“World Teacher’s Day”: An appeal from Bambi about the place/meaning of education in our country to Canada’s Prime Minister for which one third of Canadians re-voted (for the third time, even if in a minority government)

Happy World Teacher’s Day to all the current, former (“Bonne fête, Monsieur Trudeau aussi”), future, retired… and suspended teachers of Canada and the world.

Thank you Mr. Trudeau for your best wishes/thanks. They are surely also meant for those university teachers suspended, from their tenured positions, without pay and banned from campuses for seven months because of a personal (or “extra-mural”) blog. Yes, a blog that could have been (still can) be used as an educational platform for open discussion/learning and maybe also entertainment (for all, including the associate professor herself). Well, since CAUT has publicly supported her lately, it is not a secret to say that the latter is Dr. Rima Azar from Mount Allison University (Sackville, NB). Through her, Bambi will also have a thought here for the many other colleagues (perhaps some still anonymous?) who have been… or will sadly risk finding themselves in the future in a similar boat called intolerance of intellectual diversity.

Bambi is allowing herself to appeal to you, Mr. Trudeau, simply because you allowed yourself to appeal to her/her colleagues, whether they teach young children, adolescents, young adults, or seniors across our country.

Indeed, Mr. Trudeau wrote a whole statement regarding the World Teacher’s Day in an official statement (https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2021/10/05/statement-prime-minister-world-teachers-day). In it, he used the following words: “Every day, they step into many other roles as well, including as coaches, mentors, and advocates. They inspire our students to think outside the box, dream big, and persevere.”

Although education is a provincial jurisdiction, perhaps as a former (drama) teacher and likely also as one of the most intrusive PMs of Canada in provincial jurisdictions, Mr. Trudeau also tweeted this message:

To conclude this post on a musical note, here is a song for all the teachers of the world, especially the former ones (including Mr. Trudeau) and those who are currently unfairly treated (including Bambi). Happy World Teacher’s Day to all!