2009-05-21

Alberta Teachers Association: Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic teachers demand protection

CBC Edmonton covers a story on the infamous Bill 44

On the weekend, delegates to the annual general meeting of the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) passed a resolution asking the province to delete the section of the bill that contains the amendments. On Tuesday, ATA President Frank Bruseker sent a letter to Premier Ed Stelmach notifying him about the resolution and the teachers' concerns. "Representatives of the teaching profession in attendance at the meeting are concerned about the negative effect the legislation will have on their lives as teachers," Bruseker writes. "Our members continue to believe that existing legislation, the Guide to Education and the provisions established in the Code of Professional Conduct are sufficient mechanisms to ensure that teachers are respectful of their students and parents."
Last week on Twitter I was addressing how Alberta leftwingers (and teachers) are up in arms about being subject to onerous HRCs:
The left now agrees nobody wants to be subject to frivolous HRC complaints http://twurl.nl/g6gy2b They gonna help Rev. Boissoin now, right?
The more the #Alberta Teachers ASSociation squacks about Bill 44 the more I'm convinced wise parents should ort out of the entire curriculum
Meanwhile, Colby Cosh was attacking the issue in the other direction:
I love that there are journalists in Alberta who apparently think that human-rights law should apply fully to journalists (and bloggers and Twitter-ers) in their work, but not teachers in theirs.
Ultimately, its odd to be reading this passage:
Teachers worry the amendments will have a "chilling effect" on the classroom and could put teachers and school boards at risk of being prosecuted under the provincial Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, according to an ATA submission on the Act sent to the premier earlier this month
Um, I thought that the "chilling effect" of HRCs was all a bunch of Ezra Levant/Mark Steyn hooey. Why should teachers not have to live in mortal fear of being hauled in front of tribunals that don't require facts (which Alberta Teachers are notoriously short on anyways) while everybody else does?