Teachers give bill failing grade at marathon hearing

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This article was published 25/04/2023 (865 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba teachers fear proposed legislation on educator misconduct will be co-opted by ill-intentioned parents and don’t believe it will protect students, they told a standing committee during six hours of presentations Monday night.

Around 20 teachers from across the province spoke at the at-times tense marathon public hearing at the legislature or called in and spoke by video about their thoughts on Bill 35 — The Education Administration Amendment Act (Teacher Certification and Professional Conduct).

“Will this make our kids safer? It sounds like a recipe for witch hunts,” speaker Jim Parry-Hill said.

The bill, if passed, would make teacher discipline public and create a registry of teachers also accessible by the public. It would also assign an independent commissioner to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by teachers. A panel made up of a teacher, a person appointed by the Manitoba School Boards Association and a member of the public would rule on matters sent to public hearings.

Currently, teacher discipline is dealt with behind closed doors at the school, union and education department level.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS) — the provincial teachers’ union, which has 16,600 members — has led the charge on amending the bill, encouraging teachers to speak out against it.

“Teachers aren’t against regulation of the profession,” MTS president Nathan Martindale told the committee.

He went on to say the union doesn’t like the bill. Martindale said he worries teachers will be subject to frivolous complaints, partly because of the inclusion of “competence” in the bill and what he considers a loose definition of misconduct, including cases that cause “significant emotional harm.”

The independent commissioner has jurisdiction to dismiss claims deemed frivolous or made in bad faith, but Martindale said that offers teachers little comfort. He said he worries investigations that result in unfounded allegations will unfairly tarnish a member’s reputation.

Education Minister Wayne Ewasko defended the bill throughout the hearing, saying the “one-door” approach to handling allegations of misconduct is on par with how other provinces deal with such matters. He accused MTS of sharing “misinformation” amid a “campaign” against the bill. Ewasko previously told the Free Press the union refused an invitation to sit down and review the bill, but MTS says it asked for the meeting.

Teachers suggested the bill will send a chill to educators who worry parents will retaliate when they don’t agree with what’s being taught in classrooms.

“I feel like I will be walking on eggshells,” Amber Lewicki said. “It makes me feel very ill inside, of what this could lead to.”

Many teachers spoke about the lengths teachers go to to ensure their students feel seen, heard and represented. Issues of race, gender and sexuality will be harder to bring up if teachers fear backlash, they said.

“Bill 35 would silence a lot of conversations,” teacher Tara Law said.

Noni Classen, director of education at the Winnipeg-based Canadian Centre for Child Protection, praised the bill for its transparency and the lengths it goes to in protecting students.

“Manitoba must eliminate barriers to reporting abuse,” she said, noting there is a conflict of interest when the teachers’ union is investigating its own members and that misconduct is currently dealt with in private.

Classen said matters of competence should remain in the bill because patterns of bad behaviour can initially appear to be incompetence but grow into misconduct.

With dozens more speakers slated to present, hearings on the bill will continue Tuesday evening and possibly on Wednesday.

katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca