The Region 2 Fall Education Session will be held at Blue Mountain Resort, The Grand Georgian, 156 Jozo Weider Blvd, Blue Mountains, on Saturday, November 29, 2025 (9:00 am – 4:30 pm), and Sunday, November 30, 2025 (9:00 am – 1:00 pm).
This new venue promises to be another fantastic experience for our members and their families and will provide another excellent opportunity to learn, connect, and build solidarity with fellow Region 2 members in a relaxed and enjoyable setting.
Registration Full. If you would like to be added to the wait list please submit a registration form:
- Online Registration Form: Register Here
- Human Rights Accommodation Request Form – submit to supportstaffguelph@opseu.org and equity@opseu.org
- Child Care Registration Forms – submit to supportstaffguelph@opseu.org
- Advance Request Forms – submit to advances@opseu.org by Friday, November 7, 2025 (4:30 PM)
- Overnight Accommodation: book here to receive your discounted rate by Thursday, October 30, 2025
Important:
- In person attendance only
- Late registrations will not be accepted
- MemberPortal registration is not available
- OPSEU/SEFPO will not reimburse lost wages for this event; no time off letters will be Members are responsible for making their own time off arrangements with their employer.
Please direct questions to supportstaffguelph@opseu.org, and for more information on Blue Mountain Resort visit:
Ontario’s Summer & Winter Destination | Blue Mountain Resort
We look forward to seeing you at Blue!
In Solidarity
Region 2 Education Committee
Offered Courses
- Equity Combo: Reducing the Gap: Pay Equity (3hrs), and Poverty, Economics and Racism (6hrs)
- Health & Safety Level 2 (Prerequisite: Health & Safety Level1)
- Mental Health: Challenging Stigma in the Workplace
- Social Media for Union Activists
- Stewards 1: Making a Difference in the Workplace (Bring a copy of your Collective Agreement)
- Stewards 2: Facing the Employer, Building Member Involvement (Prerequisite: Stewards 1)
- Work Place Surveillance: Know Your Rights
Course Descriptions
Equity Combo: Reducing the Gap: Pay Equity (3hrs), and Poverty, Economics and Racism (6hrs) Health & Safety Level 2 (Prerequisite: Health & Safety Level1)
This course is designed for Health and Safety committee members and union activists with a strong
interest in Health and Safety. Participants learn how to be more effective members of their JHSCs as they work in small groups learning how to better identify, categorize, and control hazards. Using case studies and examples from their own workplaces, participants learn how to improve workplace inspections, and how to begin accident and illness investigations. The course offers the opportunity to prioritize and strategize around health and safety problems and to address problems specific to participants’ own workplaces. The course builds on the material in OPSEU/SEFPO’s Level 1 course and assumes that participants have a basic knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Mental Health: Challenging Stigma in the Workplace
As workers and labour activists, we are faced with economic, social, and political changes in our workplaces that impact our mental wellbeing on a daily basis. We all respond differently to situations that impact our lives and subsequently, our mental health. This introductory course explores mental health, mental health concerns, and stigma in the workplace. Some of the topics covered in this course include: demystifying mental health; individual, union, and employer responsibilities; member-to-member issues; and some strategies to challenge stigma and build inclusion.
Social Media for Union Activists
The increasing use of social media has become a reality in our union work. With this reality, come both pitfalls and opportunities. “Social Media for Union Activists” will explore what social media is and how to spot both the opportunities and difficulties when using social media. Recognizing that social media is an important part of many of our members lives, participants will examine what risks are inherent when using social media and what case law has been telling us. Participants will explore what makes a successful social media campaign and develop some practical applications for social media use within Locals. Upon completing the course participants will be able to confidently use social media in their union work.
Stewards 1: Making a Difference in the Workplace (Bring a copy of your Collective Agreement)
This course will build and strengthen the skills of a steward. Participants will explore the role of the steward throughout the bargaining cycle, including organizing their local, having effective one-on-one conversations, developing a communications strategy to enlist diverse member involvement, and learning strategies for everyday workplace problems.
Throughout the course, participants are supported as they develop a profile of their members, find resources and information in OPSEU/SEFPO, and understand their role in the grievance process. Stewards 1 is a prerequisite to Stewards 2. Participants should bring their Collective Agreements to the course.
Stewards 2: Facing the Employer, Building Member Involvement (Prerequisite: Stewards 1)
This revised follow-up to Stewards 1 focuses on investigating and writing a grievance, facing management, and involving members in worksite action. Participants will use their own collective agreements to identify grievances. They will become immersed in an evolving case study in order to interview a grievor, write up a grievance, face the employer at a Step 1 and make a presentation on safety issues to the union side of the Joint Health and Safety Committee. They will examine the elements of effective mobilization and develop a campaign strategy for a local.
Work Place Surveillance: Know Your Rights
Develop an understanding of workers’ rights regarding workplace surveillance so that you can be informed, strategic and proactive in a technologically changing workplace. Through shared experiences, hands on mapping of your workplace surveillance systems, insights into the future of work, and an exploration of case studies, you will return to your local with tools, tips, best practices, sample contract language and more.
Expense Claims
Expense claims are to be submitted online through the OPSEU/SEFPO Member Portal no sooner than Wednesday, December 3, 2025.
