President JP Hornick understands life on the front lines. They have a lifetime of connections to the labour movement and to the public service – and more than 20 years in OPSEU/SEFPO.
JP has served as Chief Steward for more than a decade, mentoring stewards and helping members. They chaired the College Faculty Bargaining Team in 2021-2022, representing 24 Ontario-wide locals that stood strong on behalf of College faculty and students and worked hard to achieve gains while averting a strike. They also chaired the 2017 team, maintaining unity and strength in a strike that led to important gains.
JP grew up in a family of public service workers – from educators to correctional workers. They are a labour educator and the Coordinator of the School of Labour at George Brown College. Through their close ties to union and community allies, JP understands the hopes and aspirations of young workers: for good jobs and for a better world.
JP is committed to building better, more inclusive, communities. They have served as Chair, Treasurer, and Director on several community boards and has been on the front lines of activism to advance issues of equity and in support of women’s rights, anti-racism, and decolonization. They believe that effective social action requires structural changes and has worked tirelessly to accomplish them: whether that means supporting the creation of childcare spaces at OPSEU/SEFPO events, helping to provide women with safe passage to abortion services, or fighting discrimination against LGBTTIQQ2S people in Toronto courts. They became personally involved in the latter struggle when they were charged by police in the women’s bathhouse raids in 2000. Not only did they defeat those discriminatory charges: they worked with a team of committed activists to change Toronto Police Service (TPS) policies around search and detention of trans people, and together they developed and delivered LGBTTIQQ2S training from the Chief of Police and on down in TPS. They have worked as a curriculum developer, trainer, and consultant for TPS. In 2002, JP was named co-Grand Marshall of that year’s Toronto Pride Parade whose theme was “Uncensored”.
JP was elected OPSEU/SEFPO President on April 8, 2022, on a platform that includes:
- Strengthening union democracy
- Ensuring financial responsibility
- Fostering an inclusive union culture
- Deepening connections to the labour movement
“My organizing and activism centers in anti-racism and anti-oppression frameworks, and is rooted in a deep belief that we cannot build a successful social movement without challenging our own perspectives and privilege.” JP Hornick