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Toronto ECCC Branch & Toronto ECCC SP Sub-Group Executive Meeting Minutes Q4 2025

October 17, 2025

Joint Meeting of the:

Toronto Environment Branch Executive

SP ECCC Toronto Sub-Group Executive
(Union activists invited as guests)

Virtual meeting on October 17, 2025.

Name

Role - Branch

Role - SP Sub-Group

Present

Andrea Darlington

President

  

Present

Bill Sukloff

Vice President

  

Present

Balbir Pabla

Treasurer

  

Present

Qian Li

Secretary

  

Absent

Alexandre Fischer

Member-at-large

  

Present

Diane Pendlebury

Member-at-large

  

Present

Jian Feng

Member-at-large

  

Absent

Marie-Claude Archambault

Member-at-large

  

Present

Michael Wheeler

Member-at-large

President

Present

Anna Deptuch-Stapf

Member-at-large

Member-at-large

Absent

Harry Keess

Member-at-large

Member-at-large

Present

Katherine Wright

  

Secretary

Present

Kulbir Banwait

  

Treasurer

Present

Dae Il Jeong

  

Member-at-large

Absent

Kim Laird

  

Member-at-large

Absent

Helen Yang

  

Vice President

Absent

Jeff Karn

  

Member-at-large

Absent

Stoyka Netcheva

  

Member-at-large

Present

Megan Hartwell

  

Member-at-large

Present

 

Agenda

  • Acceptance of the Agenda            
  • Review of previous Minutes
  • Review Action Items
  • Business of The Day
    • LMCC
    • SP Bargaining Outreach
      • Mobilization Toolkit
      • Survey Launch - Oct 20
      • Lunch and Learn - Oct 28
      • PIPSC email/chats
      • Other ideas
    • AGM Planning
      • Branch AGM
        • Date Nov 13
        • Speaker Sean O'Reilly Confirmed
        • Visibility Items
      • Subgroup AGM
        • Date
        • Speaker
        • Visibility items
    • Retirement Training Session       
    • WFA - Expect early - mid November
    • Updates from Steward Council
  • Roundtable
  • Next Meeting
  • Adjournment

Minutes

Review of last action items: NA

Business of the day:

  • LMCC Oct 23: Issues on the Agenda: Fitness room future, Downsview building future, disinfectant wipes, cafeteria lights going off, lobby TV off
    • Management wants to raise low volunteer capacity, share welcome email to staff in office for input, discuss holiday party, and neighbourhooding on 2nd floor.
  • SP bargaining outreach starting with survey Oct 20-Nov 10: Proactive in hopes to get more people involved and more out of bargaining, especially in case we pursue the strike recommendation. PIPSC will send out survey on Mon and townhalls are on Mon. Toronto SP to send out email Mon to reiterate info, and a hybrid Lunch and Learn Oct 28 with pizza.
    • Open bargaining: inform people about bargaining throughout the process via Google chats. Recommend we all sign up for PIPSC emails to get in the chats. Create a PIPSC E-mail Address | The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
    • Desk drop: drop chocolates with survey reminders off at employee desks last week of survey. Could use big duffle bag and gift cards as prizes (for those who want to email us directly that they completed the survey).
    • Motion approved for 5xXX$ gift cards (Michael proposed, Katherine seconded)
    • Toolkit has talking points - feel free to browse
  • Branch AGM: Save The Date Nov 13
    • Sean O'Reilly will be there in person
    • Auditorium booked. Will need help on day of
    • Visibility items ordered (fans). XXXX$ (150 units)
    • Restaurant after
  • SP AGM: Michael to invite Katie Francis sometime week of Nov 24 or Dec 1
    • Visibility item (power bank) 80 units is within budget
    • Plan to use conference room and bring in food. Will need volunteers
  • Retirement Training Session: move to Jan/Feb
  • WFA: still don't know if it will happen. DM fireside chat talked about possibility pending budget Nov 4.
  • Updates from Steward Council: session on WFA, tool/website coming for alternation, new PIPSC website coming - much improved from the current one

Roundtable:

  • Donations for the year: Branch doesn't have money set aside. Suggest delay until right before AGM or after so we can spend more on members. Revisit next meeting.

