend on.

Delegates discussed ongoing plans for the World March of Women, which will descend on New York Oct. 17. The March will focus on speaking out against poverty and violence against women. Details about the March are on the OPSEU web site at http://www.opseu.org/committees/pwcmarch.htm.