“‘Fantastic’ is my f-word for nurses,” prominent politician says

The t-shirt, depicting the bold F-Word logo on the front and many of the appropriate f-words that have been bandied about to describe our members and union since our brand renewal on the back, was given to members at the Provincial Leadership Meeting in April in anticipation of the surprise launch of our F-Word digital magazine.  

Members were asked to wear their t-shirt the next day for the session where F-Word was unveiled without knowing why. But many also chose to wear theirs to our Pay Fair for Home Care rally at Queen’s Park that morning.

And that’s where the t-shirt garnered a lot of attention, including from France Gélinas, health-care critic for the Ontario NDP, the official opposition, who spoke at the rally.  

Following her comments, one of her staff approached ONA Government Relations Specialist Andre Fast for a chat, and asked about the F-Word t-shirts so many members were sporting, which he really liked. Fast was only too happy to offer him his. 

“Later, France saw him with it and asked him if she could get one too because she had been admiring those t-shirts at the rally,” explains Fast. “She really liked the name and thought they were so cool. That staff member reached out to ask if we had one for France, and I brought it over to her staff at Queen’s Park.”  

Fast adds that in ONA’s meeting with Gélinas over the years, she has always emphasized that everyone loves nurses and believes what we say, so we need to amplify our collective voices.  

“The reason I wanted a t-shirt is because nurses are really good at advocating, speaking up and demanding change for their patients, but they very seldom do that for themselves,” says Gélinas, who was only too happy to share a photo of herself wearing the t-shirt with us. “I’m really proud and happy that the F-Word magazine has succeeded in allowing many nurses to finally speak up. My favourite f-word is ‘fantastic’ because nurses are fantastic!” 

Turns out Gélinas isn’t the only one embracing our F-Word t-shirt. Ontario Federation of Labour President Laura Walton was also seen wearing one at a Bill 5 protest outside the annual Ford Fest, hosted by the Premier on June 13.