An RCMP officer asks STF sit-in protesters to leave MLA Jeremy Cockrill's constituency office on Fri., Mar. 8. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Sit-In

Police break up STF sit-in at Cockrill’s office; local media also asked to leave

Mar 8, 2024 | 6:58 PM

A sit-in organized by the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) at Battlefords MLA Jeremy Cockrill’s constituency office was brought to an abrupt end after an officer from the Battlefords RCMP was brought in to remove the protesters.

“I felt that we were actually…disrespected,” said retiree Erik Hansen, who came from out of town to attend the protest on Fri., Mar. 8.

He explained that Cockrill had given the group of about a dozen people – a mix of community members and teachers – permission to stay quietly in the office until they closed at 5 p.m.

“We were quiet, the secretary asked us to keep it down and we did and then all of a sudden, we have a police officer come in. There’s no need for it, it’s the way of this government and it’s unfortunate,” he said.

“We have to come together as a society.”

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Prior to the group being removed and disbanding, members of the local media were also asked to leave upon their arrival. When reporters stated that the sit-in was news, the office staff questioned that and went into Cockrill’s office. As he came out, he too asked the media to leave and be respectful of staff.

Micheal Hagel, president of Tri-West Teachers’ Association and Brie Seery, vice-president of the Tri-West Teachers’ Association talk with members and supporters of the teachers after they were removed from Jeremy Cockrill’s office. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

“I’ve met with several teachers who’ve set up appointments and certainly happy to meet with more but unfortunately I’ve got my next meeting here actually so, we’re trying to continue to do constituency business,” said Cockrill.

Micheal Hagel, president of Tri-West Teachers Association and STF Executive said the purpose of the sit-in was to ask the MLA and Minister for Education to call Premier Scott Moe to ask him to include class size and class composition in the bargaining mandate.

“Our plan is to stay here until that phone call happens, until we hear that they’re willing to include that in their mandate,” he said, noting the group arrived at about 2:30.

Earlier it was announced in an STF release that both the provincial government and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association “signed a deal for classroom funding, outside of the ongoing collective bargaining process with teachers.”

Hagel said it’s a start.

“There’s also no way to guarantee it happens. If the government decides a year from now not to keep up with that funding or even the way it’s worded at the bottom of the page with the numbers, it says – I forget the exact wording dealing with the allocations or whatever, that means that those numbers could fluctuate without any real consequence,” he said.

“But if it’s in the provincial collective bargaining agreement, then it has to stay those numbers and if it doesn’t, there’s a way for dispute resolution for it to make sure it happens.”

Earlier this week, Moe announced another $180 million increase to the operating funding, Hagel said that it’s a tricky number.

“It also includes funding that’s already been announced, so it’s not $180 million on top of some of the announcements that have already happened in the past weeks, it includes that,” he said.

According to Joyce Bachman, a teacher at Sakewew High School, the complexity they see in the classrooms are different from other schools.

“In a school where you have 20, 30 students that are at par and regular attenders and they’re at grade functioning, where I teach it’s not like that,” she said.

“There’s so many outside things that – that’s why complexity and all that for me is a big issue.”

The longtime North Battleford teacher said they want the government to write on paper that will help provide funding and support.

“It’s really needed and at my school, especially needed.”

Susan Galvin said she came out to support the teachers because she was “appalled.”

“They’ve got our kids, our grandkids, our great-grandkids and the amount that they’re learning is reduced by a great deal when there’s too many kids in the classroom,” she said.

Galvin said she would like to see things settled as students have already been inundated with difficulties.

“I think that this is a really important time for them, and they need to have the proper teaching with the proper and relaxed classroom so they can learn,” she said.

“Or we’re going to turn out a whole generation of kids in Saskatchewan who are really unequipped for the world, I mean that’s the bottom line. And (they’re) angry.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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