Salman is running to bring a working-class perspective and platform to the people of the community.

“Politically, Surrey City Council currently leans to the right, and has been doing that for a while. It might even be fair to say that it’s a competition to see who can be more right wing on the council.

“Their entire focus is around policing and appeasing land developers. Meeting minutes focus almost completely around these two issues, and there is a complete lack of attention towards working-class issues. There is no progressive or even mildly left leaning voice at City Hall, so working people’s issues remain constantly overlooked.”

Salman says that the biggest issue in Surrey is the crisis of affordability, and that his campaign focuses on that. Policing is a big topic of public discussion as well since Surrey is going through issues involving public safety and extortion.

“My campaign includes focusing on affordable housing, calling for 33,000 new housing units and a rent freeze for 4 years. I am also pushing for free buses in Surrey and for the city’s first publicly owned grocery store.

“My platform includes increasing spaces in the city’s recreational programs, so that everyone can gain access. Right now, it’s first come first serve, which means most people miss out. Surrey’s recreational programs haven’t kept up with population growth.”

“Policing and public safety is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed. But all the other candidates have built that up as the single biggest electoral issue and call for increased spending on police. My campaign argues the opposite – reducing police spending and diverting that money towards public programs. You cannot address public safety issues without addressing the material conditions that make people turn towards crime.

Salman says that the biggest issue involving provincial-municipal relations is taxation.

“Property taxation is the single biggest source of revenue for the city. Most of the collected taxes are passed over to the external taxing authorities, such as the province, whereas the city keeps around 35 percent. Addressing the issue of taxation also involves moving the tax burden off the working class and onto the corporations and very rich.”

Salman says that within Surrey, the labour and social movements are certainly mobilized and connected to different civic campaigns. “My discussions with them have been very encouraging,” he notes.

“My campaign platform is very ambitious, and as a first-time candidate, challenging as well. So far, the discussions that I’ve had with people while leafleting and campaigning on the streets have been extremely positive and encouraging.

“Regardless of how election day eventually turns out, this has so far been an excellent start to building a movement for the future that benefits Surrey’s working-class.

“I am getting incredible support, and I welcome all who want to volunteer or make donations.”

BC readers who would like to get involved with or support Salman’s campaign can contact him through Instagram or by email.

This article originally appeared in People’s Voice.

On August 4, the BC Labour Relations Board issued a decision ordering Amazon Canada Fulfillment Services and Unifor Local 114 to determine their first collective agreement through binding arbitration.

This decision was made after numerous legal disputes throughout the certification and negotiation process. An independent mediator determined that Amazon procedurally delayed negotiations and created an artificial impasse during their first-contract negotiations with Unifor Local 114.

The Board certified the union to represent approximately 800 workers at the Amazon YVR2 warehouse in Delta, BC on July 10, 2025. The YVR2 Fulfillment Centre is the only certified unionized Amazon location in Canada, achieving this historic outcome after a lengthy and contentious organizing campaign resulting in an order for remedial certification.

The parties have yet to negotiate their first collective agreement on the heels of a certification drive marked by Amazon’s misconduct.

For background, in 2025 the Board found that Amazon engaged in a “lengthy and pervasive anti-union campaign” during the organizing campaign and certification drive. Amazon deployed a “specialized field team which increased managerial presence and who conducted one-on-one meetings,” displayed anti-union messaging, and engaged in other improper actions and violations of the provincial labour code. Most severely, the Board reviewed evidence that Amazon’s “list padding” sought to artificially inflate the number of employees in the bargaining unit and undermine the union’s organizing drive.

In another earlier decision, the Board determined that Amazon violated the statutory freeze provisions of the labour code by not performing a wage review for bargaining unit members at YVR2 and applying it across all sites of its business. The Board ordered Amazon to provide the union members with pay increases arising from their typical wage review process.

It was in the throes of this frustrated litigious history that Unifor served notice to bargain the first collective agreement in October 2025. Negotiations ran up to February 2026, when a mediator was appointed and joined the bargaining sessions until March 2026. Mediation broke down on May 7, when “the mediator advised the parties that he could not issue recommendations to conclude a first collective agreement that he believed would likely be accepted by both parties.”

