Wednesday, October 22, 2025
AMAPCEO is pleased to announce that, after many months of working behind the scenes to come to agreement on the remedy for active AMAPCEO members in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) for the 2022 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, implementation is underway.
In September 2022, the OPS Employer refused to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a special holiday for employees under the collective agreement. A coalition of five OPS employee unions, led by AMAPCEO, won its case arguing this was a violation of the unions’ collective agreements. The arbitrator ruled that the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation should have been treated as a paid holiday in 2022 and must be going forward.
AMAPCEO then pursued a remedy for all members affected by the decision recognizing the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a special holiday. Earlier this year, an arbitrator ruled that AMAPCEO members were entitled to compensating time-off-in-lieu.
Since March, we have been engaged in discussions with the OPS Employer on what that second decision meant for members and how it would be applied.
We can now confirm the following:
- Permanent (regular) employees who worked on September 30, 2022 and who are still OPS employees will receive a credit of one-and-a-half days in their WIN credit banks. This NDTR remedy credit does not have a time limit for use, does not have cash value, and must be used before leaving the OPS.
- Full-time fixed-term (contract) employees who worked on September 30, 2022 and who are still OPS employees will receive a credit of one day in their WIN credit banks, further to Article FXT 3.2 in the AMAPCEO–OPS Collective Agreement. This NDTR remedy credit does not have a time limit for use, does not have cash value, and must be used before leaving the OPS.
- Employees (regular or fixed-term) who took a vacation day on September 30, 2022 and who are still OPS employees will see the vacation credit repopulated in their vacation leave bank.
- Employees (regular) who took a sick day on September 30, 2022 at less than 100 per cent pay and who are still OPS employees will have their sick credit use reviewed, and the Employer will make appropriate adjustments where employees had an adverse impact to either their top-up credits or pay as a result of using the sick credit on September 30, 2022.
- Employees (regular or fixed-term) who were actively working but who took an unpaid leave day on September 30, 2022 and who are still OPS employees will be reimbursed for their regular pay for the day.
For more detail on other scenarios, we encourage members to review the full remedy settlement here. Treasury Board Secretariat also has an FAQ page on the OPS employee intranet.
Inactive Members
AMAPCEO is continuing remedy negotiations with the Employer for employees who have retired, resigned, or whose contracts have ended since September 2022. Remedy discussions for employees who took special or compassionate leave, religious leave or bereavement leave on September 30, 2022 are also ongoing. We will continue to update these members as we have more information to share.
“This was a long- and hard-fought battle for AMAPCEO, and another demonstration like that of Bill 124, where we once again showed we will not back down and we will see the fight through to the end,” said President Dave Bulmer.
“The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was proclaimed as a federal holiday as a direct response to a Call to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to offer everyone in Canada an important opportunity to learn about and reflect on the history and ongoing legacy of colonialism. We are relieved that not only will this solemn day be respected going forward, but that the OPS Employer—the largest employer in Ontario—has been required to do right by our members.”