Horns were honking, flags were waving and Johnny Cash's 'I Walk The Line' was playing in the background as teachers and parents picketed along Holland Street West in Bradford on Friday as part of the one day province wide teachers' unions strike.
All four unions, the Elementary Teacher's Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) and Association des Enseignantes et des Enseignants Franco-Ontariens (AEFO) took part in the province wide strike, closing all publicly funded schools.
In Simcoe Muskoka, there were large pickets set up in the downtown cores of Bradford, Collingwood, Barrie, Midland and Orillia.
In Bradford, teachers walked across Holland St. West in between Summerlyn Trail and Professor Day Drive.
"All four unions are coming together in solidarity to show support for one another and to stand up for public education," said ETFO strike captain, Amy Stepanek with ETFO.
"This is really tough on teachers to be in a situation like this," explained Stepanek. "We are in the profession because we love working with children and we want to see them do well, but we also want to know that we are going to have a public education."
She noted how public education is a right and is afraid if "we don't fight for public education, we won't have it."
Teachers are fighting for smaller class sizes, more support for special needs students, full day kindergarten classes and a two percent salary increase.
Every union had a home base to check in at on Holland Street today. A group of Field Crest Elementary School parents even had their own table set up right outside of Boston Pizza.
Stephanie Vanderkooy spearheaded the parent protest. She and a group of four other parents set up snacks and stood out to show their support for the teachers.
"We love our teachers, we just want to be here to support them and let them know that kids education matters. We know they are in it for the right reasons," she said.
One of the protesting parents picketing along with the teachers, Mike Walsh said so far there has been a great response from the public to the picketers.
"This is a small town of Bradford, and strictly a Conservative town, and look at all the support, if this is happening here I can just imagine everywhere else," he said.
He hopes the strike will get the Ford government to listen to the teachers and parents and their needs for the classroom.
"Typically the Ford government comes out with a policy, defends it, and eventually backs down and does something more reasonable, so hopefully we see that happen here," he said.
The teachers have been without a contract since Aug. 31, 2019.
"Our government will remain squarely focused on providing stability to students who face escalation by teacher unions far too often throughout their educational journey. We have demonstrated this focus on students during the negotiation process, by advancing educational priorities that matter: merit-based hiring, enhanced investments in student priorities and special education over union demands for more generous wages and benefits and committed - in writing - to protecting all-day kindergarten," read a statement from Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce on Wednesday.
"While union leaders are continuing to organize further disruption, our government remains focused on getting deals that ensure students are learning each and every day."
On Saturday, the 2020 Ontario PC Party Policy Conference is taking place in Niagara Falls, where The Ontario Federation of Labour will be rallying outside, the centre, to voice their concerns over government cuts. It is expected some members of the teachers' unions will be in attendance
Harvey Bischof, OSSTF President and Sam Hammond, President, (ETFO) are among the list of guests who will be speaking at the rally.
-with files from Miriam King
