Here they are, divided into three topics.
Jason wrote: "So I'm curious there have been accusation bandied about about "abuse". So if people were "held hostage in their homes" or "abused" or "tormented" then why have no charges been laid? Why are there no convictions?? Where is law enforcement on all this??
Jason, we've been asking ourselves that, too! EPS has liaison officers who come here regularly. They've had meetings with us. Members have phoned the police, either 911 or the non-emergency number, as warranted.
The result?
Pretty much nothing.
Many members have complained that, on calling the non-emergency number, their complaints were treated dismissively. Several of our admins have personally called the police with complaints. For my own experience, when talking on the phone, I've had several officers express shock over what I was describing going on, and telling me that, even as part of a labour dispute, the picketers were not allowed to disrupt the neighbourhood like that.
Eventually, someone from EPS would show up and...
Nothing.
Sometimes, it took so long for them to show up, what was going on was either over, or the activities we'd called about were done. Other times, such as when the picketers showed up on a Sunday evening and blared loud music, screamed and yelled, a squad car showed up, the music was turned down...
... then the music got turned back up again, the noise continued, and the squad car left.
In other infractions, they fall under by-law enforcement. Things like trespassing, illegal parking and the like. Again, by the time the by-law enforcement shows up, it's usually over.
Sometimes, the liaison officer would talk to the picket captain and things would change, a bit. But the harassment, abuse, intimidation and people feeling trapped in their homes as a hostile crowd hovered near the doors, would continue.
Why?
I'll address that next.
I mean one would have to imagine that if these individuals were suffering at the hands of striking workers that somehow there would be lawsuits, somehow there would be criminal charges, ongoing investigations of criminal activity wouldn't there??
In one of the meetings with the liaison officers, they were asked bluntly; are there two sets of laws; one for picketers, one for everyone else?
The answer was "yes."
The reason for this is that this all falls under the umbrella of "labour dispute." Because of case law, what it basically comes down to is that activities that would get anyone else arrested, fined, or made to stop in some way, are allowed during strikes.
Even when activities constituted criminal harassment, nothing was done by the police, because picketers in a labour dispute are allowed to criminally harass people, and their victims are supposed to just ignore it and not let it bother them.
We've also been told that, unless there's blood, they won't bother showing up.
When there was a physical assault, two officers came by and saw the video. They laughed it off and nothing was done.
For other things, such as the video showing a striking SAIL employing threatening someone on a balcony, nothing was done because, even though the threat was obvious, the actual words used fell into a grey area. That was another example where an officer, on seeing the video, laughed it off, adding in a tasteless and inappropriate joke.
Artspace members have lost a lot of faith in EPS and the justice system.
There should not be two laws, one for union picketers and one for their victims.
A lot of what's going on here is very much like domestic abuse. I do not use that as an example lightly; many people living here know domestic abuse first hand. We recognise it for what it is.
Abuse, intimidation and harassment can come in many forms, and I can speak from personal experience when I say that psychological abuse can be far more damaging than physical abuse. I have experienced both. Canadian criminal law recognises that, when it comes to abusive behaviour and criminal harassment, actions that would normally be legal and acceptable can be contributing factors of abuse. For example, saying hi to someone by name would not normally be abusive. Having a group of people who should know nothing about you, who behave in physically aggressive manners, shouting hi at you every time you leave your home, becomes abuse and harassment. Especially when they have been told explicitly not to communicate with you in any way. These are not friendly or polite greetings. These are abusers demonstrating that they know things about you that they should not know; it's a form of intimidation and it is harassment. Depending on how far it goes, it crosses over to psychological abuse and can be threatening, such as when they know personal details about your own life, the names of family members and where they live, birthdays or, most disturbing, the scheduled activities of your children.
A thing to keep in mind; while only a few of our members use the services of SAIL, there are other members who have disabilities, but either get self-managed care, or do not need outside care.
Not all disabilities are visible. Not all disabilities are physical in nature. Not all who have health problems are disabled. Our members fall all over the spectrum, from able bodied without any health problems, to having invisible disabilities, to having obvious physical disabilities, to everything in between. Even among this blog's admins, we fall all over the spectrum.
Each of us are affected by AUPE's actions differently. For many, the noise levels cause physical pain and mental anguish. For others, it prevents them from medically required rest, which causes their condition to deteriorate. Some have had to increase their pain medications, due to the stress. Others have anxiety attacks, panic attacks or their PTSD is triggered.
These are medically verifiable harms caused by the actions of AUPE picketers. Worse, they are caused by the striking "care" staff, who have personal knowledge of the circumstances of user members - the people they, on the one hand, claim to care so much about, but on the other, say do not deserve their care, and complain about how terrible it is to care for the "fat, ugly cripples" - and AUPE imports who claim to be health care workers elsewhere.
They should know exactly the effects their actions can potentially cause people who have vulnerable health. They should know exactly the sort of psychological damage their actions are doing.
Yet they do it, anyways. Gleefully, even.
In any other circumstance, there would be cause for police action.
But because its done by union members on a picket line - a picket line that itself should be illegal - the police look the other way. Apparently, so does the labour board. So do politicians (those that aren't actively condoning the actions).
The police openly admit that they have never encountered a situation like ours, where a labour dispute has taken on an entire community and neighbourhood, who have nothing to do with the dispute.
As for law suits, we are a community filled with people who are low income, living on AISH, retired and living on pensions, disabled, are single parents, etc. Lawyers cost money that we don't have. Legal action costs money that we don't have.
On top of that, what lawyer is willing to take on the biggest and most powerful union in the province, which has a bottomless pit of union dues financing them, etc.?
We are a bunch of individuals affected by a huge organisation with significant resources, can act with apparent impunity, and all the money they need to fight any attempts to hold them accountable for the damage they are doing.
As for the arbitrator looking at larger institutional models, again not once in my 16yrs have I witnessed an arbitrator completely ignore local circumstances and finances in favor of a Union, I'm sorry but I'm finding that line very difficult to believe because I've never met an arbitrator that irresponsible in the entire time I've been involved in Labour Relations, full stop."
You know what? We pretty much agree with you. It makes no sense, and yes, it's difficult to believe.
Yet that's what's happened.
Why? How?
We'd like to know that, too.
There are a lot of things we'd like to know. After all, even though we have nothing to do with the labour dispute, the negotiations, etc. we, as a community, are targeted by AUPE's actions.
Jason has also asked;
"On top of that who are you speaking on behalf of?? Every resident of Artspace?? The majority of Artspace residents?? Like who??"
With over 100 adults living here, plus our neighbours who have been affected, it's impossible to speak for everyone.
Who are we speaking for?
Individual Artspace members who have no other voice. We speak for the victims of AUPE's abuse. We speak for ourselves, our friends, our families, our neighbours who have been harmed by AUPE's actions against our community.
How many? I couldn't even give a number. It keeps changing, as more and more grow frustrated over what is happening to us; many of whom fear for their own safety if they speak out.
This blog was created out of that frustration; because every place we turned to for help just turned their backs on us.
This blog was created to expose what AUPE has been doing to our community, the damage they are causing, and how they are allowed to act with apparent impunity.
This blog is our voice.
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