Unifor says it wasn’t warned about bomb threat

Regina’s mayor received an anonymous letter in February from someone threatening to blow up Unifor blockades if police didn’t dismantle them. The local representing locked-out Co-op refinery workers insists it was never warned.

The letter, which purported to come from farmers facing fuel shortages, said “special mixes” had been set up that could cause pallets and gates to “start flying.”

“Only a cell phone call away from Ignition Time,” the letter reads. “If we see no progress this week — it will be time to act.”

The anonymous letter claimed that the alleged would-be bombers had a list of names and home addresses of union officials living outside Saskatchewan.

“Time for action there as well if things do not start happening — first get rid of the Unifor A**holes,” the letter continued.

Unifor 594 posted the letter to its website on Sunday, along with an explanation of how it obtained a copy through a freedom of information request.

“Buried in a mountain of documents, we have unearthed a very alarming letter that shows there were credible threats made against Unifor 594 members,” the post said. “The letter frighteningly details a plan to blow up picket lines.”

The copy of the letter posted online was addressed to the RCMP and the Regina Police Service (RPS). But it was also marked with a “received” stamp from the mayor’s office dated Feb. 18.

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere confirmed on Sunday that the letter posted to the Unifor 594 website looks very much like one he received, though he was not at his office to verify the specific date and details. He said he passed it along to the RPS immediately after receiving it.

Fougere said there was no return address or markings on the letter that would allow him to identify its author.

Neither the RPS nor the RCMP were immediately available to comment on Sunday. Fougere said he’s not aware of how police responded to the letter since it’s not up to the mayor’s office to follow up on any investigations.

In its web posting, Unifor 594 faulted Fougere and the police for not warning union officials about the threat.

“The most horrifying reality is that these threats were never conveyed to members of the local union,” said the posting. “These credible threats were never once passed along by the police who initially received it.

“The officials who are charged with the safety of the citizens of Regina chose not to pass along information that people were in danger,” the Unifor 594 post said. “They wilfully ignored that people could be blown up.”

Fougere confirmed he did not forward the letter to Unifor. He was not aware whether police did so.

“It would be up to the police service to take the steps necessary they would ordinarily do on any sort of a threat,” he said. “We certainly didn’t do that. It’s not the role of the mayor’s office to look at the validity of a threat. It’s for the police service to do.”

He responded to Unifor’s criticism by noting “there is a lot of emotion and anger” in the monthslong dispute.

Kevin Bittman, president of Unifor Local 594, reiterated that union officials were never informed about the threat in any way.

He accepts the mayor’s office isn’t responsible for investigating a bomb threat, but thinks Fougere should have done more to follow up with police.

“I think there’s probably some onus on him to follow up if there’s a death threat in his city,” said Bittman.

Unifor 594 added union members have repeatedly faced threats of violence over the course of the lockout, which began on Dec. 5 of last year.

“Several social media posts, comments and direct messages, on

The most horrifying reality is that these threats were never conveyed to members of the local union. These credible threats were never once passed along by the police

both Twitter and Facebook, outline a variety of threats of physical violence towards union members,” said the Sunday web post.

“Since the lockout began the union office has also received dozens of venomous and menacing phone calls from Co-op supporters.”

Bittman said it’s not unusual to hear hostile comments on the lines, but he said the threat in the letter was “next level.”

He said the union never found any devices or suspicious items in the blockades that would suggest anyone carried out the threat made in the letter.

He would have, however, appreciated the heads-up, just in case something was there that could “blow someone to smithereens.”

January and February were in many ways the height of the conflict between Unifor and the Coop Refinery Complex. Days before Fougere received the letter, a judge fined Unifor 594 $250,000 for contempt in relation to the blockades.

On Jan. 20, Unifor national president Jerry Dias was arrested at the refinery blockades. Special mediator Vince Ready began his work about the time the letter arrived at city hall, but Unifor continued to set up blockades at other CRC facilities afterward.