The Board’s August 4 decision outlines the proposals in dispute when the parties reached impasse:

First, Amazon sought to introduce a union security proposal reminiscent of US-style right-to-work legislation. Amazon wanted union membership to be voluntary instead of a condition of employment, which any union in Canada would wholly and reasonably reject. This “open shop” clause was described by the Board as “a clause exceedingly few unions in the province would be willing to accept, and it is credible that the union, in the context of this dispute and in light of Amazon’s past conduct, has perceived it as inflammatory and designed to further undermine its reputation with the bargaining unit.”

Second, Amazon proposed productivity and attendance management proposals that would maintain the “status quo” on all policies across the unionized warehouse and other distribution centres. Effectively, Amazon sought to restrict the right of the union to challenge the reasonableness of current and future policies. As the mediator put it, these proposals were “over and above what would typically be contained in a management rights clause.”

Finally, while seeking the “status quo” in policy applications, Amazon stated that it would not agree to a proposal by the union for wage rates and a me-too clause on wage increases other warehouses and distribution centres receive. The August 4 decision identified that the mediator found “on the one hand the employer wants the union to agree to provisions that are driven by what occurs in other centres; but on the other hand, it is not prepared to take the same approach with wage rates.”

The mediator and the Board both found that Amazon did not make a reasonable effort to table wage proposals; Amazon first did so three days into mediation. The union argued that this delay to produce monetary proposals “unnecessarily impeded and delayed bargaining and demonstrated that the employer did not make a reasonable effort to conclude negotiations.”

As such, the mediator issued a report advising that a strike or lockout would not resolve negotiations due to the “entrenched positions [… and] the litigious adversarial relationship after the remedial certification.” The mediator recommended that the first collective agreement be resolved through binding arbitration. The union agreed to this process, and Amazon rejected the recommendation.

The Board found that Amazon’s actions during the organizing drive, breaches of the labour code through the anti-union campaign, and violations of the statutory freeze provisions were sufficient to demonstrate that Amazon affected the union’s effectiveness and reputation with its members. The Board determined that Amazon’s “conduct before and after certification has impacted the ability of the parties to reach a first collective agreement and this favours a direction that the first collective agreement should be determined by an arbitrator.”

The Board also determined that this “bitter and protracted dispute” would not result in a mutual settlement of differences. Amazon made charter arguments regarding the right to strikes and lockouts. Relying on the employer’s conduct and the effect it had on the union’s relationship with its members, the Board denied granting Amazon the right to lockout its employees, or the union the right to strike, stating that “there is a real risk that a strike or lockout is more likely to exacerbate the worst features of the parties’ relationship and yield further conflict and litigation.”

The Board thus ordered that the parties conclude their first collective agreement through arbitration by a single arbitrator.

Unifor called the decision “another legal setback” for Amazon’s anti-union conduct.

“Even though Amazon’s tactics have been beyond the pale at every step, the BC Labour Board has now ordered a first collective agreement that will be binding on Amazon,” said Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle. “Amazon’s behaviour has been so bad because it knows what we know: unions build worker power. Amazon sees unions as an existential threat to ruthless and unsustainable workplace management.”

For the 800 workers at the YVR2 warehouse in Delta, this ruling is a lifeline. As the union agreed to all along, an independent arbitrator will now step in and order the first collective agreement. The arbitrator will set out the specific proposals that the parties could not agree on, including wage rates and me-too clauses, the productivity and attendance management policies, and the union security clause.

Given Amazon’s history of anti-union conduct and the current excessively litigious environment, the Board denied the parties the right to strike or lockout. Amazon has been stripped of the ability to outlast the union by forcing a prolonged lockout.

Importantly, the decision identified that Amazon’s past conduct does not stay in the past. This decision flows from Amazon’s behaviour throughout the organizing campaign into negotiations, sending a signal throughout BC that when an employer engages in a “lengthy and pervasive” campaign to frustrate organizing and bargaining, the Board is willing to step in and impose a process that cuts through delay tactics.

Unifor’s fight is not over, but it has now been made abundantly clear that Amazon’s behaviour has consequences and Amazon cannot simply stall its way into a favourable agreement.

[Photo: Unifor]

It is with profound sadness and deep gratitude for a life of extraordinary purpose that the BC Provincial Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada announces the passing of Syed Nazir Rizvi, who died peacefully on July 19, 2026, at the age of 96.