If you have not used the OPSEU/SEFPO Member Portal, instructions can be found at the following links: Member Portal – How to Register
Travel
Round-trip mileage at the rate of:
- 60 cents/km if driving alone;
- 65 cents/km if driving with 1 OPSEU/SEFPO member as a passenger;
- 70 cents/km if driving with 2 OPSEU/SEFPO members as passengers;
- 75 cents/km if driving with 3 OPSEU/SEFPO members as passengers;
- 80 cents/km if driving with 4 OPSEU/SEFPO members as
Overnight Accommodation (Receipts Required)
Members who live beyond 60 km are entitled to overnight accommodation for Friday and Saturday nights. Members who live within 60 km are entitled to overnight accommodation for Saturday night only.
Members are responsible for making their own hotel reservations on-site at The Grand Georgian building (main venue), the Mosaic building, or further away at the Blue Mountain Inn (10-minute walk). Single room reimbursement rates: $189, $216, $242 per night plus applicable taxes.
Reservation Deadline: October 30, 2025.
OPSEU/SEFPO will not be responsible for any price increase incurred when booking after the reservation deadline, or for rates other than those listed above for single accommodation. Room upgrade costs are the responsibility of the member. Members are responsible for cancellation fees.
Reservation Link: Book Here To Receive Your Discounted Rate
**Please do not book your hotel without this link as you will not receive the group rate**
Prefer to book by phone? Call 1-833-583-BLUE and provide the following Group Name & Group Code:
- Group Name: OPSEU Region 2 Fall Education Conference
- Group Code: CI:1029FR, RL:1029FS
Parking (Receipts Required)
The Grand Georgian & The Mosaic – During the check-in process you will be given the option to park underground at The Grand Georgian for $20/night plus HST (can be charged to room), or utilize the outdoor pay per use lot, or access the outdoor parking lot across the street (complimentary). Your guestroom key is your access to the underground parking garage at The Grand Georgian.
Important: The underground parking lot offers in/out privileges. The pay per use lot does not offer in/out privileges. OPSEU/SEFPO will reimburse one pay per use fee per day.
Blue Mountain Inn – Complimentary outdoor parking outside of the Inn. No underground parking available. 10-minute walk to classes at The Grand Georgian.
Meals (Receipts Not Required)
Lunch provided Saturday, November 29, 2025.
Members that qualify and stay Friday and Saturday nights are eligible to claim the following meals in accordance with OPSEU/SEFPO policy and established rates:
- Friday, November 28th – Supper
- Saturday, November 29th – Breakfast, Supper
- Sunday, November 30th – Breakfast, Lunch
Members that stay Saturday night only are eligible to claim the following meals in accordance with OPSEU/SEFPO policy and established rates:
- Saturday, November 29th – Supper
- Sunday, November 30th – Breakfast, Lunch
Human Rights Accommodation
“The Accommodation Fund was created to encourage and facilitate greater participation of those covered under the Ontario Human Rights Code. The fund will cover extra costs related to a member’s disability, illness or other grounds under the Code. For example, the Fund would cover the extra cost of a fridge in a guestroom for a member required to store medications at a particular temperature.
Requests for accommodation can be identified on your application of the Human Rights Accommodation Request Form, included in the call out/registration email. This form can be sent directly to the Equity Unit by email: equity@opseu.org and supportstaffguelph@opseu.org.
Advance Requests
Applicants may apply to receive an advance to cover mileage, meals, and overnight accommodation by filling out the Advance Request Form included in the callout/registration email. Please note that request forms must be submitted no later than Friday, November 7, 2025 (4:30 PM)
On-Site Child Care
Pre-registration is mandatory by completing the childcare registration forms included in the callout/registration email. Completed forms must be emailed to supportstaffguelph@opseu.org by Friday, October 10, 2025 (4:30 PM)
Cancellations must be emailed to supportstaffguelph@opseu.org a minimum of 24-hours before the event. Parents must be on-site at all times when utilizing child care provided by OPSEU/SEPFO.
Children who are not pre-registered for child care cannot be accommodated if brought to the event.
Family Attendant Care (Child / Elder / Dependent)
When care is provided in your home:
Members will be reimbursed for Family Care at the rate of $15.00 per hour to a maximum of $220.00 within a 24 hour period, while doing union business. It is recognized that to guarantee meaningful access to union activities, child care both day and night may be necessary. Please specify hours claimed for each day.
Members are entitled to reimbursement of reasonable costs of family/attendant care (child/elder/dependent) provided by someone other than their partners/spouses as a result of absences from home arising from the conduct of union business. Such allowances are not intended to reimburse members for family care expenses that they would have normally incurred as a result of employment, except where the absence exceeds the normal work day or week.
Claims must be signed by the service provider and may be verified by Head Office before payment is made.
Cancellation Policy
In accordance with OPSEU/SEFPO Policy, notification by a member to cancel course attendance should be received by the Regional Office no later than 4:30 PM on November 20, 2025, by emailing supportstaffguelph@opseu.org.
When a member does not attend and the Regional Office has not been notified by the deadline, the member will be assessed a $50 penalty. Extenuating circumstances will be taken into consideration.
Scent & Nut-Free Policy
Workers are becoming sensitized to chemicals, scented products, and certain foods such as peanuts, peanut butter, pecans, walnuts, many chocolate bars and energy/nutrition bars.
For many individuals, attending conferences, meetings, etc., and being exposed to perfumes, other strong scents and certain foods can pose serious health risks such as asthma attacks, respiratory problems and/or migraine headaches.
In the interest of the health and safety of those whose health may suffer from any of these exposures, we ask that you refrain from wearing or using scented products, peanut and nut products at all OPSEU/SEFPO events and locations.