Next meeting: Nov 7                      

 

Action items

Task

Assigned to

Due date

Bucket

Sign up for a PIPSC email https://pipsc.ca/member-tools/email

All

  

To do

Browse bargaining toolkit 

SP members (but all are welcome)

  

To do

 

 

November 7, 2025

Joint Meeting of the:

Toronto Environment Branch Executive

SP ECCC Toronto Sub-Group Executive
(Union activists invited as guests)

Virtual meeting on November 7, 2025.

Attendees

Name

Role - Branch

Role - SP Sub-Group

Present

Andrea Darlington

President

  

Present

Bill Sukloff

Vice President

  

Present

Balbir Pabla

Treasurer

  

Absent

Qian Li

Secretary

  

Absent

Alexandre Fischer

Member-at-large

  

Present

Diane Pendlebury

Member-at-large

  

Present

Jian Feng

Member-at-large

  

Absent

Marie-Claude Archambault

Member-at-large

  

Present

Michael Wheeler

Member-at-large

President

Present

Anna Deptuch-Stapf

Member-at-large

Member-at-large

Absent

Harry Keess

Member-at-large

Member-at-large

Present

Katherine Wright

  

Secretary

Present

Kulbir Banwait

  

Treasurer

Absent

Dae Il Jeong

  

Member-at-large

Present

Kim Laird

  

Member-at-large

Absent

Helen Yang

  

Vice President

Absent

Jeff Karn

  

Member-at-large

Absent

Stoyka Netcheva

  

Member-at-large

Present

Megan Hartwell

  

Member-at-large

Present

 

 Agenda

  • Acceptance of the Agenda            
  • Review of Previous Minutes
  • Review Action Items
  • Business of the Day
    • Planning for Branch AGM
    • PIPSC Email Scams
    • SP Sub-Group AGM
    • Follow up from LMCC
  • Roundtable
  • Next Meeting
  • Adjournment

Minutes

Review of Last Action Items:

  • If you still need a PIPSC email or want to review the bargaining toolkit, see the links in the Oct minutes

Business of the Day:

  • Branch AGM:
    • expecting 130 people for lunch (some may not come, some can still be added), 170 for AGM.
    • Jeremy will run the elections.
    • Need volunteers to move and give out visibility items, sign in, leave early to the restaurant (Diane, Alex), Qian will take notes, Bill/Andrea Q&As.
  • PIPSC email scams: scammers taking emails from the website, wanting recipients to buy gift cards
  • SP AGM:
    • Dec 4, Katie Francis guest speaker
    • visibility items ordered (couldn't get power bank - went with umbrella)
    • food normally ordered in (sandwiches, etc) - need help reaching out to caterers (Harry), may need to pick up on the day
    • will need same type of volunteers on the day of
  • LMCC
    • no more news on gym than what's in the chat
    • no progress on EV chargers
    • nothing major planned for Respect Day
    • welcome email planned for Downsview and Burlington
    • no major issues with neighbourhooding
    • union will likely be asked to contribute to the Holiday party
    • future of Downsview - current lease ends 2030, always in discussion with PSPC, staff downsizing is a consideration, no news but will keep union in the loop
    • difficulty in recruiting volunteers - suggest improving support amongst managers/supervisors
    • security clearance escalated, hoping for security to provide notifications before clearances expire

Roundtable:

  • Fleet vehicles are getting tickets- suggest raising at next LMCC, current direction is paying for day pass and add on via app, both of which should be claimed. Suggest raising to OEMCC via management too
  • Emails about fitness rooms were forwarded
  • SP bargaining survey: still open until Nov 10 so please encourage any submissions. Doing well so far, 41%
    • email list needs to be updated
  • SP presidents (ON/NCR) meeting this weekend
  • Any idea when we might hear news following the budget release? Probably not until after the vote if ECCC will do WFA. Can turn around quickly to do a Lunch and Learn on WFA. PIPSC national has the webinars posted, members lobbying.
  • Next meeting moved up ahead of AGMs

Action items

Task

Assigned to

Due date

Bucket

Raise fleet vehicle tickets to Zoe and next LMCC

    

To do

 

December 1, 2025

Joint Meeting of the:

Toronto Environment Branch Executive

SP ECCC Toronto Sub-Group Executive
(Union activists invited as guests)

Virtual meeting on December 1, 2025.

