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Last autumn, Danielle Smith, premier of the Candian province of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP), passeda bill that mandated all school teachers to return to their posts following a three-week strike and also prevented them from taking future strike action.
The bill controversially made use of the “notwithstanding clause”. This particular clause falls under Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,and is only allowed to be invoked once every nine years due to its potential to violate fundamental human freedoms, equality rights and legal rights.
The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA), which represents more than 40,000 school teachers, objected to the government’s move, referring to it as an “imposed settlement”. There was major backlash to the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause, as it opposes fundamental labour rights in Canada.
The ATA initiated the province-wide strike on 6 October in order to negotiate better salaries and to improve learning conditions in favour of teacher and student welfare.
Educators say they are stressed and pessimistic as classrooms become more complex. Class sizes in Alberta average 35–40 students, exceeding the average of 25–30 students in Canadian public schools.
Funding from the provincial government has not covered the rapid growthin class sizes or Alberta’s overall population growthin the past few years. Schools don’t have enough staff nor enough properly trained staff to support the increasingly varied needs of students. Teachers claim they are unable to provide a supportive foundation for students’ learning because of the lack of staff.
Part of the frustration stems from the fact that the Alberta government has yet to publish data regarding pupil–teacher ratios – it stoppedannual tracking in 2019 – which was expected to be made available to the public in January.
A protracted processled to the strike. In the initial ATA vote in June, 94.5% voted for strike action. After months of negotiations with the Alberta government, the union rejected the offer of a 12% pay rise and 3,000 new teachers (which would add only one extra teacher to individual schools). On the second vote in September, 89.5% of teachers voted to strike.
The majority of labour associations (unions) in Alberta supported the teachers’ strike and are concerned by the use of the notwithstanding clause, because they are worried by the precedent this sets for other labour forces in the province.
Alberta’s Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides said that he supported the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause, and that his top priority was students’ well-being.
He added, “I know that there’s some more work that we need to do to rebuild trust with teachers and I intend to dedicate the next two years to talk with our teachers and demonstrate that we are aligned in our vision and we do want the same things.”
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“The fight for a better education system isn’t done,” said Kristine Wilkinson of the ATA. She encouraged ATA members to keep spreading awareness to both the general public, as well as Members of the Legislative Assembly [the province’s politicians]: “Keep sharing your classroom realities with parents, media, community leaders and your MLAs, ensuring that underfunding and complexity are understood as lived experiences, not abstract concepts.”
The ATA continues to challenge the lawfulness of the Back to School Act.
Born in 2008 in Ontario, Canada, Siya is currently studying in the city of Mississauga.
She is passionate about writing and literature, and enjoys writing about anything new that relates to her academic topics of interest, such as neuroscience and branches of ecology, as well as the humanities.
In her spare time, Siya enjoys dancing, reading and working on creative projects.
She speaks Hindi (her first language) and English.
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