Born on December 1, 1929, in the village of Mustafabad near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, Nazir was raised in a family that held education in the highest esteem. Originally destined for a career in the Shia clergy, his inquisitive mind led him instead toward science, history, and a lifelong search for justice. As a young man he challenged conventional beliefs, attended an English language school against his father’s wishes, and eventually left India in 1951 to continue his studies in London.

His years in Britain proved transformative. Studying history at the University of London, Nazir came under the influence of distinguished Marxist historian Professor Eric Hobsbawm and became deeply engaged in the study of colonialism, class struggle, and world history. His intellectual development, together with the guidance of mentors in Britain’s progressive movement, shaped the convictions that would guide the remainder of his life: a steadfast commitment to socialism, internationalism, anti racism, and peace.

After completing his education, Nazir dedicated himself to teaching. His career took him first to Birmingham, England, and then to Nigeria in 1960 during the country’s historic transition to independence. There he taught history and teacher education while witnessing firsthand the struggles against colonialism and apartheid that further strengthened his commitment to African liberation and human dignity. It was at this time that he met renowned African revolutionary Dr. Frantz Fanon who introduced Nazir to the newly victorious Cuban revolution and was an inspiration that changed the direction of his life.

Nigeria also brought the greatest joy of his personal life. It was there he met fellow educator Krishna Syal, an accomplished educational psychologist whose intellect, compassion, and shared ideals made them lifelong partners. They married in Ibadan and consciously devoted their lives not to raising a family of their own, but to the broader cause of education, social justice, and human emancipation. Nazir often spoke about how Krishna was very firm in her rights as a woman and before marriage, ensured that he had a full understanding of her principles and conditions that would be the basis of their life-long relationship. Their partnership became one of shared purpose, mutual respect, and unwavering devotion for more than sixty years.

Health concerns eventually brought Nazir and Krishna to Canada in 1964, where they settled first in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As an educator and Head of the Social Studies Department at Graham Creighton High School, Nazir became a pioneering advocate for the inclusion of African and Black history in Nova Scotia’s curriculum. He worked tirelessly against racism, collaborating with Black educators and community organizations while helping establish one of the province’s earliest senior high school courses in African history. His efforts earned him the admiration of colleagues, students, and the black community. It was an historic accomplishment.

Following retirement in 1988, Nazir and Krishna relocated to British Columbia, where a new chapter of activism unfolded. For more than three decades he became one of Canada’s best-known advocates of friendship and solidarity with Cuba. As President of the Canadian Cuban Friendship Association (Vancouver) until his passing, he guided humanitarian campaigns during Cuba’s difficult “Special Period,” organized fifteen solidarity delegations, helped coordinate medical and educational aid, and helped strengthen and expand Canada’s coast-to-coast-to-coast Cuba solidarity movement. Nazir was a founding member of the Canadian Network on Cuba, a cross-Canada organization uniting all Canadian Cuba solidarity organizations.

Nazir joined the Communist Party of Canada while in Halifax and remained an active member the  remainder of his life, serving in numerous leadership positions at local, provincial and federal levels and as a long-standing member of the Party’s Central Committee, several times representing the Party internationally. His lifelong commitment to an anti-imperialist world peace movement also found expression through his work with the Canadian Peace Congress and the Vancouver and Fraser Valley Peace Councils, where he campaigned tirelessly for nuclear disarmament, international cooperation, and a more peaceful world.

One of the defining moments of his life came in 1996 when he was invited to meet Cuban President Fidel Castro during Castro’s brief visit to Vancouver. Recognized by Castro as a fellow comrade, Nazir regarded the meeting as one of the greatest honours of his life. In 2015, during one of his trips to Cuba, he was awarded the Friendship Medal from the Cuban Council of State in recognition of decades of dedicated international solidarity, a distinction he characteristically insisted belonged not to himself alone, but to the many comrades with whom he had worked.

Nazir’s life was distinguished not by the pursuit of personal recognition but by an unwavering belief that education could liberate, that solidarity could overcome injustice, and that ordinary people possessed the power to build a more humane world. Whether teaching students in Britain, Nigeria, or Canada, standing beside movements against racism and apartheid, or supporting struggles for peace and international cooperation, he remained guided by the same principles throughout nearly a century of extraordinary social change.

