Another one down

Confirmed:

Another Artspace member, who understandably wishes to remain private, has succumbed to the long term damage caused by AUPE actions against our community and has to go on disability.

Like the past hospitalizations, this is a person who is not a SAIL user member nor involved in the labour dispute in any way.

"Just" another person affected by this siege of our home.

Question: how can these "health care workers" on the picket line justify their actions when they know they are harming people?

What kind of people stand in front of the private homes of people uninvolved with the labour dispute and treat the harm they are causing as a big joke?  Treat this as if it's some sort of game?  Do they really think we don't hear them laughing at us as they gossip about our members?

They know they are causing harm.  And they take obvious joy in it.

Explain that, AUPE.

There is no reason for you to be out there.  You have the audit that confirmed SAIL can't afford your demands.

It's long past time to leave.

Video of the Day: Mornings at Artspace

The following is a video montage of AUPE activities in front of our home.





This is only from a 1 week period in October, and only includes video of the picketers going after the replacement workers.

Right under the bedroom windows of Artspace members.

What is not in here are samples of the loud talking, laughing and shouting.  Artspace members are being awakened by this as early as 5 am, and people are repeatedly awakened throughout this morning shift.

Having groups of antagonistic people hanging around outside our home is bad enough during the afternoons.  This is happening in the early morning hours.  AUPE begins to arrive at 5 am.  Or 5:30.  Or closer to 6.  Some days they are gone by 7:30 am.  Others, they are still around past 8 am.

Here's a quote from a supporter in an earlier post.

... all i know is that when we were on strike we were told the cops could arrest us for not continually walking, and for walking anywhere but on a designated area of the sidewalk outside the building we were picketing. this is ludicrous. ... and we complied because we didn't want to get in any trouble.

There is none of that here.

While they spend the bulk of their afternoons at the West accessible garden bed (now also 2 of the East accessible garden beds), in the mornings they tend to hang out in the parking lot driveways.

Or on the street.

Or in front of the townhouses.

Or at their vehicles.

Plus there's usually at least a couple at the end of 94th St., at the back of the high rise.

Basically, they just stand or sit around wherever the mood seems to strike.

On top of wondering why they are here at all, we have to ask, why is AUPE not held to the same standards of behaviour as other unions?

Why Are You Here?

Yes, I know, we've just written a post about this, but it remains the question that is asked the most often, and it makes even less sense now than just a week ago.

AUPE, why are you here?

What's of great benefit for Artspace members is that our volunteer boards - whether it's the co-op board or the SAIL board - are very open and transparent.  For those members that take the time to ask questions, they answer them.  And why wouldn't they?  After all, they are all volunteer members of our community, elected by their fellow co-op members; their friends and neighbours.

Among the complaints and accusations AUPE has made against the SAIL board is that the finances had not been audited in years, therefore there was no accountability of taxpayer dollars funding SAIL, and very publicly making all sorts of wild accusations of fraud and dishonesty, implicating our entire community - and even visiting family members - in the process.

The only accurate claim they made was that there had not been any audits in years.  The SAIL board gave AUPE their financials, in what we now recognise was a rather naive belief that AUPE would see the numbers and recognise that there was no way SAIL could afford their demands.  We're used to dealing with people who are open and honest in their dealings; not an organisation that would accuse them of having hidden sets of books, or insinuating that financial documents were shredded, burned, etc., then yell out twisted versions of the financial information, shared in the confidence of negotiations, on the street.

Of course, they did so knowing that an audit was started and without waiting for its conclusion.

So what would happen if the audit confirmed SAIL's financials, and that they could not meet the demands made by AUPE?  One member was told by Desiree Schell that, if the audit showed SAIL could not afford the demands, then that would be it.  The strike would be over, because there would be no reason for them to be here.

Well, the audit was completed, and it confirmed SAIL's position.  There is no secret, hidden or missing money.  SAIL's funding is what it is, and they can't afford AUPE's demands.

SAIL sent that audit to AUPE.

A while ago.

Yet not only are they still here, but AUPE is still trying to make complaints against SAIL.  They're still trying to continue with the now even more frivolous "bad faith" complaint against SAIL.

They're still coming out here in the wee hours of the morning, waking people up with their shouting, then coming back in the afternoons and, when they're not picking and choosing who to abuse and accuse, doing this.




