Huge crowd comes out to show support for teachers
By Lethbridge Herald on October 7, 2025.
Herald Photo by Joe Manio
On the eve of the first teachers strike in Alberta history, thousands of teachers, parents, students and supporters rallied at Henderson Lake Sunday on World Teachers' Day.Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sunday was World Teachers’ Day, and in Lethbridge thousands of public school teachers, parents, students and supporters spent part of the day rallying along Mayor Magrath Drive South at Henderson Lake, with many holding flags or picket signs as they chanted for greater government support for public education.
The Lethbridge rally, along with others in Edmonton, Calgary and other cities across Alberta, came just one day before Alberta’s 51,000 teachers walked off the job in a province-wide strike.
“The education system is in crisis,” says Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) Local 41 president Derek Resler. “Teachers recognise it. The public is starting to recognise it. What we’re asking for is very simple…supports for teachers and students supports for the system and fair pay for teachers. It’s almost impossible to get teachers here without fair pay. It’s supposed to be the Alberta advantage, and we’re not seeing that at all.”
Teachers emphasize that they are not asking to choose between pay and their students’ learning environment but demand a fair deal that addresses both critical salary concerns and the complex needs of students in a system they believe is broken.
“Alberta is the lowest least funded education system across Canada…actually, I think, across North America,” says ATA South West District Representative Katherine Prichard. “And we see that crisis across-the-board, whether it’s in classes of 40 kids, not enough custodian hours. secretary hours…the whole system is in crisis. We need help.
“I know parents are upset that their kids are at home, but the blame lives with the government. You need to fund the system properly.”
The teachers want the government to come back to the bargaining table in good faith and address their three core issues, but they also want more respect from the government for what teachers do.
“We don’t see this from this government. We see more and more things that are just downright disrespectful to parents, teachers, and to students. The language that they use is just very troublesome and difficult to wrap your head around sometimes,” says Pritchard.
Resler wants respect for Alberta teachers both at the bargaining table and outside of it.
“Respect is not just about negotiations, when you see MLAs tweeting accusations of us pushing pornography and therefore having to count our books in our elementary classrooms. It goes beyond negotiations, but respect at the negotiation table would be good too,” he says.
Resler says that there will be no picket lines at any schools come Monday. However, there will be other events to show support for teachers subject to how long the strike lasts.
Both Resler and Pritchard were pleased with the massive turnouts and shows of support.
“I think the voice of the public and of teachers is being heard loud and clear,” says Resler. “People can continue showing their support for teachers by calling or writing their MLAs.”
World Teachers’ Day, celebrated annually on Oct. 5, is a global event established by UNESCO to honor teachers and recognize their crucial role in education and society.
It’s a time to celebrate the profession, reflect on how to better support teachers, and advocate for improved conditions, such as adequate resources and recognition, according to the ATA.
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World teachers day” we love our jobs , we love our students, and we willingly purposefully are not teaching “. Oh , forgot most important part – we love our money the most.
Off to the village barber with ye. Thy Humors have run afoul.
First, I realize and understand teachers face one of the toughest jobs in the career lineup, one I would never want, and too many social ideologies have been forced upon them that have no place in a school, which should be focused on educating our children to prepare them for the workforce.
It has got so bad, that they have to deal with kids who have grown up in homes where discipline has been neglected, so the kids have no respect for teachers or other students or in some cases themselves. Teachers have had to face the brunt of this societal issue!
We need to get back to educating kids with writing, reading, math, science, for higher grades basic psychology/sociology, shop, art, home ec, etc., and stop trying to indoctrinate them into the woke, culturaly Marxist ideals. Stick to the basics!
Teachers have been overwhelmed by all of the ‘extra’ curricullum garbage that have nothing to do with a person getting prepared for working once they leave high school or continuing their education in a post secondary institute.
You can increase their wages dramatically, but the same stresses will be there and will once again cause them to strike!
You can promise them 10,000 more teachers, 20,000 more teachers, but that is not realistic, because just finding the proposed 3,000 more teachers will be hard. The shortage is Canada wide! The government promised an increase that was realistic and achievable.
Work shortages are across the workforce spectrum,from baby boomers retiring, and finding qualified people to fill those positions is very hard.
We must realize this! No government, no political party can resolve the shortages in healthcare, education, law enforcement, trades, etc., overnight and it is a long term factor that we must adapt to!
Striking won’t help and the students will suffer the greatest losses!
I am for well paid teachers and making every attempt to make sure that more teachers are hired, but paying teachers double what they make, will not solve the stress they face daily in the classroom.
Be realistic! Instead of striking and preparing for over a year for the strike, by conditioning the public with ads we saw on TV often, in a effort to gain support, there should have been discussion between teachers, administration and the Minister of Education on how everyone could adapt to the lack of qualified teachers so students would benefit.
Working smarter, working more efficient, finding ways to get parents more involved (this is a priority), better educational supports online for kids to access for free, remove some of the ideological ideas promoted in classrooms . . . there are many ways we can adapt!
Money will not solve the problem and if someone cannot take the stress from their tough jobs, more money will not keep them in that job . . . maybe for 6 months more or a year, but they will just leave!
I think they are worth a 20% increase right now, but will they go on strike in four years for another 20% increase? It is perpetual with unions . . . they always want more and more and more, no matter how the rest of society is suffering!
You may hear how many support this strike, but I can tell you there are many who do not! Many who want both the government and the teachers to find a better way!
This strike has been in the works for over a year and nothing the government did would have prevented it! There are some politics behind this strike, but that is another rant!
Facts: Alberta has a growing debt of $88 billion! Everyone is demanding more services, more supports, more pay, more housing, maintenance of infrastructure, but few understand we need revenues to pay for all of those services, and every union believes their members are the most vital and should be paid the most!
We are facing tough times with tariffs and with global security issues and must be careful of choices we make. I can remember only 1 or 2 instances in 50 years where a union took a small roll back of wages or benefits to survive a permanent shutdown.
I do believe the teachers deserve more money, but I firmly believe we must adapt and find ways to work smarter, because we are looking at long term shortages, as many other fields are!
To the teachers, the union and the government: sit down and come up with a plan to adapt to the chronic shortages in staffing that work and will take the stress off of the teachers and pay them reasonably well for the tough job they face!