Scheduled meeting with Sask education minister turns into a pro-teacher sit-in, RCMP called in

A scheduled meeting between a Saskatchewan teacher at the minister of education's constituency office was actually a set-up for a sit-in that turned sour for staff and protesters.In a scrum with legislative reporters March 11, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the "challenging situation" occurred at his constituency office in North Battleford on Friday afternoon.Cockrill said a teacher had asked on Monday for a meeting and he agreed to it when he was back in North Battleford Friday. He said it was "frustrating" that the occasion was actually a set-up."For an individual to set a meeting up and not show up for their meeting, and instead have some of their teacher association colleagues be there instead and cause a disruption? That's disappointing. Again, I'm always up for respectful conversation."Cockrill said he is diligent to meet with constituents and even when he disagrees with them, the conversations inform his decisions. He said the sit-in included a "large group for the space." He said they "demanded to speak with the premier on the phone before they left.""I listened to the group, conversed with the whole group for probably 15, 20 minutes. And they decided to stay in the office. I had other meetings that afternoon, so I continued on with my constituency business."Cockrill said he told the group they could stay until the office closed at 5 if they were "quiet and respectful," but that didn't happen."It was a fairly calm group, but then there started to be a couple of individuals exhibiting some disruptive behavior and intimidating my staff," he said. "That's not the type of behavior that I would have going into anybody else's office. And I would expect the same for people coming to my office.""Whether I agree with people or not, as long as we can have respectful conversations, I'll meet with anybody. But obviously, from my perspective, it crossed the line into disruptive and intimidating to my staff. And that's just not something I'm going to tolerate."When asked what intimidation occurred, Cockrill said, "People taking photographs of my staff, which I don't find to be very appropriate, I don't think that's reasonable. I don't think that any of us would find that reasonable, quite frankly. And then when my staff asking a couple of those individuals to stop, them saying, 'Well, what are you going to do about it?'"The protesters found out. Cockrill called the RCMP. ."Whether you work for an opposition MLA or a government MLA, constituency assistants do incredible work, whatever constituency they work in, and I just don't think it's right for for people to cross the line with them. And that's something in my office, I'm not going to tolerate," Cockrill said.In a virtual news conference Monday, STF president Samantha Becotte said the sit-in included retired and current and retired teachers, students, and other citizens.Asked about the event, NDP education critic Matt Love said he had only heard good things."I really have very little information on the matter, other than what I've been told is that it was very peaceful, very respectful. And the folks who were there were surprised when the RCMP showed up."When Love was asked if reports had reached him on Cockrill's recollection that protesters were taking pictures of staff and asking what they would do about it, Love said, "I haven't heard anything of the sort."

Scheduled meeting with Sask education minister turns into a pro-teacher sit-in, RCMP called in

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