The Local office will be closed from December 19 to January 2nd. Emails will be checked periodically.

On behalf of your local executive team, please accept our warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Today, on World Teachers’ Day, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) joins people around the globe in recognizing and celebrating teachers for their outstanding commitment to the development, success, and well-being of students.

“World Teachers’ Day provides a reminder that teachers play an instrumental role in a child’s growth and development. By engaging students and providing them with an equitable, high-quality education, they make a difference every day,” says ETFO President Karen Brown. “Their efforts to create conditions for success in the classroom should be acknowledged and celebrated today and every day.”

Truth and Reconciliation Week is a time to learn, reflect, and honour the survivors of the residential school system, their families, and communities. Let us remember every day that advancing reconciliation is not possible without education.

To further learning opportunities, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is offering age-appropriate resources for students in grades 1 through 12.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has also unveiled a cyber version of the Witness Blanket to be used in classrooms of all levels. We encourage you to bear witness and share this learning in your classroom; visit witnessblanket.ca to learn more.

The OCT deadline for completing the SAPP is September 15. LTO teachers will be given paid time to complete the SAPP on the October 24 PA Day. If you are a LTO Teacher and intend to use the Oct 24 PA Day to complete the training, you must request an extension from the OCT. If you have already completed the SAPP training, you can use the time on the PA Day for other self-directed professional learning.

Quite to our disappointment, daily occasional teachers will not receive paid time to complete the SAPP training. While we certainly oppose uncompensated work-related training, we do recommend that you complete the SAPP. Failure to complete the SAPP or requesting an extension before September 15 will result in your public register notation being changed from “To Be Completed” to “Incomplete” until you successfully complete the program.

One of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation’s hidden gems is its private campground on picturesque Quinn Lake near Parry Sound. The camp site is available to all OTF members and education workers in publicly-funded schools.

Booking for the 2022 season is open. Learn more here or email ac.no1713981299.oeff1713981299to@dn1713981299uorgp1713981299mac1713981299. A receipt for the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit will be issued after the camp closes in October and before the 2022 tax season ends.

April 13 marks the International Day of Pink and we are taking a public stance to say NO to 2SLGBTQ+ bullying in all its forms. The 2022 theme focuses on members of the queer community with intersectional identities.

While the International Day of Pink only happens once a year, we support 2SLGBTQ+ students all year long. Please check out these resources to support this essential work.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.

AOTL celebrates the amazing women in our schools and the incredible impact they have each and every day.

ETFO members are working through one of the most challenging times in our history!

ETFO, along with other education front-line workers, have been fighting hard to ensure safe working and learning conditions during this pandemic and to demand fairness and justice for all workers. Show your solidarity with others when you wear RED for ED each and every Friday beginning on Feb 11!

Take pictures of yourself and colleagues wearing red and share them on social media using the hashag #RedforEd.

The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is an opportunity for us to reflect, become educated and take action to address past and current injustices against Indigenous Peoples, while centring Survivors, their descendants and those who never made it home. It is a day to mourn the loss of the children whose bodies were recovered this year, those still to come home, and all those affected by both the direct and intergenerational impact of residential schools.

If you are teaching on September 30, we encourage you to wear orange and to allocate a portion of the day to age-appropriate opportunities for learning and reflection about Truth and Reconciliation.  The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) has a page dedicated to teaching resources which we recommend.  Whatever activities you decide to undertake, this day will be an important opportunity for all students to reflect on the history of Residential Schools and to honour the lives lost.  Thank you for your ongoing commitment to Indigenous Education.

Black History Month exists to remind us all of the rich contributions within our society from people of African and Caribbean decent, and of their ongoing struggle for equity and social justice. Teachers have the opportunity to engage their students, not only during this month but throughout the school year, on recognizing the strengths and resiliency of communities that historically have been marginalized, as well examining issues of racism and the impact of discrimination on these communities.​

2021 Black History Month Poster

The 2021 ETFO Black History Month Poster (artist Leone McComas) explores how the commonly used and accepted map of our world is not accurate and rooted in bias and colonialism.

As the Mae Jemison quote captures: “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”