A letter from Nelson students to Premier Christy Clark
By Letters to the editor
Dear Premier Christy Clark
On behalf of all the public school students in Nelson BC, I am inviting you to come to our school ‘’Sit- In’’.
As of Tuesday, September 16th, 12-noon, Nelson’s public school students will set up a non-violent civil protest camp on the school grounds of Hume Elementary school, 310 Nelson Ave, Nelson, BC.
At the camp we will create a studious environment in an attempt to demonstrate the educational opportunity we and so many BC students are missing out on.
While we will be actively studying, and preparing for when school does start, the purpose of the occupation is to demand that the BC government agrees to binding arbitration as the BCTF has already done.
We will not leave until our demands have been met: the BC government engaging in binding arbitration or, some other equally democratic method in order to reach a fair deal
The public school students have come together under this umbrella of civil protest for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most uniting one is that our basic human right of education, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26, is not being met by our government.
We fully understand there are underlying reasons for this labour dispute and it is challenging to find a fair deal.
However, denying children their basic human right of education is an unacceptable practice for any government but especially for a democratic and constitutional one like our own.
Lastly, the students of Nelson are not gathering in protest solely due to their personal educational concerns.
We realize that when a deal is reached, it has to last.
We do not want students to find themselves in a similar situation three years down the road because the underlying issues which led to labour disputes in the first place were never addressed and simply disregarded.
In order for an agreement to last, we believe that the needs of the students should be of paramount importance.
We fear legislating the teachers back to work will not be conducive to improving the relationship between the two parties and only deepen the already decades old grudge between the BC Government and the BCTF.
As this occupation continues we will be looking to the community for support and to bring us supplies.
We will also invite other community members who are concerned with the issue to stand by us.
Ideally students, young and old, teachers, school administrators and parents will stand together with us, day in and day out for Public education.
In closing, we would like to reiterate our original invitation to you to visit our sit in.
Above any of visitor, you have the ability to make a difference for us.
Sincerely
The Students of Nelson, BC!!!
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