College collective agreement embraces Truth and Reconciliation

Red River College Polytechnic’s newly ratified collective agreement will give employees wellness days, cultural and ceremonial leave, and gender-affirming medical leave, following a joint effort with the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union to embed Truth and Reconciliation principles into workplace rules.

The changes are part of RRC Polytech’s 2025–28 collective agreement with MGEU Local 73 and are aimed at modernizing leave policies, expanding the definition of family, and removing language rooted in colonial or binary assumptions.

Among the most significant changes is the creation of two paid wellness days to support preventive health, separate from sick leave. The agreement also introduces two paid days specifically for ceremonial, cultural, religious and spiritual practices, rather than requiring employees to use sick time or vacation.

The contract adds 15 days of gender-affirming medical leave, distinct from sick leave, and removes binary language such as “mother,” “father” and gendered pronouns from the agreement.

Union and college officials say the updates reflect a shift away from narrow, Eurocentric definitions of family and health.

The agreement now includes an expanded definition of family that recognizes diverse caregiving relationships, including Indigenous kinship structures, allowing employees to identify who qualifies as family for bereavement and care leave purposes. Bereavement leave has been broadened so relationships are defined by the employee rather than restricted to traditional nuclear-family categories.

Sick leave rules were also overhauled. The agreement removes the requirement for doctor’s notes for short absences, reduces the sick leave accumulation period to two years, and ensures sick leave is prorated for new employees so it is not lost. Medical appointments now explicitly include holistic health care, and sick leave language has been revised to acknowledge mental and physical health equally.

Family-related leave has been renamed “care leave” and no longer requires employees to prove the situation is “real, immediate and unavoidable” in order to qualify. Religious leave has been separated from care leave and renamed “ceremonial, cultural, religious and spiritual leave” to reflect distinct purposes.

The changes stem from work by a joint Truth and Reconciliation Working Group made up of eight staff and faculty members from both RRC Polytech and the union.

Guided by Knowledge Keeper Kookum Barbara Bruce, the group incorporated ceremony and Indigenous knowledge protocols into the review of the agreement. Using priority-setting and a design-thinking approach, the group developed 21 recommendations based on key themes of inclusive language, family, leave, and sickness and health.

“It was my honour to be asked to bring ceremonial ways to the discussion and deliberation of components of the collective agreement,” Bruce said. “I think it had a profound effect on the outcome of these discussions. The success of the collective agreement is credited to the people involved who accepted and invested in the process, allowing spirit to guide the discussions.”

The recommendations align with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Nearly all of them were adopted into the final collective agreement, a level of implementation that both parties describe as rare in collective bargaining.

» Winnipeg Sun

“This new agreement represents a meaningful step toward reconciliation and is an example of how we can use the opportunities presented through collective bargaining to make the lives of workers and their communities better,” said MGEU president Kyle Ross. “We are proud of what has been achieved through our collaboration with Red River College Polytechnic, guided by the leadership and knowledge of Kookum Barbara Bruce, and are excited to see how these changes help members feel more respected, supported and included.”

To support implementation, the agreement also commits both parties to Truth and Reconciliation-informed training for managers and staff to ensure the new provisions are applied consistently and in good faith.

The collective agreement includes a memorandum committing RRC Polytech and the union to continue reviewing contract language through the Truth and Reconciliation working group in future bargaining rounds.

» Winnipeg Sun