In 2021, Nazir lost Krishna, the love of his life and partner in every endeavour. Though he mourned her deeply, he continued the work they had built together, remaining active in peace campaigns, Cuba solidarity, and community life well into his nineties. He often reflected that the years they spent together were the most meaningful of his life.

He is survived by countless friends, comrades, former students, colleagues, and activists across Canada and around the world whose lives were enriched by his wisdom, kindness, generosity, and unwavering integrity. His influence lives on in the movements he helped build, the educational reforms he inspired, and in the many people whose lives were touched by his example.

Nazir Rizvi believed that history belonged not merely to those who witnessed it, but to those willing to shape it through courage, compassion, and collective action. His life stands as a testament to those ideals. In honouring his memory, we celebrate not only an educator and activist, but also a remarkable human being whose lifelong commitment to justice, equality, peace, and international friendship leaves an enduring legacy for generations to come.

Rest in peace, Comrade Nazir. Your life’s work continues in all who strive for a more just and
peaceful world.

On June 19, 2026, members of the Nurses Bargaining Association rejected a tentative collective agreement with the Health Employers Association of BC. Nurses stood together and said no to a deal that does not meet their basic demands. 

Approximately 62,000 nurses employed across the province in regional health authorities, provincial health agencies, long-term care facilities, and contracted health service providers started job action with an overtime ban and a ban on all non-nursing duties on July 2. Picket lines have since been established across the Province.

This is the first significant job action escalation by BC nurses since 2001, and it does not come out of the blue. Austerity and private industry lobbyists have been slowly eroding the BC public healthcare system for decades. Cost-cutting measures have produced staffing shortages, overwork, and a decline in the quality of patient care. 

There were over 1,800 healthcare workplace violence claims in 2023, and nurses experienced over 500 of those violent incidents. According to the BC Nurses’ Union, approximately 26 nurses per month report suffering a violent injury to WorkSafeBC, while survey-based estimates suggest that around 70% of violent incidents go unreported. Nurses, like all workers, have the right to a safe work environment, and strong occupational health and safety protections.

Wages for nurses and other healthcare workers have fallen behind inflation and the rising cost of living in BC. Despite working full-time in hospitals and health facilities, many nurses are no longer able to meaningfully build savings or consistently afford basic necessities such as housing, food, transportation, and childcare. Real wage stagnation, combined with sustained workload increases and persistent understaffing, has placed significant financial and personal strain on frontline health care workers. 

The government and the Health Employers Association must come to the table ready and willing to meaningfully improve working conditions in our hospitals and healthcare facilities by reducing workloads, increasing nurse-to-patient ratios, and properly staffing our public services, instead of relying on the unpaid labour of nurses going above and beyond the scope of their duties.

The impacts of cuts to public services are borne on the backs of working people. The BC government is increasingly responding to fiscal pressure by shifting toward privatization. The result is a healthcare capacity that is below demand, with emergency departments and surgical wait times that are putting people’s lives at risk. 

The Communist Party of BC continues to call for the expansion of universally accessible, publicly funded healthcare. We oppose the privatization and commercialization of the healthcare system while demanding increased funding for and staffing of our public services. We stand in solidarity with nurses who are demanding the fundamental changes necessary to protect their working conditions, real wages, and the public health care system we all rely on when we need it most.

We condemn in particular the governments of Canada, Alberta and British Columbia for their latest moves to expand the fossil fuel extraction and export sector. PM Mark Carney, along with BC Premier David Eby and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith claim that these projects will “make Canada stronger” while somehow helping to reduce our overall carbon footprint. But this is totally false. There is no strength to be gained by burdening our children and grandchildren with the huge negative impacts of the global climate crisis – and it remains highly doubtful that these expensive projects will even bring any temporary net economic growth for the Canadian economy. The reality is that these decisions can only result in a net transfer of income and wealth from working people to the shareholders of the big energy monopolies, which will be shielded from losses by Canadian governments. These are the facts deliberately downplayed by Carney and Eby, who hope to gain temporary political relief by allowing Alberta’s pro-US annexationist premier to promote the agenda of the fossil fuel giants.

