Seven staffers laid off at rights museum

Seven employees of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights are victims of the federal government’s comprehensive expenditure review program.

Museum spokeswoman Amanda Gaudes confirmed the workers were laid off on Wednesday.

“The positions were administrative ones across the organization and we don’t expect there to be an impact on the visitor experience,” Gaudes said Thursday.

“We remain focused on supporting our staff and the seven people who were impacted.”

Gaudes said while the review program is a three-year process “there are no further announcements expected at this time.”

Marianne Hladun, the Prairie regional executive vice-president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said all seven union members affected were administrative co-ordinators.

“Their roles are integral to internal operations and to advancing the museum’s public mission,” Hladun said.

“(They) provide an invaluable service to the museum, helping to ensure its efficient day-to-day functioning, supporting staff across departments, and contributing to the overall quality and impact of the museum’s work in the community.”

The federal government announced in its November budget that it planned to cut nearly 30,000 positions across the country by laying off 16,000 people and eliminating 12,000 positions through early retirements and attrition, over the next three years.

Last month, thousands of federal employees received letters saying their jobs, or the jobs of others in their department, could be in jeopardy. The notices went to workers in 30 departments, including Health Canada, Statistics Canada, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

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If fully implemented, the federal bureaucracy would drop to about 330,000, down from the high of 370,000 in 2024.

Hladun said the layoffs are “part of a broader pattern of Carney cuts sweeping across the Prairies.

“Our members are scared and angry about these reckless decisions being made by this government,” she said.

“These cuts are short-sighted. They have devastating consequences for the affected workers and their families, and they also have a direct negative impact on Canadian communities that rely on strong public institutions and services.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.