Hundreds of teachers and supporters rallied in front of MLA Shirley Bond's office downtown on Thursday to call on the provincial government to invest in public education and return to the bargaining table with the B.C. Teachers' Federation.
B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair spoke at the rally, urging teachers to continue their fight for a fair deal for children.
"We know this dispute is about hope. The public education system for working people is our forum for hope for our children," Sinclair said. "Today our future is at risk because of what this government do to public education. The fact is we can't send our kids to private school, even if we wanted to. We don't have a choice, because we don't make the money they do."
Funding for education in B.C. is $1,000 per student below the national average and the second-lowest among the provinces - only P.E.I. spends less, he said.
According to a poll by the labour federation, 84 per cent of British Columbians support increasing B.C. funding for education up to the national average, he said.
"The problem is not what [teachers] are asking for, it's because they are underfunding education," Sinclair said. "I want to thank you for your courage, because I know this is right. I know you're going to stand up and your best for the children of B.C., which is more than I can say about the premier."
Sinclair urged parents and workers to support the teachers in their fight.
He said a former mentor in the labour movement had told him, "'There is two things you have to know about the working class if you want to help them... there isn't a God damn thing they've got that we didn't have to fight for... and you have to keep fighting if you want to keep them.'"
Quinson Elementary school teacher Tamara DeFord urged MLAs Bond and Mike Morris -and all their colleagues - to cross the floor and speak out against Premier Christy Clark's stance on education. DeFord read a letter she wrote to the two local MLAs aloud at the rally.
In it she said she was highly disappointed by the incorrect information in Clark's public address on the issue on Tuesday. DeFord said she came to the conclusion Clark either must be ill-informed or is deliberately trying to deceive the public.
"Citizens should be able to expect their premier is honest and well-informed," she said. "This week should have been my son's first week of Kindergarten. How can you spend $40 [per student, per day] to extend this strike on, instead of spending it on our children? I have never been so disillusioned with our democratic system."
Prince George Teachers' Association president Tina Cousins said government needs to honour the B.C. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that restored class size and composition levels the government improperly removed from the teachers' contract in 2002.
"This B.C. government has violated the [labour] rights of 41,000 citizens under the charter," Cousins said. "The government wants us to negotiate those rights away, but we can't and we won't. We're in a fight for public education we cannot lose."
Cousins urged community members and parents to show their support for the teachers, and the class size and composition restrictions they are fighting for.
"We need you to take up this quarrel, speak up for your children," she said. "Together, we are stronger."
Local teacher Tiger Thakkar said children are suffering because the provincial government's unwillingness to negotiate.
"I work at a school that is a have-not school. Kids get fed there, that's the reality we're in," Thakkar said. "Now they're not getting fed."
Thakkar said he'd much rather be teaching than "standing, holding a sign."
Teacher Bruce Harrop said despite the sacrifice he and his wife, also a teacher, are making it is ultimately about making public education better.
"It's not about the [personal] hardship, it's not about money. It's just about improving education," Harrop said. "If we don't take a stand, it's never going to get better."
