Report of the Secretary-Treasurer to the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation, August 23, 2022
INTRODUCTION
Good morning Governors, and welcome to the 2022 Annual Meeting – our first in-person Annual meeting in three years!
As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, and face the same government of the past four years, it is difficult to assess, at this point in time, what the next (2022-2023) school year will look like . . .
What we do know, however, is that the current state of affairs in Ontario education must change for the better. We simply cannot accept another four years of a government that continues underfunding the education system, that consistently ignores the voice of the profession, and that changes educational policy without genuine consultation.
OTF recently released two significant pieces of research (discussed later on in this report) regarding the impacts of online teaching and learning in Ontario, and the austerity and privatization agenda of the Ford Government. The findings of both research reports are troubling and make one thing abundantly clear: the current state of affairs in education is simply not acceptable to Ontario’s students and educators. OTF and its Affiliates will continue advocating for a better-funded, more equitable, and truly collaborative education system in the province.
The following reports reflect the many activities that have kept OTF busy during this past year, and I wish to begin by thanking my OTF and Affiliate colleagues for their collective efforts. Having recently celebrated the previously postponed 2020 and 2021 Annual Meeting festivities, we look forward to this year’s President’s Banquet, celebration of the 2022 OTF Fellows and the OTF Special Recognition Award recipient, and recognition of Retiring OTF Governors since 2020.
During this Annual Meeting, Governors will hear from Steve McGirr (OTPP Chair), Gene Lewis (OTPP Director), and Jo Taylor (OTPP President & CEO) on how the Plan has fared so far in 2022, the mid-year results having (hopefully) just been released. As the final terms of OTF-appointed OTPP Directors Bill Chinery and John Murray end later this year, we thank Bill and John for their collective wisdom and efforts towards the ongoing success of the Plan. Having engaged a recruitment firm this past spring, to assist in our search for new directors, we look forward to welcoming two new OTPP Directors in the next short while, as we continue to benefit from Steve and Jo’s leadership and the contributions of all OTPP Directors.
As a new school year quickly approaches, OTF will continue supporting Ontario’s teachers and defending publicly funded education, while also working towards further engagement with our Ministry colleagues and, hopefully, a return to collaborative professionalism in the near term.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott Perkin
Secretary-Treasurer
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