As Christmas nears, striking Quebec teachers do what they can to help each other out

Mariah Carey reverberates from the speakers. Tables teem with candy canes, toys, fruits, vegetables, coffee and the classic Italian Christmas cake known as panettone.

With teachers donning Christmas sweaters and reindeer horns, it may look like a holiday shindig, but the educators gathered at the Maison de Jeunes d'Anjou in Montreal aren't celebrating. Like their colleagues across the province, they're collecting and handing out donations to fellow teachers in need. 

Since Nov. 23, some 66,000 thousand public school teachers belonging to the Fédération autonome de l'enseignement (FAE) have been on unlimited strike for better pay and working conditions, forgoing their paycheques in the process. 

Daisy Romero, who teaches English as a second language, has been volunteering since the first collection drive earlier this month.

Romero said 100 families showed up for the donated goods that first week, and only more since then.

The urgent need among teachers, Romero said, is what motivates her to keep helping out. But while teachers are banding together — with help from their communities — she isn't too optimistic a deal will be struck soon.

"I guess I'm at the point that I'm only going to believe it when the papers are signed and we have an answer," she said.

Although teachers aren't just picketing for more money, Romero said better wages are critical to keeping them from leaving for other jobs.

"It's not the type of career where you get a bonus, where you get incentives. It's basically the relationship you build with your students and the community," she said.

Once a deal is reached with the government, and teachers are able to pay their bills, Romero said they plan to repay the kindness they've been shown.

Primary school teacher Catherine Arcand said she's had to make some difficult choices over the past five weeks.

Since the strike began, she hasn't been getting paid. To top it off, her car broke down.

"I've opened a line of credit to get through the month," said Arcand.

But she says she isn't taking any donations.

Despite her own financial woes, she considers herself lucky. Arcand said having a partner with a steady salary helps, but others — especially colleagues who are single parents — are less fortunate.

Arcand said she got involved with organizing the drive to get donations into the hands of teachers who need help, and she's found a silver lining in the form of solidarity.

But while her bonds with her fellow teachers have gotten stronger, Arcand says she can't hasn't felt the same appreciation from the Quebec government after weeks of negotiations.

"After a month [of striking] we feel discouraged. We feel that the government doesn't respect our profession," said Arcand, adding that, at the end of the day, the reason for the strike is to improve the learning conditions for her students.

On Saturday, the FAE and the Quebec government continued negotiations.  The office of Quebec Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel declined CBC's request for comment.

The help that never arrived

Homeroom teacher Genny Ouellette teaches French, math and a variety of other subjects to students between the ages of eight and 10.

She's been on the job for 23 years and said she's seen the demands grow, with teachers taking on many new students with learning disabilities. 

The problem, she said, is that the proper resources and specialists that were supposed to support teachers in their classrooms never came.

"We were supposed to get help with that and we didn't get it, so it's harder and harder," she said.

Ouellette says the Quebec government likely felt the teachers would have given up by now and hasn't necessarily acted in good faith in negotiations.

"I think that they were hoping that we would just get tired, the population would stop being behind us and get angry. But I don't think that's what's happening. I think it's the opposite."

At the same time, Ouellette is growing increasingly concerned about how missing so many days of school is impacting her students.

"I miss them, and I'm a bit worried about how we're going to catch up this time when we go back. I'm a bit worried about what they're doing at home, if they're getting enough stimulation, if maybe they're getting depressed [or] sad that they miss their friends," said Ouellette.

"I think about them a lot."