TORONTO — Teachers in Ontario's French system are holding a strike today, as public elementary and high school teachers walkout at select boards. Franco-Ontarian teachers who are members of the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) are launching the third phase of strike action.
The strikes come one day after all four of Ontario's major teachers' unions — including the one representing English Catholic teachers — announced a joint one-day strike for next Friday, Feb. 21.
See: Four major education unions to hit Ontario with co-ordinated strike
It's a bid to ramp up pressure on the government as months of contract talks are at a standstill.
Today's one-day strike by 12,000 French teachers is the first such job action since the inception of French-language school boards in 1997.
See: North Bay area among 90 picketing sites for Franco-Ontarian Teachers' strike tomorrow
Elementary teachers have been holding rotating strikes as well as weekly provincewide strikes. Today they are targeting the Bluewater, Grand Erie, Hamilton-Wentworth, Keewatin-Patricia, Lakehead, Ontario North East, Ottawa-Carleton, Peel, Penetanguishene, Protestant Separate, Simcoe County, Superior-Greenstone, Trillium Lakelands and York Region school boards, as well as the Ottawa Children's Treatment Centre.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2020.
The Canadian Press