The Women’s Advocate Training Update (October 2023)

The Women’s Advocate Program was developed to provide support to Members experiencing or impacted by domestic violence. OSSTF/FEESO knows, in addition to employers, unions have a role to play in protecting and supporting women in need. OSSTF/FEESO will train Women’s Advocates to work in every District.

Current Women’s Advocates were trained in November 2020, with follow-up training sessions in February and July 2021. We have now set additional dates to provide training to Advocates in English, in Regions 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Training is now open to Women’s Advocates who have:

1. never been trained as a Women’s Advocate, but have been approved by their District to become part of the complement of Advocates in their District.
2. are current Women’s Advocates who were trained previously by OSSTF/FEESO.

Training for new Advocates who have not previously been trained will occur over two (2) full days. This training will be in person. We ask that all new Advocates commit to two (2) years in the program.

We will also be providing a one (1) day refresher training for current Advocates who have been previously trained and wish to commit to a further two (2) years as a Women’s Advocate in their District. The focus of this refresher training will be sharing experiences with new Advocates, review of previous training, role playing and supporting perpetrators.

Each District has been allotted 2-5 two to five delegates based on current FTE membership. Districts are responsible for determining the process for selecting their own delegates. Geography and number of Bargaining Units should be considered. Districts are strongly encouraged to identify, wherever possible, at least one delegate from each employer group and consider Members who self-identify.

Training Dates and Locations

Region 2 – October 27 and 28, 2023 at Quattro Hotel & Conference Centre, Sault Ste Marie

Region 3 – November 24 and 25, 2023 at Four Points by Sheraton London, London

Region 4 – November 17 and 18, 2023 at Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale, Mississauga

Region 5 – December 8 and 9, 2023 at Courtyard by Marriott Kingston, Kingston

This registration is for Region 2, 3, 4 and 5 Advocates only. Advocates may only attend training in their own region.

Hotel accommodation will be given to any Member who must travel more than one (1) hour to attend training.

All Delegates may register through the link below, all costs relating to this training are paid for by the Provincial Office. Delegates will receive a confirmation email after they have applied.

Registration closes on:

Region 2 – October 13, 2023

Region 3 – November 10, 2023

Region 4 – October 30, 2023

Region 5 – November 20, 2023

For questions, please contact Tracey.Marshall@osstf.ca or Yeshna.Beeyafan@osstf.ca.

Complete Registration Here