CUPE Local 4318 has represented generations of employees at Banff Centre, first through independent staff associations and later as a chartered Local of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Preserving this history recognises the members who built our organisation and the work that made today’s rights and Collective Agreement possible.
The Beginning: BCSSA, 1978–1989
The history of our union is closely connected to an important change in Banff Centre’s history.
Banff Centre began in 1933 as an initiative of the University of Alberta’s Department of Extension. Stewardship later transferred to the University of Calgary. In April 1978, the Banff Centre Act made The Banff Centre an autonomous, non-degree-granting educational institution governed by its own Board of Governors, ending the University of Calgary’s trusteeship.
Banff Centre’s official history also records the registration of its first staff association in 1978. Our surviving records from that year identify the organisation as the Banff Centre Support Staff Association, or BCSSA.
BCSSA represented support staff from 1978 until it was dissolved in 1989.
A Lasting Memorial
The Greg Rudel/Andrew Shepard Memorial Scholarship was created in 1981. Greg Rudel was a visual artist attending Banff Centre’s 1980–81 winter program. Andrew Shepard was a Banff Centre employee and BCSSA Treasurer. The two young men lost their lives in an avalanche on April 2, 1981.
The scholarship continues to preserve their memory and reflects the longstanding contribution of support employees to the Banff Centre community.
ABCSE, 1989–1999
Following the dissolution of BCSSA, the Association of Banff Centre Support Employees, or ABCSE, was incorporated in 1989. The first executive recorded in our surviving archive is from 1990.
ABCSE received Labour Board certification on October 1, 1993. During the following decade, members continued to represent one another, bargain collectively, and strengthen their organisation.
Becoming CUPE Local 4318
In 1999, the organisation became part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. CUPE Local 4318 received its charter on October 27, 1999, and Labour Board certification followed on January 12, 2000.
Becoming a CUPE Local connected Banff Centre support employees with Canada’s largest union while preserving a local organisation built by members over more than two decades.
Continuing Our Contribution
CUPE Local 4318 members have continued to bargain collectively, defend workplace rights, represent one another, and contribute to the Banff Centre community.
In 2007, CUPE National and CUPE Local 4318 jointly donated $50,000 to the Banff Centre Staff Campaign. This contribution continued a history of support that includes the memorial scholarship established during the BCSSA years.