BIO

Although I am also certainly a stereotypically organized elementary school teacher, the organizing to which I speak here is of a different sort.  Organizing in the labour world refers to building capacity of each individual member, so that they all are given space to shine and lift up the profession.  It also means doing the hard work of building relationships between each of those members, so that when the union needs to act in solidarity, every single member is ready to contribute.

It has been my absolute pleasure to do all of this work over the past two years. We have seen an explosion of interest in a renewed STA, including engagement from members who have or who continue to:

• volunteer at strike sites

• volunteer to sit on STA committees

• attend Representative Assembly and fill empty SSR and SSL seats

• step up to leadership roles such as Executive and Non-Executive Councillor

• attend mid-year budget proceedings

• participate actively in LINC processes by sitting in working groups

• attend Organizing 4 Power (and upcoming Rules To Win By) training sessions

• attend STA bookclub

• attend STA social events such as bowling and beading

• attend LINC town halls

I have worked with teachers across a diverse range of specialized teaching areas and roles, including but not limited to EAL teachers, Band teachers, and Administrators, to ensure their voices are heard and valued in the STA's decision-making processes. I have also collaborated with Indigenous educators to support their perspectives and priorities within our association.

The next step is to pro-actively and methodically work with each school, each SSR and SSL, and each member to ensure active and meaningful participation.  Please click here to see my plan for that work.

While working as a teacher, I have continued to build connections and resources for my colleagues.  In 2018-2019 I received a $4000 Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation (SPSF) grant to create and deliver a music-based resource for teaching reading to French Immersion students.  I worked closely with SPSD teacher Marie-Pierre Michaud, GSCS teacher Rebecca Hammel, two local musicians, and local community non-profit Paved Arts, to develop resources for teaching reading in French, guided by the 5 Pillars of Reading.  This was prior to the national shift toward the Science of Reading, and there were few to no resources available in French to support instruction.  We delivered a pilot project that was enormously well received by participants, and consequently shared the resource out to teachers.  There's nothing I love more than tackling a problem, or creating a resource where none exist, alongside fellow teachers, and with the support and expertise of community members.  I ask you to continue supporting me as we work to strategically leverage the skills and community connections of our 4000 members.

Although teaching wasn't yet on my radar while completing my first degree, I absolutely appreciated the importance of education, and chaired the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) chapter at the U of R, and later at the U of S.  WUSC is an incredible student-led NGO with chapters in universities across Canada that is dedicated to sponsoring refugee students each year from around the world to attend university in Canada.  This work required many of the same organizing skills required to run the STA, and it was so formative in my understanding of how to organize for power that I believe that it is worth providing a few details of what that work entailed: 

• planning and delivering events such as a mock-refugee camp to create media interest, raise public awareness, and recruit and retain members;

• building relationships with like-minded and goal-aligned organizations and institutions on campus and in the community to build support and strength for when we made requests of power holders at the university;

• managing money garnered through student levies, plus savings, which was upward of $100,000, developing and delivering budgets and financial reports;

• recruiting new members by providing meaningful, immediately actionable tasks and roles for them to engage with;

• making meetings big, open, and transparent so that all members could contribute to decision making, not simply receive information, which increased buy-in, and created a sense of ownership over decisions, events, and actions;

• building capacity in the organization so that all members, not only elected leaders, were trained and equipped to run the organization's day-to-day work, but more than this, to contribute to and work toward a vision for a bigger, better future for the organization and its members.  

It has been a true pleasure to return to the work of organizing and building power in service of teachers, students, and our communities, and on April 29 & 30 I ask for you to vote for me and for the continuation of this work.