Quebec parents of children with disabilities struggle as school strike drags on

After years of going through the revolving doors of daycares and kindergartens closing down because of either the pandemic or workers hitting the picket line, Kally Walsh finally found the right school for her 5-year-old autistic son.

He was finally thriving in an environment that was right for him — and then the strike hit.

More than 65,000 teachers with the Fédération Autonome de l'Enseignement (FAE) have been on an unlimited strike since Nov. 23. 

"Within a week of schools being closed, we lost more than the three months of progress that we had worked to establish since the school year started," said Walsh, who lives in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood. 

"We've been suffering over and over from school closures since the pandemic started, and it feels like every time we start to get back on our feet and start to get stability established to meet the needs that they have, we get hit with something again," she said.

Walsh says her son feels destabilized, and the effects are evident in his behaviour, a challenge the whole family is experiencing together.

"He freaks out every time he hears that his daycare or his school is closed because it's like a trauma response for him now. He doesn't know when he can count on it," she said.

And she isn't alone. Other Montreal parents have been reaching out to Walsh, who, a little over a year ago, started an online support group for parents whose children have disabilities. 

The group's membership is in the hundreds. Normally, she gets about one new request to join per week. But since teachers have gone on strike for better pay and working conditions, the number of parents looking to join has shot up, about a dozen last week alone.

But Walsh isn't blaming teachers. She's putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Quebec government, which she says has failed to correct systemic failures in the education system.

"These kids' worlds revolve around their schools and their family life being dependable and when politicians use children as political pawns, that's taken away from them in an instant," said Walsh.

"Our special needs children do not have their own voices. They can't speak up for themselves. But at home, they're crying, they're screaming. They need support and we don't have it."

Erin Farmer Perrine has three children at three different schools. Her 12-year-old daughter, Juliet, has Down syndrome. She goes to a school that has staff trained to educate students like her daughter, who loves her daily school routine. However, she has had a hard time adjusting to having that disrupted.

She says that since the strike Juliet has been moodier and bored at home with no much to do but draw and not many opportunities to be physically active now that the days are getting colder and darker

Yet despite the difficulties posed by the strike, Farmer Perrine, like Walsh, stands by the teachers who are on strike. In fact, she used to be one herself.

"It's difficult, but I also understand it's difficult for the teacher as I have been a teacher myself," she said, adding she thinks teachers are underpaid.

"I'm in support of the strike. However, as a parent, it certainly is challenging for both the parents and the kids," said Farmer Perrine.

Staff, resources in short supply

Elsewhere in the city, amid blanketing layers of powdery snow, teachers like Valentina Manta were still hitting the picket line on Monday. 

Manta teaches sixth grade students at École du Bois-De-Liesse in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, one of Montreal's West Island suburbs. She says part of the reason why teachers like her are on strike is to fight for more resources for students in need.

Manta says poor many teachers and specialized staff have left the public school system because of poor working conditions. 

"It is very hard to accept that things are the way that they are and that is why we are here today, hoping for better conditions so that people want to come in and do the jobs that allow us to help the kids," said Manta.

Meanwhile, the office of Quebec's treasury board minister, Sonia LeBel, is pointing their finger at the teachers' union.

"We are aware of the strike's impact on students, parents and teachers. However, the continuation of the strike is a decision that belongs to the FAE," a spokesperson for the minister's office said in a statement.

The spokesperson said the Quebec government is open to continuing negotiations but also accused the union of being inflexible in its counter-offer.