The Communist Party of BC also extends our full solidarity to Indigenous nations and organizations which remain firmly opposed to the dangerous acceleration of the fossil fuel industry. As many leaders and groups have warned, these projects are in direct contradiction to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which explicitly provides for the right of free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples regarding economic projects on their traditional and inherent territories. Ringing declarations about the “urgency” of “unlocking” the oil and natural gas industry are merely a cover for trampling the rights of Indigenous peoples in the pursuit of corporate profits. Similarly, the hypocritical argument that Canadians must accept the decisions of Mark Carney and David Eby in order to block the reactionary agenda of Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith rings totally hollow as their governments follow the same path towards surrender to the energy industry and to the militarist policies which are now being imposed on all the NATO countries.

It is true, as some have pointed out, that the latest announcements by PM Carney reflect the successful efforts by Coastal First Nations and environmental movements to  protect the north coast of BC from the disastrous effects of a new pipeline route. In itself, this is a victory. But the overall impact of the latest announcements goes in a very different direction, undermining Indigenous sovereignty and accelerating overall GHG emissions, at the expense of Canadian taxpayers.

Speaking as a registered provincial political party in British Columbia, we declare our agreement with the words of Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC President, when he bluntly warned that “governments remain committed to accelerating fossil fuel development without first addressing the rights and jurisdiction of the First Nations whose territories will be affected, or climate impacts.” As Grand Chief Phillip says, these governments aim to shift the proposed oil export route from British Columbia’s north coast to the south coast while simultaneously increasing public investment in LNG development. The UBCIC is correct that increasing fossil fuel extraction and transmission will increase greenhouse gas emissions and global temperatures, and that the impacts on British Columbians will include more floods and wildfires. We stand with the UBCIC and other Indigenous movements which continue to oppose new pipelines and increased oil tanker traffic. We salute the leadership which secured and continues to defend the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act – their struggle deserves recognition, not politically-driven attempts to work around the inherent and constitutionally protected title and rights of First Nations.

For the third year in a row, we are throwing a fundraiser Canada’s leading socialist newspaper, People’s Voice, by focusing on the hidden and extraordinary talents of socialist organizers, labour activists and all other stripes of leftist by having them showcase those talents to an audience of their peers. Since 2024, the People’s Voice Talent Show has become a fun way to let loose and see another side of our friends and comrades in a fun and accepting environment.

In honour of Cuba and the Cuban Revolution, this year’s promotional poster features the Cuban singer Celina González, a revolutiionary artist known for such inspiring songs such as “Que viva Fidel.”

Are you a leftist? Do you have a talent you’d like to showcase to other leftists? Register your act by emailing cpcbcorganizer@gmail.com.

June 30th
7pm
211 E. Georgia St, unit 105
$10 suggested donation

Support independent, working-class media!

Not many people were paying close attention to the contest this spring for leadership of British Columbia’s fractious Conservative party. But that changed on May 30, with the narrow victory of Kerry-Lynne Findlay. A former cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, the new leader of the Official Opposition in BC has deep links with far-right, racist, white nationalist movements which are gaining traction across much of western Canada.

Findlay is not a member of the current Legislature in Victoria. But if a member of her caucus resigns, that would open the door for a byelection and a much higher public profile for a politician whose views closely mirror Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

In her victory speech, Findlay declared that she is guided by the ideas of “faith, family and freedom,” a phrase frequently used by US Christian nationalists. The words eerily echo another slogan popularized by Adolf Hitler: “Kinder, Kuche, Kirche” (“Children, Kitchen, Church”).

Analysts who track Findlay’s political trajectory warn that her slogans should not be dismissed as mistakes or misunderstandings. Her victory reflects the conscious strategy of fascist movements to seize on the opportunity created in 2024 by the implosion of BC’s main right-wing, pro-corporate political party. After governing for sixteen years under Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark, the defeated BC Liberals rebranded themselves in 2023 as “BC United” in hopes of ousting the NDP.

That strategy backfired spectacularly, allowing room for the rapidly growing provincial Conservatives to push BC United out of the 2024 election. By that point, the Conservatives had been largely taken over by the far-right, but they came perilously close to winning a majority in the Legislature. Divisions in their caucus over the blatantly racist views of some MLAs forced the ouster of leader John Rustad, and now the most pro-fascist elements of the party have Findlay to project their views.