Except for the last couple of afternoons; they seem to be trying to hide from this security camera and moved over to the Eastern raised bed gardens.

As if that changes anything.

All of this for 15 employees, only a few of which are full time.

That's right.  Fifteen, not 29.  After the new contract with AHS, with reduced care hours being funded, half the staff were laid off, based on seniority.  So along with former SAIL staff that quit before the strike began showing up to take part in the siege of our community, we have former SAIL staff that got laid off 2 months ago.  The rest are AUPE imports.

There is nothing for AUPE to gain by being here.

Every day they show up here is another day of AUPE making itself look worse.

So why are they still here?

No sense

With all the stuff that's still been going on lately, many of us around here - and not just people who live here, but visitors, friends, family, etc. - are still asking one question.

Why are the picketers here?

At all.

It's not like they're accomplishing anything, other than give all unions a bad name.  As one person put it,

... all i know is that when we were on strike we were told the cops could arrest us for not continually walking, and for walking anywhere but on a designated area of the sidewalk outside the building we were picketing. this is ludicrous. ... and we complied because we didn't want to get in any trouble.

This, coming from someone who is a strong union supporter, and who loves their own union.

When it comes to what's happening here, there doesn't seem to be any "designated area" at all. They spend most their time in front of the West garden bed, but they'll also be in front of the driveways to the high rise parking (above and below ground), in the street, on the sidewalk across the street, in the curve of the street, where it turns to the side lane, and on the cul de sac at the back of the high rise, which is in front of people's private homes.  People who have no connection to Artspace, other than being geographically close.  They get to hear people shouting at the replacement workers in the wee hours of the morning, as well as have a bunch of people hanging out in front of their homes.

As for the folks outside, they don't even bother to walk around at all.  Usually, we have this - at least in the afternoons. 

It's not like the police are doing anything, as in this example, when an officer came for an unrelated manner.  

For some reason, AUPE isn't even being held to the same standards of behaviour as other unions, never mind basic human decency.

They're just sitting around, blocking the sidewalk.

If they're not sitting around, they're standing around.  They certainly don't walk continually.  And were would they be walking?  It's not like they're in front of the SAIL office to begin with. 

Let's take a look at the purpose of picketing; 

The purpose of picketing is to exert pressure on the employer by persuading other people not to do work for, or do business with, the employer. 

Well, the first problem with this is that they're not targeting the employer; they are targeting our home, the Artspace co-op.  With the SAIL model, most of this doesn't even apply.  The closest to meeting the above requirement is when they verbally abuse the replacement workers.  Yelling "garbage" and "scab" at the replacement workers isn't persuasion.  It's intimidation.

However, a picket line must be peaceful and cannot be used to forcibly prevent people from entering an employer's premises.

We can all see for ourselves how that's not been what's going on.  Especially since they've been blocking people from entering and exiting their homes.

Usually, striking or locked-out employees are only entitled to picket where they normally perform the work that's an integral and substantial part of the employer's operation and which is under the control and direction of the employer. 

Again, they're not picketing where they normally work.  People's private homes don't count, and the office is not where they are picketing.

Other operations of the employer may not normally be picketed. For example, if you operate your business at more than one location, your striking or locked-out employees are only permitted to picket the location for which their union is certified and at which they perform their work for you. They are prohibited from picketing your other locations if they do not normally perform work at those locations.

Once again, this doesn't apply.  SAIL has only one location; the office in unit 103.  It does not operate their business anywhere else.

As an exception to this general rule, picketing may also be conducted at other sites, with permission from the board, in circumstances where an employer attempts to have "struck work" performed these other sites. In other words, if you move work, normally performed by striking or locked-out employees, to another location in order to continue service or production during the strike/lockout, that location may be subject to picketing.

SAIL is not having "struck work" performed anywhere else; SAIL business is done in the SAIL office.  That the employees leave the office to enter people's private homes doesn't change anything; they are providing home care in the same way as other care workers who do home care, and those private homes are not part of the employer's work site.

Think of it this way; AHS funds home care all over the province.  Home care workers travel from home to home to provide this care.  Let's say that these home care workers decided to go on strike.  Who is the employer?  AHS (or, in the case of contract workers, the contracting company).  Not the people receiving care.  So the place to picket would be an AHS office, or the office of the contracting company.

