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Thousands Of Striking Teachers, Supporters Descend On Ontario's Legislature

TORONTO — The street that wraps around Ontario’s legislature teemed with thousands of striking teachers and their supporters Friday, as educators across four unions held a coordinated, province-wide walkout.

“This is a demonstration of unity,” Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) president Harvey Bischof told reporters at a press conference outside Queen’s Park.

Protesters join a demonstration organized by teachers' unions outside the Ontario legislature in Toronto on Feb. 21, 2020.
Protesters join a demonstration organized by teachers' unions outside the Ontario legislature in Toronto on Feb. 21, 2020.

“It’s a demonstration that we’re not divided from our members or from the public in this province.”

More than 200,000 teachers and education workers were on strike Friday, affecting more than two million students at 5,000 schools. It was the first time since 1997 that workers with all four unions have walked out on the same day.

... we’re not divided.Harvey Bischof

Demonstrators aimed their frustration squarely at Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce with signs calling them liars and accusing them of doing irreparable damage to the education system. One person, dressed up as the grim reaper, held a sign that read: “Education leads to lower mortality rates. Keep on cutting funding.”

(It’s true: people with little education tend to have higher rates of disease and mortality, according to Statistics Canada.)

Striking Ontario teachers show off their creativity at a protest outside Queen's Park on Feb. 21, 2020.
Striking Ontario teachers show off their creativity at a protest outside Queen's Park on Feb. 21, 2020.
Demonstrators show off their signs about Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a protest organizes by teachers' unions on Feb. 21, 2020.
Demonstrators show off their signs about Ontario Premier Doug Ford at a protest organizes by teachers' unions on Feb. 21, 2020.

Grade 8 teacher Anne Piper told HuffPost Canada she attended to send a message on class sizes, which the Progressive Conservative government wants to increase.

“I already can hardly teach the 18 in my homeroom and I have by far the smallest class in the school,” she said.

“I have 36 in one class and it’s more dangerous. It’s certainly less learning going on. There’s way more interruptions and you have kids with behavior problems that, even in a class of 20, derail the class.”

She said that of the 48 teachers at her school, 46 are willing to take a smaller raise in exchange for a cap on class sizes.

‘Don’t give them this fodder’

The government has said that the teachers are striking in order to get bigger raises. Unions have...

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