Findlay’s rise has been quietly welcomed by some NDP politicians, who calculate that she will be “too divisive” to win an election. That could allow the NDP to maintain its course under Premier David Eby, who has almost completely dropped any progressive social and economic policies in an attempt to appeal to centre-right voters. But analysts who study the rise of fascist and far-right “populist” movements in other countries point out that this approach by reformist parties like the NDP has often failed.

Those who dismiss Kerry-Lynn Findlay as an outlier should look next door. As in BC, the political right in Alberta went through a rebranding and an influx of MAGA-type members. The outcome was the election of US Big Oil shill Danielle Smith as premier. Far from being an isolated force, Smith’s backers are pushing their reactionary demands to the top of the political agenda in Canada. In both provinces, anti-Indigenous hatred and bogus arguments about “provincial rights” are among the favoured political tools driving the rise of fascist movements.

But other ideological weapons are being used to whip up hatred and fear. Findlay’s husband Brent Chapman – the Conservative MLA for Surrey South – is among those who cultivate a wide range of conspiracies and lies. Chapman’s well-documented record includes promotion of the infamous lie that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was fake, the Quebec City Mosque massacre was “suspicious,” that residential school deaths are a “massive fraud,” that Palestinians are “inbred,” and so forth. Some expect Chapman will resign so that Findlay can enter the Legislature.

Findlay herself has been exposed for insinuations about antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros and Chrystia Freeland. (She later called her postings on this topic “thoughtless” and never paid any political price.)

During the BC Conservative leadership race, she accused one opponent of conflict of interest – because he is married to an Indigenous woman. Her “faith, family and freedom” slogan is a conscious signal of her intention to attack reproductive rights, ban books, encourage violence against 2SLGBTIQ+ people, and dismantle the separation of church and state.

The next BC provincial election is scheduled for 2028. But nobody would be surprised if Eby found a convenient reason to go to the voters in the near future, banking on Findlay’s extremism to bolster the NDP’s flagging popularity. That would be a dangerous gamble, not to mention somewhat hypocritical for a premier who continuously retreats in the face of pressures by the far-right on “hot button” issues around crime, social equality and Indigenous rights.

Findlay’s victory should be a warning that politics in BC needs far more vigorous intervention by progressive forces – Indigenous peoples, environmentalists, advocates for expanded funding of housing and childcare, the more activist elements of the labour movement – to expose and defeat the Conservatives and to put the NDP’s feet to the fire around its own tilt to the right.

Otherwise, Canada’s west coast could soon be governed by the most reactionary premier on Canadian history.

We are happy to welcome the editor of People’s Voice, Dave McKee, to BC this week. He will be visiting to speak about the importance of independent working class media in a capitalist world. He will be joined by union activists and grass-roots organizers about distortions of working class issues in the mainstream corporate media and why it is so important for outlets like People’s Voice exist to give people a real perspective that matters to them.

VANCOUVER: Tuesday, June 2nd, 7pm at Centre for Socialist Education (211 E. Georgia St. unit 105)
with Nigan Juniper of Canada-Cuba Friendship Association – Vancouver and Doug Kellam of CUPW

VICTORIA: Wednesday, June 3rd, 7pm at Lavendar Co-op Community Room (620 Judah St, uni 10A)
with Randy Caravaggio of Victoria Friends of Cuba, Cale McLellan of Victoria Labour Council, Andrea Clark of Labour for Palestine, Jackson Campbell of BC Teachers Federation and David Sutherland of Vancouver Island Peace Council

NANAIMO: Thursday, June 4th at Beban Park Social Centre, Meeting Room One (2300 Bowen Road)
with Kimball Cariou of the Canadian Peace Congress

Nearly 61,000 registered, psychiatric and licensed practical nurses in BC have made their voices clear, forcefully and in unison, that they deserve a fair contract.

Between May 8 and 11, nurses who are party to the sectoral Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) Provincial Collective Agreement held a strike vote. The majority of nurses covered by the NBA are represented by the BC Nurses Union (BCNU), with others represented by the Health Sciences Association, the Hospital Employees’ Union, and the British Columbia General Employees’ Union.

