Ontario teachers’ unions are criticizing Premier Doug Ford’s comments that schools remain closed because of them. “The school situation remains a major concern for many parents – said Ford – on the one hand, we have some doctors who say they want to open schools. On the other hand, we have teachers’ unions saying we can’t do that right now. We need public health doctors, teachers and union partners to agree on the best path forward… we also need consensus, and we simply do not have it at the moment. So, for now, we’re going to have to continue with virtual learning.” The provincial premier increased the dose when, during last Thursday’s press conference, he blamed teachers for even threatening an injunction against opening the schools. “We have some doctors saying to reopen, but we also have the teachers’ union ready for an injunction. I just need union leaders to sit down with the doctors and find a solution,” Ford said.
But the unions, through social media, have sent back to the sender the criticism made to them by Ford: we are not aware of any injunctions filed, they have cut short. “Ford’s statement is simply not true,” tweeted Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) President Sam Hammond. “Never made such a threat and there are no pending legal actions. It’s the premier’s most absurd rhetoric,” said Harvey Bischoff, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF).
Schools in Ontario were closed to in-person learning indefinitely on April 12, four days after a stay-at-home order was issued across the province. At the time, Ford blamed the shift to online learning on “a record number of Covid cases and hospitalizations that threatened to overwhelm our health care system.” “I want nothing more than to be able to reopen schools as soon as possible. But we all need to work together right now to keep the spread of the virus in the community under control,” the premier said.
By the time Ford made the announcement, medical officials in Toronto, Peel and the Guelph region had already ordered schools to close due to the increase in Covid-19 cases during the third wave of the pandemic.
On Thursday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health highlighted the growing spread of the virus in the community and that schools were closed as the province’s ability to keep them safe through contact management “was starting to diminish.” “I’m getting a lot more messages from my health officials across the province that we’re now back to a level where we think we can start addressing the reopening issue. So we are discussing this with them – concluded the premier – we will have to have some discussion with both our public health units and the Ministry of Education to determine when is the best time, the right time, so that our schools can be safe, we want them to open and remain open”.