With SAIL, there is only one employer location.  The SAIL office.

Similarly, striking or locked-out employees may be entitled to picket the place of business of an "ally" employer. 

SAIL does not have any "ally employer."  The closest to it would be AHS.

The board will declare another employer to be an ally of the struck employer in circumstances where the ally assists the employer in a lockout or in resisting a lawful strike. 

Does not apply.

Ally picketing is restricted to the site at which the ally performs work for the benefit of the employer who is directly involved.

Again, this does not apply, yet they are targeting our private homes.

Finally, where more than one employer carries on business at the same site (referred to as a "common site"), the board generally restricts picketing so that it affects only the employer involved in the labour dispute or the ally of that employer. 

Yet their actions are affecting an entire neighbourhood and community.

This restriction is relaxed, so that regulated picketing at a common site can occur and will affect third parties to some degree, in circumstances where the union has no other way of picketing at the workplace of the striking or locked-out employees.

AUPE could have picketed the SAIL office; they chose not to.

So here we have all these examples of how picketing is supposed to be done, none of which is actually happening.

Instead, they keep coming back, day after day, week after week, month after month.

For what?

There's just no point for them to be in front of Artspace at all.  We don't have any influence on the labour dispute.  Even the volunteer SAIL board members have no control over the funding, so they can't do anything, either.

They are accomplishing nothing out there.

They are in front of our private homes, so there is no persuading of people not to enter the place of business; even with the replacement workers, they're just harassing them.

There are no products of the employer to persuade people not to deal in or handle.

There is no one to convince not to do business with the employer.  The closest to is would be to ask the user members to refuse SAIL services, which doesn't work when the services involved are things like getting out of bed, eating or even personal hygiene.  As mentioned before, this isn't a coal mine or a factory, where production can be halted, or where people can go shop elsewhere.

So what are they accomplishing?

Well, there are a few things they are accomplishing.

They have alienated a lot of potential supporters.

They have given all AUPE members a bad name.

They are giving all unions a bad name.

AUPE probably cost the SAIL staff their jobs.  If SAIL were forced to accept AUPE's demands, which they can't afford, they'd go under, and the staff would lose their jobs.  If AUPE succeeds in bankrupting SAIL through frivolous litigation, again, the staff would lose their jobs.  There's no win here.  For anyone.

All of that doesn't count the damage they've done to people who live here, resulting in everything from increased in medication, to hospitalizations.

Every day they are out there, they make it worse.

For themselves.

It just makes no sense!

Video of the Day; the disruption continues

Still going through the old videos methodically, by date, and have finally reached May 12; five days into the strike.

There is some video already up for that day on our Youtube channel.

This video is another longer one; almost half an hour.  There are several camera views of events that took place starting around 4:20pm, until about 5:40pm.






Some interesting things to note is that they are targeting the security guards more, again, though there's still a lot of abuse aimed at the replacement workers, too.

How any of this was supposed to persuade anyone to their "side," we just can't figure out.

There's one face that is notable among the picketers.

This is a screencap from the AUPE website.  Jason Heistad.

Another Executive member of AUPE, not only at Artspace, but actively participating in the verbal abuse and harassment.

Just a reminder that all of what you are seeing here is happening at our private homes.  Even the replacement worker vehicle is being blocked in the driveway of our above ground, private, Artspace parking lot.

When they block the security vehicle on the street, it's in front of the driveways in and out of the private, Artspace underground parking.

SAIL Inc., the employer, has the one unit for an office at the opposite end of the high rise from where this is happening.  There are a few parking spots near that unit's private entrance for SAIL staff.  It is only because there was no safe way for security to escort the replacement workers directly to SAIL's private entrance that they had to go through Artspace parking and use the high rise back door.

So all this noise and yelling and disturbance is not directed at the employer at all, nor is it anywhere near the place of employment.

This was all going on outside our private homes.

Even by this time, only 5 days into the strike, there were letters, incident reports and statements going in to the SAIL and Artspace boards, documenting the negative effects all this was having on people's health.

Meanwhile, this is still before things started to get really loud and disruptive!  No bull horns, yet.

Another Familiar Face - Oh, the irony! (updated)

AUPE has been unusually tight-lipped about their SLAPP suit against those who dared support us online.  Perhaps, after the media attention their actions have gotten, they are hoping that if they just keep quiet, people will stop talking about it, and they can continue using the civil court system to try and intimidate people from talking about what they have done to our community since May 7.

