‘So disheartening’: Alberta teachers dismayed by proposed back-to-work order

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith provides an update on teacher bargaining in Calgary, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

EDMONTON — The idea of being forced back to work doesn’t sit well with Alberta teacher Ewelina Warchol.

“That’s a really hard blow,” said Warchol, an Edmonton-based teacher of 17 years. “It’s taking away a lot of our rights and our possibility to fight for our future.”

Warchol was one of thousands of teachers and supporters who jeered, chanted and dumped protest potatoes at the door of the Alberta legislature Thursday.

It came as Premier Danielle Smith announced her government would, absent a negotiated deal at the bargaining table, pass back-to-work legislation Monday to end the strike that began Oct. 6.

She told reporters there’s still time to get a deal done, but it’s up to the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

That deal needs to include proper support for teachers, Warchol said.

“It’s become really, really hard and difficult to be able to accommodate every single (student) need and to be able to work within the system that is failing us,” she said.

Lynne Zwicker, a teacher and parent, said her child comes home from school with stories of desks being thrown because there are too many kids and too few educational supports.

By not investing in public education, she said the province is “failing our future.”

“They are forgetting about the 748,000 little ones who need to have the best education they possibly could,” she said. “We used to have the best education in the world and I don’t want that to ever go away.”

Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, said the union knew the legislation was a possibility, but said it doesn’t make him any less angry.

“They have put their heart and soul into public education,” he said. “They have put it all on the line for the last three weeks to stand up for what they care about.

“To move forward with this is such a disrespect to the profession.”

For Shelby Olsen, not a day goes by that she doesn’t wish to get to know her students on a deeper level. But with out-of-control class sizes, that’s simply not possible, she said.

When she walks into a classroom, Olsen said she sees students with high needs who aren’t getting the help they need. Forcing teachers back to work without addressing the complaints that led to the strike is disheartening, she said.

“We want students to have smaller class sizes, to have more help with their needs, and so them trying to legislate us back seems like they just don’t care about not only teachers, but kids,” Olsen said.

Kathy Penner made the trek up to Alberta’s capital city with a busload of others from her high school in Calgary.

She teaches psychology from a curriculum that she says was written in 1984 -- the same year Brian Mulroney was elected prime minister and the Edmonton Oilers won their first Stanley Cup.

Penner said she’s not happy about being forced back, and said if teachers don’t get more support, she’s thought about leaving the province.

“I have held previous certifications in other provinces and I am one of many people that I know personally that are looking at re-certifying in those provinces,” she said.

“There’s so many kids who are falling through the cracks, and the attacks on human rights in this province,” she said

“(This) is not a place that I want to continue raising my family.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.

Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press