Alberta students cut class, rally for teachers in strike-bill dispute

Students are rallying across Alberta to protest the province’s decision to order striking teachers back to work.

They rallied at the plaza in front of the legislature, carrying signs and wearing red, a colour that has come to symbolize unity with their instructors.

Students also gathered in other parts of Edmonton.

One of those students, Josh Plamondon, said the back-to-work order is terrible and believes educators should be given what they want.

Plamondon, who is in Grade 12, said he is dyslexic and dysgraphic, and while teachers try to help him the best they can, it’s difficult without legislated limits on class sizes.

“I’ve got classes of 40 students, which is not the way education should be done,” he said.

“It’s our obligation as students and as members of the populace to fight so that people’s rights aren’t trampled over.”

Social media platforms shared among students are urging walkouts in schools across the province.

In Calgary, students gathered on a bridge over Crowchild Trail SW, holding signs that read “Support our teachers” and “I thought there were no rats in Alberta.”

Hundreds more showed up to City Hall in Calgary, wearing red and carrying signs and megaphones.

The move comes after Premier Danielle Smith’s government severely curtailed debate rules to pass through the house in just hours a bill ordering 51,000 teachers back to work.

Smith’s government used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to override teachers’ right to strike and shield the bill from legal challenge.

The province has said the strike was causing students irreparable harm, while the teachers union believes the use of the notwithstanding clause is a gross violation of rights.