At midnight on April 1st, 2009, British Columbia's 3,500 paramedics began formal strike action. 7 months later, they were legislated back to work by the British Columbia government (their employer) while they were in the process of voting on a contract offer by that same government. This is unprecedented in Canadian labour history. The government claims the legislation was necessary over concerns about an H1N1 pandemic. However, a letter from the Vancouver Olympics committee surfaced, which requested that the government end the dispute by legislation, if necessary, to ensure full ambulance services for the 2010 Olympic games.

To find out more about the crisis of British Columbia's paramedics, please visit www.saveourparamedics.com.