ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO

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Engaging Our Members

Deconstructing Stereotypes 

of FNMI People Workshop

Aboriginal women members face a wide range 
of barriers that they must strategize to confront. 
Opportunities to form networks and alliances are 
important considerations in supporting these 
members. The Deconstructing Stereotypes of FNMI 
People workshop was developed by a working 
group of Aboriginal women members and staff. 
ETFO locals can participate in and access the 
workshop in the 2015-2016 year. 

Celebrating Diversity

In February, ETFO issued a poster celebrating 
Black Canadian children’s authors for Black 
History Month. Frederick Douglass, a 19th cen-
tury African-American slave, abolitionist, author 
and statesman, said that “Once you learn to read, 
you will be forever free.” This quote, along with 
the covers of children’s books by Black authors, 
is featured on the poster. 

For Asian Heritage Month in May, ETFO worked 
in partnership with the Sikh Heritage Museum 
of Canada to create a timeline poster recogniz-
ing the influence and impact Sikhs have had on 
Canada since the early 1800s. The poster, sent to 
every public elementary school in Ontario, was 
designed to encourage conversations, curricu-
lum connections and empower students from all 
parts of the world.

Why Poverty?

A new, revised version of the poverty workshop 
Beyond the Breakfast was developed as part of 
the Equity and Women’s Services’ workshop 
series. Why Poverty? contains updated statistics 
on poverty in Ontario and was written by ETFO 
members with assistance from Anita Khanna, 
Coordinator of Ontario Campaign 2000. The 

workshop will be offered to teacher locals during 
the school year to help members better under-
stand the impact of poverty on students, schools 
and communities.

Collective Bargaining Services

2014 Collective Bargaining 

Conference

The 2014 ETFO Collective Bargaining Conference 
took place in November and provided training for 
local leaders on issues related to collective bar-
gaining, monitoring and defence of agreement 
provisions, and protective services for members. 
The conference included a review of the neces-
sary changes to local constitutions and terms 
of reference arising out of the new two-tiered 
bargaining structure under the School Boards’ 
Collective Bargaining Act.

Collective Bargaining 

Women’s Programs

Collective bargaining conferences for women at 
both the introductory and intermediate levels 
were offered in the spring.  

The introductory ETFO Provincial Collective 
Bargaining for Women Conference took place in 
April. It included activities designed to enhance 
understanding of collective bargaining and nego-
tiations, explore women’s issues and explore how 
and where personal skills might be applied to the 
collective bargaining process. The conference 
targeted members who have not currently been 
involved in negotiations at the local level.

In June ETFO offered Effective Negotiation Skills for 
Women Leaders. This intermediate level negotia-
tion and dispute resolution workshop was based 
on the Harvard Mediation Program and content