INBOX Michelle Despault Editor Adam Lemieux Mark Tagliaferri Associate Editors Cynthia Bifolchi Writer/Researcher Fernanda Monteiro Production Anna Anezyris Advertising EDITORIAL BOARD Liz Stuart President Warren Grafton First Vice-President Marshall Jarvis General Secretary David Church Deputy General Secretary Carley Desjardins Communications Specialist/ Writer Catholic Teacher is published five times during the school year. Opinions and ideas expressed in Catholic Teacher are not necessarily those of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.
Catholic Teacher is a member of the Canadian Educational Press Association, and the Canadian Association of Labour Media. Return undelivered Canadian addresses to: Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, 65 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 400 Toronto, ON M4T 2Y8 PHONE 416-925-2493 TOLL-FREE 1-800-268-7230 FAX 416-925-7764 catholicteachers.ca Publication Mail Agreement No. 0040062510 Account No. 0001681016 Cover: This year, we honour the 75th anniversary of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association. To mark this celebratory occasion, we sought a logo that represents a symbol of our diversity and the many communities of which we belong as Catholic teachers in the Province of Ontario. We are proud of who we are, and we hope that you too will see yourself reflected in this special image.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Welcome back! I hope you found some down time this summer before settling in to the new school year. It was a busy summer at the provincial level, with the many education-related announcements from the new Ford government, Canadian Teachers’ Federation and Ontario Teachers’ Federation annual meetings, and with preparations for our 75th anniversary year well underway. As I begin my second year as president of this Association, I could not be prouder of the direction we are heading. In 2018-19, we will, once again, hold our Beginning Teachers Conference; host our first-ever Women’s Leadership Conference, Fempower; run four days of training as part of our specialized Leadership Training Program for current and future leaders within the Association; and much more. I would like to talk about Fempower for a moment. There is a lot of excitement surrounding our inaugural women’s conference, but there have also been some inquiries about its purpose. There may even be some who are concerned that the conference will entail “man bashing” or that it’s “reverse discrimination” to not include men. I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. At the January 2018 Provincial Executive meeting, a resolution was passed that set-in motion OECTA’s inaugural Women’s Leadership Conference. This decision was in response to pent up demand for a women-centric leadership opportunity within the Association. The purpose of the conference is to give women the opportunity to meet and share concerns and experiences that are particular to women in the workplace, and to build capacity in a positive, safe space. As a woman holding the highest office in this Association, and after attending a series of women’s symposia within the education sector this past year, I can’t stress enough the importance of women supporting one another in a collective effort to educate and empower. As women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem explains, women-only conferences are “lifechanging, because for the first time, many women find themselves in the majority in their aspirations, in a concentration, in a critical mass of people who support them, who have shared experiences, who can give advice, who ask advice.” OECTA’s Fempower conference is about creating a positive space where women can do just that; where they can feel empowered to find and use their voice. We understand that there have been questions and concerns that if men are not included in the conference, how can we work with them, or seek their support. In no way is the intent of this conference exclusionary of the need for male allies. It is my hope that the success of this year’s conference will lead to an opportunity for both male and female members of our Association to share in the conversation, together.