Ontario teachers who face losing their jobs are 'more than welcome' in B.C., minister says
B.C. goes on hiring blitz as thousands of positions face being cut in Ontario
Teachers who might soon be out of work in Ontario are being welcomed in B.C.
A provincial memo in Ontario laid out plans this week to eliminate 3,475 full-time teaching positions through attrition over the next four years.
The decision by Doug Ford's government has sparked widespread demonstrations, with thousands descending on Queen's Park in Toronto for a protest last weekend.
B.C., meanwhile, is going in an opposite direction.
The province has been grappling with a teacher shortage for years, and the government is now inviting anyone looking for a job out east to head west instead.
"Anyone from Ontario who finds themselves looking at a B.C. school district that might be hiring is more than welcome," said Education Minister Rob Fleming.
Ramping up recruitment
A Supreme Court of Canada ruling ordered restored limits on class sizes in B.C., leaving 3,700 positions to be filled in since the fall of 2017.
The government has been on a hiring blitz ever since and will look to ramp up recruitment efforts in Ontario.
"We've seen an 85 per cent increase in teachers coming from Ontario in 2018 [compared to] just seven or eight years ago," Fleming told reporters at the B.C. Legislature on Monday.
"So we're starting to see Ontarians with a teaching certificate come to British Columbia — and they're coming from other provinces as well."
Ten school districts from across B.C. will be recruiting at a hiring fair in Toronto later this month.
At the start of this current school year, the B.C. Teachers' Federation said 300 teachers were still needed province-wide.