Justice committee  Our legal counsel has drafted an amendment that would be under section 265, proposed subsection 265(5). However, as I said before, I'm a teacher, not a legislator. I don't know where we go from here. Yesterday, I was preparing for today and I noticed that New Zealand made an amendment in 2007 to their Crimes Act, which might be something this committee could look at.

Justice committee  This is going to sound crazy, but we need resources. It's not that crazy, actually. It has been years and years that our school systems have been underfunded.

Justice committee  Absolutely.

Justice committee  First of all, I think it's really important to note that since the pandemic, violence in the classroom has gone up. The Elementary Teachers' Federation did a members survey in 2023, a year ago, and 80% of their members said that the number of violent incidents had increased. Teachers will experience upward of 50 instances of harassment or violence over the course of one year.

Justice committee  Of course, I'm a teacher, and I'm not a legal—

Justice committee  I'm not a legal connoisseur, and I don't know the procedures in legislation, but we are counting on all of you here in the room to help us with that, so we can make sure that students are safe in classes.

Justice committee  Yes, right now it is protecting teachers. There was a judgment on December 20, 2023, by the Ontario court in R. v. Bender. It was an elementary school teacher who was teaching grade 3. He was teaching a difficult class of students with special needs. Unfortunately, what happened was that he was charged in December 2020, and it took three years before the judgment came out.

Justice committee  Yes, that is correct. We have done a lot of work in trying to get the calls to action for education moved forward in the provinces.

Justice committee  I do know that the Canadian Teachers' Federation did meet with Mr. Sinclair. This was before my time. We have spoken to him about this particular action.

Justice committee  My answer is somewhat identical. I too am a parent. I have two boys. I remember, for example, that they sometimes needed to be held to get their winter boots on. For my part, I do not oppose the idea of tabling an amendment that could help the general public, including parents.

Justice committee  I have only been president since July 2023, so I really can't answer that, but we work very closely with our advisory committee. I don't know, Tesa, if you were involved at that time.

Justice committee  Well, I think section 43 was written in 1892, so we do need to update that. Of course, the 2004 Supreme Court decision was very helpful in adding guidelines. We believe in truth and reconciliation. We actually think it's a shame that only 13 of those 94 calls to action have happened so far.

Justice committee  Now, speaking personally, I don't see a problem with that. Of course, I represent teachers and education workers, and I wouldn't want to speak on their behalf. I think we need to protect people who are working with children and are doing things to keep them safe. That's what it's all about.

Justice committee  As I said in my opening statement, I've taught for over 20 years—23 years. I remember my first job. I was in a présecondaire, which is a grade 7 class. I was brand new—you know, when you're a new teacher, you do your best—and a fight broke out in my class. Luckily, they were smaller than I.

Justice committee  Thank you, Chair. I'm pleased to be speaking today as a representative of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, an organization comprising teachers' unions in every province and territory. I am a teacher with over 20 years of experience in the classroom. I would like to acknowledge that I work and play on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.