CUPE Local 104 - SCFP Section locale 104

10/11/2026

10/06/2026

Pumpkins on porches and ghoulish ghosts, 🎃
Wicked witches and … the best dispatchers on the coast!

It’s “OCC-tober” and we are celebrating our exceptional Operational Communications Centre (OCC) team in Newfoundland and Labrador.

When you call 9-1-1 during an emergency, these first responders are the calm, steady voices that answer the phone. They gather critical information, assess the situation and help direct the right resources where they’re needed. They’re also essential to keeping our officers safe when responding to calls.

While everyone is enjoying the fall season, our OCC team will here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, doing what they do what they do best: answering calls and helping keep you safe.

From all of us, thank you to the RCMP Newfoundland and Labrador Operational Communications Centre Team. Your dedication to the people of this province does not go unnoticed!

10/06/2026

09/22/2026

Our President quoted in the Montreal Gazette today:

RCMP unions call on Quebec to commit to long-term funding for mental health program
"We're routinely exposed to traumatic events, critical incidents, violence, human suffering."

By
Katelyn Thomas
September 22, 2026 at 12:42 p.m.

Unions representing RCMP first responders in Quebec are calling on the provincial government to renew stable funding for an online mental health platform they consider vital for their members.

The National Police Federation (NPF) — which represents around 900 RCMP officers in Quebec — sent a letter to Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière in the spring, urging him to invest in the PSPNet program after funding came to an end. The government has since decided to fund it for one more year, but the union says members who rely on the services deserve a long-term commitment.
“For us in Quebec, PSPNet is an absolute must for our membership,” Lucas Bedard, Quebec-based director of the NPF, said in an interview. “It’s practical, evidence-based investment in the health and well-being of the people who keep our community safe.”

Based out of the University of Regina, the national program provides mental health support to public safety personnel in Canada, including those who work in policing, firefighting, paramedics, corrections, border services, communications and emergency management, among others. It includes both self-guided and therapist-guided online courses to help with conditions like depression, anxiety and PTSD — the rates of which are high among first responders, Bedard pointed out.
“We’re routinely exposed to traumatic events, critical incidents, violence, human suffering,” he said.
Government funding for PSPNet to be available in Quebec ended in March as planned, the province’s public security ministry said. It had allocated $250,000 per year over three years in its 2023-2024 budget.

“The government has decided to extend this funding for an additional year and is currently finalizing the work related to the agreement,” the ministry said in an email on Tuesday.

While Bedard called the additional year of funding encouraging, he said services like PSPNet “should not be subject to annual funding questions or budget cycles.”

“The RCMP members and first responders who rely on these services deserve the stability that comes with a formal, long-term funding commitment, ensuring uninterrupted access to care when they need it most,” he said.

Bedard explained that most Quebec RCMP officers serve outside the province at first as front-line officers “where they are continuously and routinely exposed to traumatic events, leading to them to obviously have a higher chance of developing mental health disorders.”

When they eventually return to Quebec, in the absence of PSPNet, they’ll be left without the support needed to process those experiences, Bedard said.

“This is a very, very critical program for first responders,” he said.

In the letter to Lafrenière, NPF president and CEO Brian Sauvé noted that 70 per cent of the program’s participants “experience clinically significant improvement in anxiety, depression and PTSD.”

Sauvé considers the $250,000 price tag a worthy investment given the “potential savings in reduced sick leave, improved retention, fewer disability claims and better on-the-job performance,” he wrote in the letter.

He added that the support the program provides can be the difference between public safety personnel continuing to serve safely or leaving the profession over untreated psychological injuries.

Kathleen Hippern, president of CUPE 104, which represents RCMP dispatchers, said the profession is faced with critical staffing shortages; when members go on sick leave, they often don’t come back.

Public safety communicators like the ones she represents, who are responsible for police dispatching, call-taking, 911 operations and intercept monitoring, are “trauma exposed — big time,” she said.

“It’s very tough work, and we’re very understaffed,” Hippern said. “The working conditions are very, very tough.”

She described Quebec’s initial discontinued funding of PSPNet as disheartening, calling the program “the gold standard in first responder support.”