Fifty thousand nurses in the BCNU, working in BC hospitals, public health, home support, long-term care, and mental health care, voted in favour of job action, delivering a clear message to the provincial government and to the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC). An overwhelming 98.2 percent voted in favour of job action.

On May 24, they reached a tentative agreement which includes improvements to benefits coverage, a wage increase of 12 percent over 4 years, workplace safety and violence prevention measures. The new deal, which will be voted on from June 15 – 19, also includes an agreement with the Ministry of Health for significant additional funding to continue implementing minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

Nurses’ demands across the province’s six health authorities and affiliate organizations are clear: to be treated with the respect they deserve. Ahead of the strike vote, the HEABC had rejected 94 percent of the NBA’s 140 proposals including key initiatives related to wages, workload, workplace violence and occupational health and safety.

Nurses are fighting for improved nurse-to-patient ratios, increased recruitment and stronger workplace safety measures.

The BCNU reports that, since 2019, injury claims across the healthcare field have risen by nearly 25 percent, and psychological injuries have tripled.

As Adriane Gear, BC Nurses’ Union President and Chair of the NBA provincial bargaining committee, stated: “[Nurses] are prepared to fight for the future of nursing and for a healthcare system that is safe, sustainable and able to retain the nurses that patients rely on.”

And fight they have, both at the bargaining table and on the streets. On April 30, over 500 nurses, allied healthcare workers and supporters rallied in downtown Vancouver to send a message ahead of the strike vote that nurses and labour stand in solidarity on the frontlines of the healthcare crisis in Canada.

Emergency departments in rural communities have faced temporary closures, and maternity and pediatric units in both rural and urban areas are reaching their boiling point. This is no accident: the provincial government is deliberately manufacturing a healthcare crisis to clear the way for two-tier, for-profit medicine. Hot on the heels of a government that is driving healthcare into the ground and toward a public-private model, BC Nurses have raised a red flag.

At the forefront of this fight is the expansion of minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. On February 17, the BCNU responded strongly to cuts announced in the BC Budget, which included pausing the expansion of long-term care facilities, increasing the strain on overwhelmed long-term care providers and the nurses employed at these facilities.

Nursing vacancies from Victoria to Fort St. John have ballooned to over 4,500 with, as the BCNU expressed, “tens of thousands more nurses needed in the coming years.” Not just staffing concerns, nurse-to-patient ratios impact the health and wellbeing of every British Columbian.

“Not only do minimum nurse-to-patient ratios improve the working conditions of nurses; they also ensure patients receive the safe care they deserve,” said Gear. “Nurses are the eyes and ears of healthcare.”

With the strike mandate secured, the BCNU and its partners in the NBA wasted no time. On May 14, they returned to the bargaining table with the HEABC, their 98.2 percent mandate serving as the central leverage point in their push for meaningful progress. The union held a 90-day window to engage in various forms of job action, from refusing to perform non-nursing duties such as handing out meal trays and cleaning stretchers, to a full-scale withdrawal of services.

The historic near-unanimous strike mandate meant that the NBA returned to the bargaining table holding the most militant show of unity in recent memory. With nurses signaling they were ready to escalate, the HEABC and provincial government were compelled to make meaningful movement on the key issues of nurse-to-patient ratios, wages and workplace safety.

Whatever the outcome of the ratification vote, BC nurses have made it clear: the status quo is no longer an option.

On March 16, the Ambulance Paramedics of BC (CUPE Local 873) ratified a new collective agreement. The union’s 6,000 members, primarily paramedics and 911 dispatchers, had voted 97 percent in favour of job action in February, with their demands including wage increases, sufficient staffing and improved supports around burnout and other psychological injury.

For years, the union’s members have been on the frontlines of a deepening healthcare crisis shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, a decade-long toxic drug emergency and privatization efforts. As hospital overcrowding, emergency room closures and systemic failures mount, these first responders are increasingly forced to fill the gaps, providing urgent care and transporting patients to increasingly distant facilities with limited available capacity.

Alongside their fellow healthcare workers, paramedics are facing unsustainable workloads and escalating rates of burnout. BC paramedics accessed critical incident supports 3,636 times in 2022, reflecting the psychological toll of their work. In August 2025, the Ambulance Paramedics of BC reported that nearly a third of their members were either off for mental health leave or receiving related treatment while continuing to work.

