Comment By Bill Jackson - Teacher's Union

While I was rooting through my email last Friday I came upon an interesting press release entitled Elementary Teachers Support First Nations' Land Rights."

In it the elementary Teachers' Federation (ETFO) of Ontario applauded a Court of Appeal decision that released native leaders who were jailed for protesting mineral development on what the union calls "traditional First Nations land," near Sharbot Lake.

The land has, in fact, been leased to an Oakville-based mining company by the government and the issue is similar to what's going on right here in Caledonia and Brantford, where native protests have halted developments on land rightly owned by developers.

Robert Lovelace, a Queen's University Professor and former Ardoch Algonquin First Nations chief was sentenced to six months in prison earlier this year for failing to obey a court injunction that prohibited him and others from participating in a blockade at the mining operation. Frontenac Ventures Corporation, a privately owned uranium mining and exploration company lost millions of dollars in funding.

ETFO President David Clegg told our paper that the teachers' press release was related to the issues in Eastern Ontario and admitted that issues in Grand Erie are somewhat different, "but I think it does speak to an issue of a number of significantly unresolved issues when it comes to aboriginal land claims and the complication s that flow out of those," he said.

"Certainly from our perspective it ties in both the issues of land claims and environmental concerns which are important issues from our perspective for the public."

In the press release, Clegg noted that the Ipperwash Inquiry, requested by the current Liberal government in 2003, produced a report strongly recommending that provincial laws, policies, and practices be reformed to ensure they are consistent with the government's legal obligations towards indigenous peoples.

"These legal obligations, which have been reinforced by (more than) a decade of Supreme Court decisions, include the duty of consultation, accommodation, and consent of indigenous peoples around the use of treaty lands. This duty applies to mining rights, even when land claims are still in dispute," said Clegg.

Note here that the teachers support court decisions in favour of natives, but not the court decisions that go against them for some reason.

The ETFO said that it supports social justice in the broad community and was shocked by "harsh sentences imposed upon First Nations people who were simply engaging in a peaceful protest."

Now we've all heard that line before, but maybe Clegg thinks it's revelation.

He went on to tell me that government should seek "peaceful" resolution.

I'm assuming those resolutions should be equally as peaceful as the land protests that turned violent and almost killed a man last year in Caledonia? I'm assuming that those resolutions should be as peaceful as those protests that have put jobs and livelihood on hold, wrongly. And I'm assuming that those resolutions should be as peaceful as the protests that forced police presence at a local elementary school in Caledonia where an AK 47 was seen last year. And also as peaceful as the native protest that caused police to escort children across the street to school in Cayuga recently.

We didn't hear from the ETFO then – at a time when elementary schools were most directly affected by land claims.

One might wonder why elementary teachers even feel the need to speak out about such issues anyway. Leave it up to the courts, police and politicians.

The ETFO headline ranks up there with other possibilities including "Plumbers against abortion," NHLPA slams spelling bees" and "Oompa Loompas support Al Qaeda." My reply would be the same. Stick to fixing pipes, playing hockey and making chocolate.

According to an article in the Queen's Journal, the Academic Vice President of the University Lovelace taught at took no position on the case. Why should elementary teachers?

I attempted to contact the ETFO's local president in Grand Erie, Susan Swackhammer, who didn’t return calls last Friday.

Meanwhile a judge in Brantford reserved his decision on an injunction being sought to remove native protesters from development sites in that city. (A temporary injunction was granted Monday).

Here in Haldimand we all know about injunction proceedings that took place over the former Douglas Creek Estates subdivision.

What do the teachers think about that? But then again, who really cares?

The problem with unions speaking with one voice about such controversial issues is that many of their members disagree. I know many teachers from the local area don't support so-called "First Nations land rights" which often stem from unjustified "land claims."

During 2006 and 2007, Steel Workers decided to support Six Nations and Mohawk Warriors who were protesting the Douglas Creek Estates. Yet many steel workers disagreed with the stance that their union local took regarding a claim that is not recognized by the federal government as being legitimate.

Any person can express their opinion. That's called freedom of speech. But the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario represents 73,000 elementary public school teachers and education workers across the province and is the largest teachers' federation in Canada.

Unions should stick to fighting for their employees and their occupational rights instead of making blanket statements on major social issues.

It's really too bad that natives don't have a treaty restricting increases to prep time in the classroom. That would probably be something worth opposing.