“When (members) go off sick, they need to be able to have the proper support in order to be able to come back,” Hippern said, pointing out that for remaining members, workload has doubled or tripled over the past few years.

“You have to keep answering the calls,” she said. “Keep your officers safe on the road. Make sure they don’t come in contact with anybody bad.

“So to remove something as critical, as essential as PSPNet is just a step in the wrong direction.”

The public security ministry did not respond in time for publication when asked whether funding could be extended beyond the additional year.

09/22/2026

CUPE 104 IS MAKING OUR VOICES HEARD

Our President was interviewed by the Montreal Gazette about the urgent need for stable, long-term government funding for PSPNET.

Public Safety Communicators are first responders. We answer the calls, assess the risks, coordinate the response and remain connected to traumatic events from the first moment through to resolution. The mental-health impact of this work is real.

Programs like PSPNET should never be left fighting to survive from one funding decision to the next. Every federal, provincial and territorial government should be investing in this program.

Please read and share the article. The more attention this receives, the harder it becomes for decision-makers to ignore.

•••

LE SCFP 104 FAIT ENTENDRE NOS VOIX

Notre présidente a accordé une entrevue à la Montreal Gazette au sujet du besoin urgent d’assurer à PSPNET un financement gouvernemental stable et à long terme.

Les communicateurs de la sécurité publique sont des premiers répondants. Nous répondons aux appels, évaluons les risques, coordonnons les interventions et demeurons liés aux événements traumatisants du premier contact jusqu’à leur résolution. Les répercussions de ce travail sur la santé mentale sont bien réelles.

Les programmes comme PSPNET ne devraient jamais avoir à lutter pour leur survie d’une décision de financement à l’autre. Tous les gouvernements, fédéral, provinciaux et territoriaux, devraient investir dans ce programme.

Veuillez lire et partager cet article. Plus il attirera l’attention, plus il sera difficile pour les décideurs de l’ignorer.

"We're routinely exposed to traumatic events, critical incidents, violence, human suffering."

09/22/2026

A vital mental-health program for first responders is being forced to fight for secure funding.

Our President was interviewed by the Montreal Gazette about the urgent need for stable, long-term government funding for PSPNET.

Public Safety Communicators are first responders. We answer the calls, assess the risks, coordinate the response and remain connected to traumatic events from the first moment through to resolution. The mental-health impact is real.

Programs like PSPNET should never be left fighting to survive from one funding decision to the next. Federal, provincial and territorial governments must step up.

Read the full article at the link in our bio and help us make this impossible to ignore.
Copy/paste: https://montrealgazette.com/news/rcmp-unions-quebec-mental-health-program/
•••

Un programme essentiel de santé mentale destiné aux premiers répondants doit se battre pour obtenir un financement stable.

Notre présidente a accordé une entrevue à la Montreal Gazette au sujet du besoin urgent d’assurer à PSPNET un financement gouvernemental stable et à long terme.

Les communicateurs de la sécurité publique sont des premiers répondants. Nous répondons aux appels, évaluons les risques, coordonnons les interventions et demeurons liés aux événements traumatisants du premier contact jusqu’à leur résolution. Les répercussions sur la santé mentale sont bien réelles.

Les gouvernements fédéral, provinciaux et territoriaux doivent agir.

Lisez l’article complet grâce au lien dans notre bio et aidez-nous à faire en sorte que cet enjeu ne puisse plus être ignoré.

06/11/2026

This is an important read for anyone involved in RCMP workplace harassment investigations as a Principal Party or Responding Party.

CUPE 104 has raised similar concerns regarding investigator selection, particularly where investigators may have RCMP connections or other perceived conflicts of interest. Independence and confidence in the process matter, especially for employees already navigating difficult workplace situations.

As we mentioned in our last membership bulletin two weeks ago, if you are presented with an investigator, we strongly encourage you to check with your Chair. They can advise whether that investigator was previously rejected by CUPE 104 due to concerns raised by the union.

Members have the right to ask questions and to ensure processes are fair, impartial, and trauma-informed.

Read more here:

USJE remains firmly committed to protecting members and ensuring harassment investigations are conducted by individuals who are truly independent from the employer. Members coming forward with harassment concerns deserve a system that is fair, trauma-informed, and free from any appearance of bias.