Union spokesperson Ian Tait also emphasized that “there’s actually a certain percentage of our members up there that are suffering and getting no treatment whatsoever” owing to stigma. The consequences have been fatal, with five BC paramedics dying from suicide in 2025, a sharp increase from previous years.

As first-responders take leave or exit the profession without adequate replacement, their absence intensifies the workloads of those who remain. Chronic understaffing in healthcare eventually cascades into emergency room closures, forcing patients to travel farther for care and placing added pressure on paramedics tasked with keeping them alive during longer transports. As Tait explained in a recent interview, these diversions can add hours to crises where every second can make a difference between life and death, and further grind down overstretched medics.

In response, BC Emergency Health Services began instituting restrictions on overtime and created more permanent full-time positions as a cost-saving measure intended to provide more consistent coverage.

However, the policy has had the opposite effect: staffing flexibility has been reduced, leaving shifts unfilled and ambulances sitting empty. By limiting overtime and flexible scheduling, BCEHS reduced the availability of auxiliary and part-time support, making it harder to backfill shifts when full-time medics need to step away. The result is greater pressure on medics who are increasingly pushed into overtime anyway (often with little to no notice) while facing unsustainable workloads and deepening burnout. To date, 400 of these positions remain vacant.

Patients across the province are seeing the consequences. There were almost 200 emergency department closures in the first half of 2025. Analysis of ER closure data by Health Data BC demonstrates the disproportionate impacts of the crisis in rural, remote and Indigenous communities. This data, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, documents 1,800 unplanned ER closures between January 2023 and April 2025.

The data is revealing. In northern BC, Chetwynd’s hospital was closed 196 times – the closest hospitals are over an hour away. The ER in neighboring Hudson’s Hope was closed 182 times. Mackenzie’s hospital was closed 177 times – patients were forced to drive to Prince George, more than two hours away. During the 2025 holiday season, repeated ER closures in 100 Mile House forced paramedics to drive patients nearly 100 kilometres to Williams Lake.

In each case, longer distances and delays placed added strain on paramedics, who must work harder to keep patients alive in transit.

Even when rural emergency rooms remain open, access to care is not guaranteed. Until recently, the northwest community of Stewart only had two medics to serve roughly 500 residents. When both medics were unavailable last summer (one on medical leave, the other on a much-needed vacation) 911 callers were told it would take up to five hours for responders to drive up from Houston.

The failure is not on these overextended medics, but on a system that refuses to make necessary investment in public healthcare.  As journalist Rob Shaw points out, northwest BC’s mining bonanza has led to “billions of dollars of industrial activity [flowing] in and around the community. And yet, it can’t even get basic emergency services from the province.”

Similarly, the northern town of Kitwanga, located about halfway between Houston and Stewart, has been lobbying the province for almost a decade to replace its ambulance station. The station is currently unusable due to mold infestation. In this case, the province is willing to fund paramedics for the town and the three local First Nations, but so far has refused to provide a safe site for them to work.

All of this is preventable. Addressing paramedic burnout requires more than mental health supports: it means eliminating the conditions that produce it. No healthcare worker should be forced to choose between stress leave and unsafe workloads, and no patient should have to travel hundreds of kilometres for basic emergency care.

What is needed is a major expansion of public healthcare, particularly community-based primary and preventative services, so that emergency rooms are not overwhelmed by unmet primary care needs. As the BC Rural Health Network has argued, the system must shift from a reactive model to one that proactively supports health and wellbeing in rural communities.

From a class perspective, the crisis reflects political choices about where resources are directed. Stopgap measures like a travelling paramedic program may provide temporary relief, but they do not address chronic understaffing rooted in underinvestment. At the same time, spending within BC’s health authorities has increasingly flowed toward administrative and corporate expenditures, while frontline services face shortages.

More broadly, public funds continue to be diverted toward military expansion and industrial enrichment rather than social needs. The result is a system that asks workers to do more with less while communities are left without care. Reversing this trend requires sustained public investment in healthcare infrastructure and staffing, and a reorientation of priorities toward meeting human needs rather than preserving existing economic and political arrangements.