Page 1

LGBTQ Rights in Your Workplace

For confidential assistance,
call ETFO staff in Professional
Relations Services.
Phone: 416-962-3836 or toll

free: 1-888-838-3836

This pamphlet is part of the Strategy
for Challenging Homophobia and
Transphobia and Championing Safe
Workplaces approved by the ETFO

Executive. For more information on
ETFO’s Positive Space campaign,
equity workshops, and professional
resources, see www.etfo.ca.

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of
Ontario
Fédération des enseignantes et des
enseignants de l’élémentaire de

l’Ontario

136 Isabella Street
Toronto, Ontario M4Y 0B5
Phone: 1-416-962-3836
1-888-838-3836 • www.etfo.ca

ETFO Support for LGBTQ Members

ETFO promotes inclusive workplaces, and is

itself

an environment where people are required

to be

respectful of differences, and to promote

human

dignity around matters of protected personal char

ac-

teristics such as sexual orientation, gender identity

and gender expression.

All members may want to feel part of a school

com-

munity where marital and family status are shar

ed;

however discussions concerning a member’s per

son-

al life can raise questions about appropriate

bound-

aries with students.

Should problems arise by sharing information,

ETFO

will work with the member and school adminis

tration

to address issues arising from systemic discrimina

tion, heterosexism or oppression.

ETFO Professional Relations Services staff is

avail-

able to answer questions, recommend resourc

es, and

assist in your reflection on coming out, being

out or

transitioning in the workplace. As well, ETFO’s

Equity

and Women’s Services provides workshops and

pro-

fessional development material related to

sexual

orientation, gender identity, and gender expres

sion.

Local released officers and provincial staff are

avail-

able to assist with any concerns about discrimination
or harassment in the workplace.

While many efforts have been made to make schools saf

e for lesbian, gay,

bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (L

GBTQ) students, it is equally

important to ensure that workplaces are safe f

or ETFO members.

Everyone Can Promote an Inclusive Workplac

In 2012, ETFO focus group research revealed that

many teachers, occasional teachers,

designated early childhood educators, and educational

professionals face discrimina-

tion and harassment from administrators, students

, student family members, and/or

colleagues because of their sexual orientation.

Such discrimination can occur in the

staff room, classroom, school, or on social media

When discrimination occurs based on gender

, race, ethnic origin, ability/ disability,

age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender

expression, and other grounds, it

should not be left only to members of those gr

oups to stop it.

We all have a role to play in ensuring an inclusiv

e, respectful, safe workplace where

diversity is welcomed, and human rights are uphel

d. You can do so through:

Challenging homophobia and tr

ansphobia by staff, administrators, students, or

student family members when it occurs;

Ensuring all c

olleagues are aware of their human rights and r

esponsibilities in

promoting and maintaining a workplace that is inclusiv

e, safe, and respectful;

Supporting initiativ

es like student or adult gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in school

communities;

Responding thor

oughly in school climate surveys on issues relating t

homophobia or transphobia; and

Speaking up

, because to remain silent in the face of discrimination or

harassment is to condone it.

Just as all teachers are expected to stand up agains

t racism, sexism, and other forms

of discrimination, so too must they stand up and

protect colleagues from homophobia

and transphobia.

Acceptance

Respect

Hope

Peace

Empathy

Inclusion

Diversity

Human

Rights

Equity

*Kit Cover:Layout 1 07/03/11 9:40 AM Page 1

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of On

tario

acknowledges and thanks

the First Peoples of this territory

and other Indigenous peoples

for sharing this land in order for us

to continue our work today.

