Will Ontario sign a war-like decree forcing education workers into the health care sector?
It’s unlikely at the moment according to a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education who says “We are working with education unions on how best to support our healthcare workers on the front-lines. Significant PPE has been donated by school boards, reflecting the entire system’s solidarity with our frontline workers. However, we are not considering that approach at this time.”
Overriding collective agreements to draft education workers in the health care sector is exactly what the Quebec government wants to do.
But some Quebec teachers’ unions are crying foul, citing concerns that education workers are not properly trained to mitigate a pandemic and properly protect themselves.
Little details about the order have been released, but it appears the province is eyeing to place its education workers in long term care homes.
On Friday, Quebec Health Minister, Danielle McCann told reporters, “There are people there who, in my opinion, will make a contribution that will be really appreciated in long-term care centres.”
Currently, Quebec contains half of Canada’s COVID-19 cases with over 13,000 to date, meanwhile Ontario has over 7000 positive cases.