They have, however, made a couple of public statements.  Here's one, from their website.

Let's take a closer look at this.

In late August, AUPE filed a statement of claim against three parties in regard to defamatory statements they made about our members and staff.  We did not take this action lightly, but the statements were serious enough that they required a response.

Well, they just confirmed that they filed the statement back in August, but for some reason, they sat on it until the end of September.  If these statements were so egregious as they claim, why did they wait for so long?

We consulted external legal counsel on this matter and obtained an opinion that legal action was merited.  The larger decision was weighing the need to defend our members and staff from damaging and untrue accusations against the possibility that we face further attacks for doing so.

External legal counsel, eh?  Must be nice, having unlimited funds to hire outside lawyers.  Oh, wait.  "Counsel."

Also, what "damaging and untrue accusations" were made about their members and staff?  We only know about Kathleen's tweets, one blog post from someone in Ontario that actually came to Artspace and talked to a number of people who live here (identified as a politician, except he doesn't hold any political office), and a single quote, without context, from this blog.  None of which named anybody, nor made any untrue statements.

In the face of this risk, we chose to defend the reputation of our members and staff.

Gosh, what a noble sounding way to defend their actions.  Such risk taking!  The multi-million dollar union, suing a stay-at-home mom with a twitter account, a guy in Ontario that hopes to run for office, and a non-existent Jane Doe.

Who knew AUPE was so fragile?

Defending its reputation in the courts obliges AUPE to remain silent about the nature of the false accusation.  

They claim these public tweets and posts are false and damaging their reputation, but then say they have to "remain silent about the nature of the false accusation."

How convenient.


Let's take a look at some of these tweets, seeing as how they're, you know, out there in the twitterverse.

 @_AUPE_ Members were blocking people from leaving the residence. Move out of the damn way. Those are PRIVATE CITIZENS #UnitedWithKikki

No AUPE members are named, and it's true; they were blocking all sorts of people who had nothing to do with the labour dispute. Plenty of videos to back that up.

 .@_AUPE_ Should let public know how members are harassing & abusing private residents at Art Space: youtu.be/OpAGhXrqQs4 #UnitedWithKikki

Again, no AUPE members named, and it includes a link to a video, proving the statement.

 .@_AUPE_ how bout private citizens being blocked by Art Space residents who aren't associated w/SAIL? youtu.be/z-S3qSOq-q8 #UnitedWithKikki

Another true statement, linking to a video to back it up.

 . @_AUPE_ members who harass, bully, threaten the disabled residents at the complex: youtube.com/watch?v=OpAGhX… #UnitedWithKikki . @_AUPE_ worse than blocking. They scream sirens at 8 a.m., verbally attack disabled residents, threaten. #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Once again, a true statement, with a video link to back it up.

 . @_AUPE_ lawyer screaming threats of subpeonas at disabled residents:youtu.be/k6hakuNxoog #artspaceundersiege #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Another true statement backed up with a link to video - including the lawyer part, since at the time, that's what we all thought he was, how he was identified in numerous media articles, and even how AUPE represented him on twitter.

 . @_AUPE_ Vids show blatant harassment. AUPE attacking private, disabled residents. youtube.com/watch?v=OpAGhX… #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Another statement backed up with video link.

 @_AUPE_ encouraging continued harassment of private, disabled citizens at their homes is DISGUSTING. #ableg #UnitedWithKikki
 Happening at #yeg Art Space-not story @_AUPE_ telling media or public. Threats, bullying: artspaceundersiege.blogspot.ca #UnitedWithKikki

Here we have a personal opinion (that said actions, backed up by previous videos, are disgusting), with a link to this blog to back it up.

 .@_AUPE_ Yr members have created unlivable state in neighborhood. Feel proud of members attacking disabled people? #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Another descriptive statement, describing how many Artspace members, visitors, family members and even neighbours felt, followed by a question.

How are any of these defamatory attacks on AUPE members and staff? They describe what is actually shown in the videos. What Artspace members say they feel like.