Concept and Resear

ch: Pat Staton & Frances Roony frooney2002@yahoo.com Design by Er

manno Biot Offset Printing by Erica Alexander ericaealexander@hotmail.com

een Dragon Press (416) 251-6366 www

.greendragonpress.com

Sponsors

Elementary Teachers’

Federation of Ontario

Ontario Women's History Network

Women's History Month 2014

Anne Kajir

– Papua New Guinea

Anne Kajir has fought, at great

personal risk, to stop illegal

logging in the tropical forests

of Papua New Guinea. She has

been a strong voice in suppor

t of

the Indigenous people’

s struggle

for land rights, first in the cour

and now in the community

Olya Melen

– Ukraine

Lawyer Olya Melen used legal

channels to halt construction of

the Danube-Black Sea Canal

which would have destroyed

fragile eco-systems in the hear

of the Danube Delta, a maze of

lakes and rivers covering over

one million acres in Romania

and Ukraine, and home to

thousands of species of plants

and animals.

Fatima Jibrell

– Somalia

Born in Somalia to a

nomadic family, Jibrell co-

founded Horn of Africa

Relief and Development

and Sunfire Cooking.

She then wrote and co-

produced Charcoal Traf

fic,

a film about the severe

drought and starvation

caused by mass cutting of

acacia trees in Somalia, a

country already devastated

by tribal warfare.

– Canada

Nobel Prize nominee, Inuit

advocate for environmental,

cultural and human rights.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier has been

an untiring leader for the Arctic’

Indigenous people. She raised

awareness of the impact of

climate change on the fragile

Arctic as well as on the health

and cultural survival of the Inuit

people.

Marina Silva

– Brazil

Marina Silva was one of

11 children in a family of

rubber plantation workers

in the Amazon rainforest

of Acre in Brazil. As a

political activist she led

demonstrations against

deforestation. Appointed

Minister of the Environment,

she resigned in protest

because of government

support for hydro electric

dams and genetically

modified crops. She then

ran for president of Brazil

and came in second.

Josephine Mandamin

– Canada

Josephine Mandamin works to protect the life and

health of water. With her sister

, Melvina Flamand,

Mandamin initiated the Mother Ear

Water Walk to pray for water’

s health.

Since 2006 they and other women

have walked around lakes Superior

Michigan, Huron, Ontario, Erie

and Simcoe as well as the

St. Lawrence River.

Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

Photo credit: Sheila W

att-Cloutier

Sheila Watt-Cloutier OC

Photo credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

Photo credit: Brent W

esley/W

ater Canada

Women's History Month

SAVING THE PLANET

Thousands of women have been at the leading edge of environmental

advocacy – women such as Canadians Maude Barlow

, Severn Cullis-Suzuki,

Lydia Dotto, Rosalie Bertell, Ursula Franklin and Goldman Environmental Prize

winner Sophia Rabliauskas. Others such as T

okiko Kato of Japan, Molly

Gaskin of Trinidad & Tobago, Laila Iskandar Kamal of Egypt and 2004

Nobel Peace Prize winner W

angari Maathai of Kenya have done

outstanding work.
“Women of all cultures and all kinds of ways of living have practiced care

and conservation – have been environmentalists – for centuries …

We all need to act out of the knowledge that we are par

t of something far

bigger than we are, to honor the life in and around us and to walk gently on

our planet.”
Frances Rooney

Exceptional Women Environmentalists

Toronto: Second Story Press

Our privilege tak

es on many forms and impacts our clas

sroom experiences,

our students, and our w

orld. The Elementary T

eachers’ Federation of

Ontario is committed to impr

oving education for all students acr

oss the

province through a pr

ocess of re-thinking whit

e privilege, re-connecting

with our students, and r

e-imagining a bett

er world. Let’s work together

CREA

TIVE: THEPUBLICS

TUDIO

.CA

with your students

a better future

RE THINK

RE imagine

your privilege

ELEmEnTARy TEACHERS’ FEDERA

TIOn OF OnTARIO | w

ww.ETFO.CA

RE connect

[UnIOnBUG FPO

]

your privilege

RE THINK

ElEmEntary tEa

s’ F

s’

your privilege

RE THINK

ElEmEntary tEa

s’ F

s’

AUGUST 2015

REPORT TO THE

2015 ANNUAL MEETING

ETFO’S

EQUITY AND WOMEN’S

PROGRAMS