Year: 2023
Location: Calgary (interview done in Jasper)
Profile: Ronald Klassen (Indigenous name ‘Waboos’) is a worker of Métis descent who heads up an Indigenous members’ committee for the Alberta-wide Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers. He describes how he became interested in his Indigenous heritage as an adult, at which time he was inducted into the Indigenous community by an Indigenous grandmother in a ceremony that involved the smoking of pipes and granting of an eagle feather. According to Klassen, the union movement and the Indigenous community are guided by many of the same core principles, and solidarity of trade union members with Indigenous people is crucial to achieving the aims of truth and reconciliation. A number of key issues, including housing and schooling on the reserves, are passionately raised in this interview, along with a plea to fellow trade unionists to understand the challenges facing Indigenous people.
Keywords: Elders; Housing; Indigenous conference; Indigenous worker committees of UFCW; Metis; Reserve schools; UFCW Local 401; White Buffalo Woman
Transcript: Download PDF
See also: Indigenous Labour in Alberta; Systemic Racism in Alberta; United Food and Commercial Workers