The key thing about defamation is that, if it's true, it isn't defamation*, and there is plenty of video evidence, as well as incident reports from Artspace members (some of which are posted here on the blog; visit the archives links on the right, to read them yourself).
[*update: edit on poorly phrased sentance structure]

AUPE's official statement closes with;

As a result AUPE will not be commenting on the specifics of the attacks while the matter is before the courts.  But members should be assure that in this case the law is being used as a shield, not a sword.

Uh huh.

More on that below...

Meanwhile, there was another public statement from AUPE, this time to the Edmonton Journal, in response to their Editorial.

Here it is, with commentary.

Friday October 3
Law a shield, not a sword
Re: “Use hammer sparingly,” Editorial, Oct. 1
There are hundreds of tweeters and bloggers commenting on the SAIL strike/lockout. The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has sued three individuals out of the hundreds who have commented. We welcome the free exchange of ideas and views, and of course we recognize that we are also engaged in the exercise of free speech when we picket. AUPE is very much in favour of free speech.

Uh huh.  Sure they do, and sure they are.

But only when that "free speech" is in support of them, not in opposition to them, it seems.

But almost all the bloggers and tweeters, as well as respectable media outlets and the journalists who write for them, are aware there are limits to free speech.

That one should have come with a spew alert.  I think a lot of people were wiping coffee off their monitors after reading that one.

One of those limits is very important: you cannot make a false accusation that attacks a person’s integrity and lowers their reputation in the community.

Agreed, if the accusations are false.  As we've demonstrated, however, these are not false accusations they are suing for.  They are tweets and comments that are either backed up by photo, video and witness accounts, or personal opinions and observations.

The only ones lowering AUPE's reputation in the community where the people on the picket line, engaging in the abusive behaviour.

There is recent precedent for an organization to take legal action to defend itself against false accusations. The Alberta Teachers’ Association, for instance, took such action to defend itself against accusations made by a critic on Twitter this summer. A few years ago, a Red Deer lawyer successfully defended his reputation against attacks from a provincial cabinet minister.

And what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

Defending its reputation in the courts obliges AUPE to remain silent about the nature of the false accusation. As a result AUPE will not be commenting on the specific attacks on its reputation while the matter is before the courts.

Well, that's a first.  They certainly had no problem bringing up their labour board complaints against SAIL, even after those complaints were withdrawn.

But readers should be assured that in this case the law is being used as a shield, not a sword.

Right.  We're supposed to believe that, are we?

We've had members sharing an interesting conversation they had with their pastor, long before the strike started and about an unrelated matter, about the secular justice system.  Basically, the discussion was about how the courts are the sword, while the Word is the shield.

If we were to apply this to the current SLAPP suit against people who merely talked about what is actually happening here at Artspace, AUPE is using the sword of the courts, while claiming to take on the role that belongs to God.

Sorry, AUPE, but you are not God.

Meanwhile, this is who wrote the letter, which is so much like the statement on the AUPE website.

Mark Wells, supervisor of research, education and communications, AUPE

It's not the first time this Mark Wells has written to the journal about what's going on here.  In this letter from May 24th, he basically slanders the reputation of one of our members (yes, we have video of the incident he's talking about, too).

He's also identified in the old letter as merely an AUPE "spokesperson."  Did he get a promotion or something?

Hey, Mark.  You want to talk about defamation and false accusations?  Why don't we take a look at what that really looks like.





This is the first of 8 clips showing...

Oh.  Hold on.

Of course Mr. Wells knows what it looks like.

He's in the videos.

That's right.  Among the trio of men engaging in this elaborate street theatre in front of Artspace back on August 2nd is...

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mark Wells, who has been identified by several people.

In the above photo, you can see him with AUPE's non-lawyer, William Rigutto, on the left in the yellow t-shirt.

The other guy in a yellow t-shirt is this guy.

That's from the David Eggen endorsement page.

Here are a few more screen caps from security video taken on August 2nd, but really, go check out the video above, so you can hear for yourself.

As you can see (and hear, if you've watched the videos), he's not just an observer, but an active participant.  And, gosh, he looks so HAPPY while doing it!

In this image, you can't see the piece of paper he's holding up, but on the video, you can see him continue to record the person driving the car he's helping block, well after he's stopped holding up the paper.

The passenger of that car was a board member.

I say "was" because she got out of the car, in hopes that they would allow the driver to go into the underground parking, once she left.

They didn't, and continued blocking that car for some time longer.

