Thursday, September 3, 2026

No Islands

In school, work, and all aspects of life, you can’t truly succeed if you go it alone.

By Henk de Zoete, President, National Board

This past June, I attended my eldest grandchild’s high school commencement ceremony at our community’s largest and most prestigious event hall.

After the usual playing of Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” (11 times!) by the high school band, dignitaries—including the local member of parliament, principal, board of education trustee, and the board officer for equity and achievement—gave congratulatory remarks. They all emphasized that the students’ education had encouraged them to be the best they could be, and that this had prepared them to pursue their individual goals and ambitions. Little mention was made that their success was also the result of being part of an education community that included family, friends, teachers, administrative staff, coaches, and maintenance staff. The emphasis was, “You be you!”

Soon the time arrived for awarding the diplomas. Each of the 400 students had been invited to write a few comments about their high school years, which were read aloud as they were called to the podium. Interestingly, most of the graduates had used this opportunity not to trumpet their own achievements, but to thank parents, teachers, friends, and the occasional sibling or dog for supporting them. They considered their graduation to have been made possible by being part of a community that provided resources, care, love, and support. They knew they had not succeeded on their own.

Some 400 years ago, John Donne wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself.” This holds true, especially today when our culture is sliced and diced into ever thinner segments of humanity and the autonomous individual is held up as the standard by which achievement, value, and worth are judged.

But we were not created to be islands.

Students, workers, or even retirees cannot survive or thrive on their own. We all need a community to live well. We also need to live by a commonly understood and accepted set of rules and standards.

For CLAC members, this holds true each day. Excellent patient and resident care happens when teams diligently put into practice agreed upon standards and procedures. Buildings and infrastructure are only created when teams of tradespeople work together to follow the plan. The same holds true for workers in grocery stores, trucking, education, and all other fields.

CLAC is uniquely positioned to encourage and support team building and work communities. Our constitution states: “People bear the image of their Creator and, as such, must be treated with dignity, respect, and love. . . . All humans are created equal.” The CLAC constitution goes on to state that work is a good and necessary endeavour.

CLAC’s model of labour relations stems from these principles. Over the course of almost 75 years, we’ve worked to build relationships that foster cooperation, fairness, and mutual responsibility through constructive, collaborative labour relations.

Although not always successful and with many bumps, missteps, and much opposition, we’ve come a long way. We’ve grown into a thriving, confident, respected player and partner on the Canadian labour scene.

We’re honoured to represent and support a community of over 60,000 skilled and dedicated workers who are not simply individual islands, but part of workplace communities—and a union—that are all made better when we work together.

No Islands

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