Linda Silas is a Canadian nurse and trade unionist. She is the president of the

Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU; french: Fédération canadienne des syndicats d'infirmières et infirmiers, link=no) is a trade union centre in Canada. The CFNU is a federation of provincial unions representing registered nurses, ...

(CFNU) since 2003.

Early life and education

Linda Silas grew up in

Dalhousie, New Brunswick Dalhousie ( ) is a formerly incorporated town, located in Restigouche County, New Brunswick. New Brunswick's northernmost point of land is situated in Dalhousie, where the Restigouche River meets Chaleur Bay. On 1 January 2023, Dalhousie merg ...

, a small community on the

Restigouche River The Restigouche River (french: Rivière Ristigouche) is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec. The river flows in a northeasterly direction from its source in the App ...

. Her father worked at the ''Abitibi newsprint mill'', and served as president of the mill workers’ union local. Silas studied nursing at the

Université de Moncton The Université de Moncton is a Canadian francophone university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan. The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on highe ...

, where she graduated in 1983.

Career

Silas worked as a nurse in

emergency care Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for unsche ...

, critical care, and

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births glob ...

. She soon became president of her union local. She was elected President of the New Brunswick Nurses Union, thus becoming the youngest nurses union center president in

Canadian history The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Canada were inhabited for millennia by ...

. She remained in that position for 10 years. In 2003, she was elected president of the CFNU, a position she still holds today.

Advocacy

Under Silas's tenure, the CFNU remained a nonpartisan union center. However, Silas has been a vocal political actor on healthcare issues in Canada. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, she repeatedly called on provincial governments to hire more health care workers. Linda Silas is longtime advocate of universal

pharmacare Pharmacare is a Canadian proposal for a publicly-funded insurance program for medications, similar to Medicare for health insurance. Limited pharmacare programs exist in the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. Multiple organizers ...

. She claims implementing this policy is especially urgent during a global pandemic.

Bid for CLC leadership

On 3 January 2020, Linda Silas announced she was running to become president of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Canada's

House of Labour The Workers' House ( fa, خانه کارگر ''xâne-ye kârgar'') is the Iranian ''de facto'' national trade union center affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and a registered Iranian reform movement, reformist worker's Po ...

. Her candidacy was endorsed by major Canadian trade unions such as

Teamsters Canada Teamsters Canada is a Canadian trade union affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Although the Teamsters have been present in Canada since 1903, Teamsters Canada was only established in 1976. The organization represents 125,00 ...

and the

Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) is the largest multi-professional labour union in Canada, representing some 60,000 public service professionals employed at the federal and some provincial and territorial levels ...

. However, she terminated her campaign in March 2021.

External links

Bob McKeown interviews CFNU president Linda Silas about the state of nursing in Canada

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silas, Linda Université de Moncton alumni Acadian people People from Restigouche County, New Brunswick Trade unionists from New Brunswick Living people Canadian nurses Year of birth missing (living people)