Ah, but that's not all about Mr. Wells.

Some of our members know him by another name - Mark Daley, which is the name he goes by on Facebook.

On his Facebook page, he says he works for AUPE.

But that's not the strangest thing about Mr. Wells/Daley.  We also found this.

That's right.

The guy that has written to the Edmonton Journal in defense of his employer, AUPE, is also a photographer and journalist.

That might explain how AUPE's letters get published so very quickly.

Talk about irony!  The AUPE "supervisor of research, education and communications" actually engaged in the very behaviour the exposure of which lead to the negative attention AUPE has been getting in social media.

Just a few things from the videos;

The sign he's wearing?  It says "SAIL - all subsidy, no accountability."

Of course, there IS accountability for SAIL's funding, so that's a defamatory statement right there around his neck.

In the video, they also accuse SAIL, named SAIL board members and named Artspace members, basically of fraud and embezzlement.

They also throw out accusations such as SAIL paying for the phones some people were using to record their performance.

They claim SAIL paid hundreds of dollars for pizza and entertainment for Friends of SAIL meetings.

They suggest that Artspace has shredded SAIL financial documents.

They suggest SAIL is paying a non-Artspace member illegally to make a documentary about their actions.

They threaten to subpoena the bank accounts of all Artspace members, looking for money they suggest SAIL has given us.

They threaten to subpoena all our video recordings - which would be pretty counterproductive, since not only are many of these videos already online, but they show AUPE picketers engaging in all the behaviours we've been talking about.

And so on.

Seriously.  Grab a drink and a snack, settle in and watch the videos.

If there's anyone who should be filing for defamation, it's Artspace members against Wells/Daley, Rigutto and Zimmerman.

Lucky for them, no one in Artspace has millions (pdf) in union dues to tap to pay for lawyers.


Update: Oct. 10

This post was published late Oct. 5th.  A supporter found something interesting on Oct. 6th and sent in this image.

The person had been checking out something they remembered seeing on Mark Daley's facebook page (the post in this image) when things suddenly changed.

They just happened to be looking at the same time Mark changed his profile name to Athabasca Poem.

He also removed public reference to his place of employment, and I believe that above post from May 24 is no longer viewable to the public.

We've always known that AUPE has been all over this blog, but the proof doesn't get more blatant than this!

The broken plate

This graphic was being passed around on Facebook.

There are variations on this theme, such as the crumpled paper or the nails hammered into a wooden fence.

They all illustrate the same point.  That when damage is done, it cannot be undone.  Sure, it might be "fixed."  You can glue the pieces of the plate together.  Fill the holes in the fence with putty.  Straighten out the sheet of paper.

Yet, no matter how much you try and fix it, the damage remains.  The plate with its glued pieces may be structurally whole, but it still has seams scarring its surface.  Putty can fill the hole in the wooden fence, but the putty is just a patch; the hole is still there in the wood.  The paper can be flattened and straightened, but once wadded up, nothing will completely take away the creases.

The damage is done.

As much as we can appreciate that all this negative media attention has forced the picketers to stop the aggressive behaviour they previously engaged in, that damage is done.  Worse, we have no way of knowing when they will suddenly decide to hold another rally or photo shoot or who knows what.

Tomorrow will be 150 days since AUPE chose to use the labour dispute with SAIL as their justification to target an entire community.

Will they decide to "celebrate" this day with another rally, like they did on day 101?

Will more NDPers come out for photo opportunities in support of these actions against our home?

Or will they wait until their convention, less than two weeks from now?  Will we have sudden crowds of people traipsing over from the Shaw Conference Centre, under the belief that we are the employer, or a place of employment, rather than private homes?

We simply don't know, from one day to the next, what they will do.

The plate is still at risk of being dropped, again and again.

Except the "plate" is our lives.

The Blog – Our Pro-active Defence

I have been reminded recently that the blog does not reflect the opinions or feelings of all of the members of Artspace. And it's good to be reminded of that. The blog exists so that those members and non-members who wish to express themselves may do so. The AUPE has made itself known in our neighborhood in some very abusive ways. I, for one, am glad to have this blog to use as a vehicle to express my thoughts.

