By Larry Kuehn (he/him), former BCTF President
We are all part of the global story, including the teachers of BC. Today the Federation’s global engagement is characterized as solidarity and intercambio.
Both are expressions of mutual relationships. Solidarity implies understanding the struggles of others, seeing the commonality with our own struggles, gaining something positive for all parties. Intercambio is a Spanish word meaning exchange or interchange. These two principles are the basis for the BCTF International Solidarity Program, and they link BC teachers to the more than 30 million others who teach elementary and secondary students globally.
The BCTF has long responded to teachers and the struggles for public education in the world beyond our boundaries. It began in 1923, only shortly after the founding of the BCTF in 1917. Harry Charlesworth, then general secretary, took part in the founding of the World Federation of Education Associations, and he served as vice-president until 1937. It was formed in the aftermath of World War I and its objective was to avoid future wars. The hope was to produce international understanding through education. In BC it supported “Goodwill Day,” and for many years the BCTF distributed ideas for activities on that day, including exchanging letters with students in other countries.
World War II, followed by the Cold War, created a new reality, with divisions that got in the way of international co-operation.
The 1960s brought new challenges that some BC teachers, especially John Young and Bill Long, saw as demanding direct engagement. Dozens of former colonies in Africa and Asia became independent countries working to create new, universally accessible public education systems.
After working in Borneo for a year, John brought a motion to the BCTF AGM for the Federation to create an International Assistance Fund with an annual allocation from the fees to support the development of education in “developing countries.”
Utilizing these funds, Bill organized a summer program for BC teachers to offer professional development in several African countries. The program was soon adopted by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) nationally as Project Overseas, now renamed International Collaboration for Education (ICE), which still offers summer professional development programs internationally.
An annual allocation of BCTF funds for international programs has continued for more than 60 years. The special fund reserved for this work is named after Bill—the W. R. Long Fund—in recognition of the role he played in initiating this element of social justice work in the BCTF.
“... solidarity and intercambio ... a Spanish word meaning exchange or interchange ... are the basis for the BCTF International Solidarity Program, and they link BC teachers to the more than 30 million others who teach elementary and secondary students globally.”
The focus of the program changed in the 1980s. In 1983 the name was amended from International Assistance Program to the International Solidarity Program. That reflected a recognition of the colonial, one-way implication of “assistance.” In contrast, “solidarity” recognized the mutuality of the struggles of BC teachers through their union with the struggles of teachers elsewhere for their bargaining rights, working conditions, and quality public education.
The BCTF expanded international solidarity work by developing relationships with teacher unions in Latin America. In the 1980s, there were struggles, particularly in Central America, against the US-supported military regimes that dominated, and the teachers there were very much involved in the struggles.
The military government in Honduras had taken over the union and its offices, and appointed puppet officers, but the teachers recognized their elected officers, not the appointed ones. During the civil war in El Salvador, the teacher union executive had to meet in secret to avoid arrest by the military. Unions were illegal in Guatemala, so the teachers had an underground network in the form of a “life insurance company” that could investigate the “disappearance” of teachers. The Sandinistas had overturned a military dictatorship in Nicaragua and teachers had a prominent role in a crusade to develop universal literacy, but the social gains were threatened by a US-supported “contra” counter revolution.
BC teachers were themselves involved in struggles against government attacks on their working conditions and union rights. But they didn’t face the extreme repression colleagues in Latin America were facing, and they saw a role for their union in supporting Latin American teachers and unions engaged in struggles.
The International Solidarity Committee had a mandate for working in Latin America and resources to support that. However, the BCTF had no staff who spoke Spanish, nor any established links with unions in Latin America. To facilitate these links activists, including some teachers, created an NGO called CoDevelopment Canada to connect our unions and those in Latin America. Over 40 years, the organization has grown to facilitate these links not only for the BCTF, but also for other unions in BC, as well as teacher unions in Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta.
So, what are some examples of international solidarity projects and results over the past 40 years?
A strategic objective of solidarity has been to provide support for strengthening the unions. One of the lessons of the BCTF in the 1970s and 1980s was that engaging women in the union was key to making it stronger. Like the BCTF in its first 50 years, while the great majority of teachers in Latin America were women, few were involved in union leadership. The first BCTF projects provided support for the creation of women’s committees and training programs to engage women in union leadership.
Several unions have been involved in these projects, and many more women are participating in union leadership both in unions and schools. However, as an outgrowth of the programs, several women in Central America determined that training and confidence were not enough to really empower women and girls. Unless social attitudes changed, among all genders of teachers and in the larger society, the same barriers would exist; so they created a program of non-sexist pedagogy. It included pedagogical philosophy, teaching resources, and training programs for all teachers. The BCTF provided financial support for this ground-breaking program.
They were able to get government recognition and, in some cases, financial support for their program in several countries. The BCTF has also brought facilitators from the program to offer workshops in BC on their approach to non-sexist and inclusive pedagogy, as an example of intercambio of experience and knowledge.
From these have grown many more initiatives from union partners around Latin America—too many to detail here, but each worth a story in themselves. These include the Schools as Territories of Peace in war-scarred Colombia, a program to restore an Indigenous language in Mexico, research on working conditions in Central America, the health and safety of teachers, and much more.
For 30 years the BCTF has participated in the Trinational Coalition in Defense of Public Education with union participants from Mexico, the US, and Canada. This has provided an opportunity for dozens of BC teachers over the decades to share stories of issues and challenges to education in the three countries and compare strategies to respond to the challenges.
Solidarity takes many forms. Sometimes it is resources at a crucial time. Other times it is sharing experiences and ideas for what might work in response to a particular problem. Sometimes it can be sending letters urging governments to act fairly and stop oppressive action. It can also be as simple as expressing support, saying we see you in your struggle, you are not alone, we join you in seeking the best for public education and for teachers.
BC teachers can be proud that their union has long acted in solidarity not only with teachers in BC or even Canada, but also internationally.