Attendees

Name

Role - Branch

Role - SP Sub-Group

Present

Andrea Darlington

President

  

Present

Bill Sukloff

Vice President

  

Present

Balbir Pabla

Treasurer

  

Present

Alexandre Fischer

Secretary

  

Present

Qian Li

Member-at-large

  

Present

Diane Pendlebury

Member-at-large

  

Absent

Jian Feng

Member-at-large

  

Present

Marie-Claude Archambault

Member-at-large

  

Absent

Michael Wheeler

Member-at-large

President

Present

Anna Deptuch-Stapf

Member-at-large

Member-at-large

Absent

Harry Keess

Member-at-large

Member-at-large

Present

Katherine Wright

  

Secretary

Present

Kulbir Banwait

  

Treasurer

Present

Dae Il Jeong

  

Member-at-large

Present

Kim Laird

  

Member-at-large

Present

Helen Yang

  

Vice President

Absent

Jeff Karn

  

Member-at-large

Absent

Stoyka Netcheva

  

Member-at-large

Present

Megan Hartwell

  

Member-at-large

Present


 Agenda

Acceptance of The Agenda            

  • Review of Previous Minutes
  • Review Action Items
  • Business of The Day
    • SP Sub-Group AGM Planning
    • Feedback on Branch AGM
    • Overview of Resolutions for PIPSC National AGM (Dec 12-13)
      • Live stream available for those interested - registration for this closes Dec 5
      • Number of delegates
      • Linking dues to inflation
      • Strike pay - current $XX per day, suggested to be the amount of a member's monthly dues per day (90)
      • Personal email address distribution to constituent bodies
    • PIPSC Regional Lobby Days
  • Roundtable
  • Next Meeting
  • Adjournment

Minutes

Review of Last Action Items:

  • Issue about fleet vehicle tickets is moving forward. We can follow up with Zoe if need be.

Business of the Day:

  • SP AGM: Food will be ordered today. Promo items arrived.
    • Bill running election (6 positions up for election); let Bill know ahead of time or at election if you are re-running. New positions will be for 3 years effective once passed (unless board has issues).
    • If you're available to come down early, please come help (check people in, hand out items, etc).
  • Branch AGM feedback: Good turnout (130 people at restaurant, 140+ in room).
    • Restaurant was crowded, probably can't have more people. Food took time.
    • Seminar at 2pm meant some people didn't have enough time for lunch. It was hard this year to account for all scheduling conflicts.
    • Consider ordering food next year if concerned about funds?
  • National AGM
    • Can watch online. PIPSC sent email
    • Discuss resolutions ahead of AGM (https://statics.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/2/atp-safelinks.html)
      • Reduce size of AGM due to cost and venue availability: Size based on 1 delegate per 200 members per group type. Resolution is to change to per ~300 or 400. Suggest see how it compares to CAPE/PSAC. Hybrid option may be considered.
      • Link dues increase to inflation: Expecting pushback. CAPE's dues were recently reduced.
      • Increase strike pay: Money was moved into the account last year to allow an increase. If costs are saved by reducing AGM size, could use that here too.
      • Force PIPSC national office to provide constituent bodies with personal emails registered with PIPSC (vs work email/phone): Waiting for info from TB often results in inaccurate lists. Using the work emails has worked well for us and management has been ok with us using work stuff, but it varies among groups. Liability concerns if info leaks.
      • There are more in the link
    • Regional Lobby Days: Andrea participated after the budget announcement; Conservative MP was receptive. Someone's MP was Julie Dabrusin. Material is available for others who want to lobby. Another round may come.

Roundtable:

  • SP subgroup president's meeting: Bargaining was a hot topic. Common issues team is handling telework, AI, etc. TB will push for removing WFA provisions from collective agreement to the national council; expect union pushback because it removes our involvement. Concern of TB increasing #days in office. More online sessions on WFA to come.
  • Letter went out about early retirement option in WFA process.
  • Downsview email to come about dog guides in office

Action items

Task

Assigned to

Due date

Bucket

Ask CAPE/PSAC what their delegate to member ratio is for AGM

Darlington, Andrea (elle | she, her) (ECCC)

  

To do

Any concerns about the resolutions, please raise to those attending the AGM (Michael, Andrea, Helen, Balbir, Bill)

All

  

To do

 

Published on 15 March 2026