For some time, many Artspace members tried to get people to see what the AUPE was doing in our neighborhood, but no one, it seemed, would listen.  In some ways I guess I can't really blame them for not believing what I was saying. Indeed, just hearing myself describe the activities around here sounded absurd. I mean, here I am living in a civilized world and yet my little neighborhood was being picketed by SAIL staff and paid AUPE picketers. They were yelling obscenities at people who live here, and people who visit. They were blocking vehicles coming and going into and out of the parkade and upper parking lot. They brought in an air raid siren and yelled at us through bullhorns. They carried cameras and took pictures of us; for what reason we're not sure. They invaded our neighborhood a couple of times, with loud music and many people, for unwanted and uninvited block parties. From the beginning, their behavior was so abusive that many of us felt like our summer was ruined. Many people who live here where fearful to leave their own homes. No one knew when or if they would be stopped and abused by the picketers. 

Yes, it all sounded so very absurd. Yet this is exactly what was happening, and no one would listen. So the blog was created. This was the only way that we could get our side of the story told. 

Yet, it still took about another month before anybody really believed us. It took someone from social media to bring our situation to light. Somehow, Kathleen Smith discovered our situation and our blog. She began looking into it. As she learned the truth about what was going on and how wrong it is, she began to advocate for us on Twitter and Facebook. Through her efforts, many in the general public were finally beginning to see that the situation I described earlier really was happening. She gave us some much-needed exposure. With this exposure, the AUPE ended up easing up on us quite a bit. I believe it was their attempt at damage control. After all, they couldn't have the public believing that the AUPE could be so bad. So they set up cameras and videotaped the “new quiet picket line”, and invited the public to come and see for themselves how peaceful it was.

I am thankful that it is much more peaceful outside. However, the damage has been done. I still feel stuck in my own home because of the picketers outside of it. 

Not everyone feels the same as I do, however. Some people think that since the picketers have been so quiet that we should take down our signs and stop writing on the blog. I think that would be a mistake. As long as the AUPE is picketing outside of our home, we should remain vigilant and diligent. Just because they are quiet now, does not erase the wrong they have done in the past. As I've said already, some of the damage that was done is having a lasting effect on many of us. 

Just because it is quiet does not mean we are not suffering. I believe that as long as there are picketers outside, we need to be expressing it on the blog. This seems to be our main defense. The AUPE knows that any behavior it shows on the picket line will eventually end up online. 

Perhaps this knowledge is one way to help keep the peace here at Artspace. 

I want to end this post by saying that I'm thankful to the picketers for being relatively quiet the last month or so. I do appreciate it…but I wish you weren't here at all.

All Quiet on the Artspace Front

It has been relatively quiet here at Artspace recently. Why? Who knows? Maybe it's the weather. It is officially fall, and the weather is turning colder. Maybe the picketers don't like the cold. I haven't seen very many of them out there lately, and I haven't really heard much from them, either. Then again that could be because my windows and doors are closed and I hear hardly anything, let alone the rantings of picketers.But how long will this quiet last? There have been rumors that if the AUPE does not get their way, they will once again ramp up their actions outside of our homes. It has happened in the past.

On Canada Day, the AUPE showed up uninvited and unwelcomed. They held a big Canada Day/AUPE solidarity party on the street and sidewalks of my neighborhood. About a month later, after SAIL rejected the mediator's report, our Saturday afternoon was disrupted by the rantings and ravings of the AUPE's communications officer and "fake" lawyer. These men are supposedly professionals, but their behavior certainly did not reflect that. You can see them in action on our YouTube site with the videos entitled "Street Theatre". Their behavior was so ludicrous and abusive that it brought at least one Artspace member to tears.

Then the day after we celebrated surviving 100 days of being under siege, the AUPE came out with about 100 people. Again they came unwelcomed, but this time they also came unannounced. They only stayed for about two hours but the impact was great. They invaded our home with loud noise, including African drums, music and bullhorn. It was extremely loud and disruptive. Perhaps the most upsetting, at least for some of us, was their attempt to sing as a group.

About the same time that all this was happening we finally got some attention in the public and on social media. Suddenly, people were seeing AUPE's abusive behavior in our neighborhood. They began to check things out. Some even began to question the AUPE. Suddenly, things got relatively quiet in our neighborhood. And AUPE began inviting everyone to come and see the "peaceful picket line" for themselves. They won't admit it but they were in damage control.

So, yes, it has been relatively quiet here. But for how long? Only time will tell.