“Even if I were paid $1 million a year to do the same work under the same conditions, I wouldn’t come back.”
• Also read – “Dramatic” situation in our schools: Twice as many teachers have resigned in the last four years
Edith Lamoureux taught history and geography at a high school in the Gatineau region for 17 years.
For years, she battled the “chronic fatigue” that came from working 60-hour weeks to meet the “so-glaring” needs of students, demands of parents and lack of resources.
“We are squeezed like a lemon every day. We have to teach, lead the class, we are always in a state of hypervigilance and at the end of the day we are completely exhausted, even if our day is not over yet. And even if we are furloughed, we can’t stop,” she says.
Over the years, Ms. Lamoureux began to develop anxiety and depressive disorders.
“I waited a very long time before I left. It’s been a year and a half since my doctor told me, “You need to take a break, you’re not invincible.” But I felt guilty, I didn’t want to let my students down, I didn’t want to let my colleagues down. “
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After watching an experienced colleague leave who had never collapsed before, Ms. Lamoureux allowed herself to “put one knee on the floor.”
In February 2022, the teacher went on sick leave. “When I took one last look at my class, I knew I was so at the bottom of the barrel that it was very unlikely that I would return.”
She resigned in August to accept a temporary civil service contract, although she had no guarantee of an extension. “I absolutely couldn’t go back,” she said.
Her contract eventually turned into a job and she would never go back.
“Public service is a world of difference. We are valued and treated with respect. When I arrived I experienced a major collision. I found it difficult to accept all the consideration people showed me,” she says.
In a post on social media that has been widely shared in recent weeks, Ms. Lamoureux stressed that she supports the strike movement of her former colleagues and reiterated that it is time to raise the bar in education.
“For many teachers like me, it is already too late. But several thousand others are waiting for the outcome of these negotiations to decide whether to leave the network.”
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