FEBRUARY 1

SEIU Healthcare held our biggest Black History Month celebration to date with more than 300 members in attendance at the Eglinton West Gallery in Toronto. The program featured guest speakers which included Sandra Whiting a local storyteller and Patricia Harewood a legal officer at the Public Service Alliance of Canada. We had performances by the Ngoma Assemble and Roy Mc Rae, a steel pan drummer. In the foyer, vendors were able to showcase their products, which included health and wellness products, t-shirts, Caribana costumes, gifts, and more.

February 23

This year, SEIU Healthcare expanded our Black History Month celebrations to Hamilton. Members joined us at the Michelangelo Banquet Hall. We had greetings from Jayoti Edington, special dance performances, African drumming, spoken word, poetry, and a skit presentation from local artists. MPP Matt Green was our guest speaker and comedian Tania Hernandez provide some comic relief at the end of the night.

February 29

At SEIU Healthcare’ Regional office in Ottawa, we held our last Black History Month celebration. The program included Ruth Jacob who has been an RPN since 1979. Ruth shared her nursing journey in Canada, we enjoyed a fashion show of Nigerian Gowns by Christina Akinola, spoken word, and dance performances. Larry Rousseau, the CLC Executive Vice-President, made a special appearance as our guest speaker.

May 10 – 17

Nursing Week 2020 marked the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday and was declared the Year of the Nurse. Since we weren’t able to celebrate with our members face-to-face, we launched our digital Nursing Division magazine Scrubs and Scopes, held a Nursing Week Facebook Event, and sent out a small token of appreciation to our SEIU nurses.

June 18

This year we couldn’t hit the streets of downtown Toronto, instead, we hosted a Pride Month Facebook Live Event where we were joined by special guests who participated in our panel and incredible performances.

June 30

The family members of residents and SEIU Healthcare members and staff joined us at our Seniors’ Month celebrations in Pickering, Thunder Bay, and Sault Ste Marie throughout June to raise awareness of the issues our seniors are facing while demanding changes in long-term care.

On June 1, the first day of Seniors’ Month, we organized a special event at Orchard Villa, a long-term care facility that lost 78 residents to COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic. Together we honoured the seniors who tragically passed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and called on urgent action from the government and employers to fix our broken healthcare system.

July 16

We couldn’t spend Purple Day together this year, but you still represented your purple pride and showed us how you celebrated by submitting your Purple Day pictures.

September 1

This year Labour Day celebrations looked a little different. SEIU Healthcare participated in various car caravans across the province, including those taking place in Hamilton, Kingston, Thunder Bay, and Northumberland. Members joined us with their families and friends in their vehicles, honking their horns, with kind messages, and fun car decorations to honour this special day.

We also celebrated by joining online events, caravan parades, and special initiatives. To bring everyone together, SEIU Healthcare asked our members to share a special message virtually with their sisters and brothers to promote solidarity and union pride. The videos talk about how members were able to get through the pandemic, what they were doing for Labour Day, and what being in a union means to them!

October 30

COVID-19 could not destroy our spooky spirit this Halloween. Your SEIU Healthcare officers invited you and your family to our first-ever Family Digital Halloween Party. To celebrate, we sent your children special gift bags and organized a fun Halloween costume contest. The winners were:

Best Healthcare Costume: Jayden, Scariest Costume: Summer, Most Original Costume: Natalie, Best Staff: Leslie

December 12

To celebrate you and the outstanding work you do each day, we held a MASKuerade Concert at the end of the year on Facebook Live. Local musicians and singers from Soul Sessions shared their beautiful music, and both Leader of the Official Opposition Andrea Horwath and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party Steven Del Duca made a special appearance. We also asked you and your families to send us the most stylish, creative, funny, or interesting face masks.

December 17

So many SEIU Healthcare families joined us for our Children’s Pajama Party on ZOOM. It was a great night full of games, giveaways, and lots and lots of pajamas. Thank you to all those who submitted creative videos and art pieces, we loved hearing about how you are celebrating this holiday season.

December 19 & 20

As a small token of appreciation this holiday season, SEIU Healthcare gifted 11,000 turkeys to show our gratitude to all our frontline healthcare workers. Like everything else this year, the holidays didn’t feel quite the same, that’s why spreading some joy and happiness was so important. From December 19 to December 20, our SEIU family setup safe pickup stations all over Ontario to distribute the thousands of turkeys.