By Ivan Byard, YCL-LJC member in Toronto
This month’s class enemy is BC Chief Public Health Officer, 10 year Canadian Armed Forces veteran, and designer shoe collector, Dr. Bonnie Henry. She has become the shining star of the bourgeois press over the course of the COVID-19 outbreak in British Columbia with a profile feature in the New York Times titled “The Top Doctor Who Aced the Coronavirus Test” and an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail, “Bonnie Henry is a calming voice in a sea of coronavirus madness”.
The BCNDP’s (the left-of-liberal party that is currently in government) school reopening policy throughout its many iterations has been critiqued by the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) and multiple community organisations. Most students in the province are set to return to school on the 10th of this month. Despite the recommendation from BCWorkSafe in May that once schools reopen, desks are to be spaced apart and that gatherings of students in hallways or other common areas is to be avoided, there has been no serious commitment in provincial funding to hire teachers and educational workers to enable social distancing, and many classrooms in BC public schools are without windows, windows that open, sinks, or any running water.
On August 28th the BC government launched an advertising campaign featuring Dr. Bonnie Henry and six child actors in a classroom. For clarity, here is the ad. This piece of propaganda features one adult (Dr. Henry) in front of a whiteboard facing a group of children in desks who at times raise their hands. The voiceover begins with Dr. Henry proclaiming to the audience that “schools will look a bit different”; no doubt, educational workers and students may be in “a bit” of a hazardous environment.
It is obvious that this government propaganda campaign is trying to reassure parents, students, and the general public that there is a plan in place that puts safety first. It is also evident that the government is using Dr. Henry’s reputation to justify keeping classroom sizes so high; her signature slogan (keep calm and carry on be calm, be kind, be safe) is written on a flipchart at the front of the classroom, and the video concludes with Dr. Henry regurgitating her turn of phrase.
The BCTF was quick to call out the hypocrisy of the government’s propaganda campaign. Dr. Henry’s featured classroom had 6 students, whereas here in reality, students and education workers can expect classroom sizes of more than 30 students in some cases. “That’s not the reality that a lot of teachers and families are going to be entering into,” said Teri Mooring, president of the BCTF. Darren Danyluk, president of the BC Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association (management) revealed that, when filming the ad, there were physical distancing requirements for the actors, which is why there are fewer children in the ad than there will be in BC classrooms this school year. Demonstrably, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists is making the safety of their membership and allied workers a priority.
Please, dear readers, brace yourselves for the absurdity of the response from Dr. Henry to the widespread criticism of the maligned propaganda piece: “That was not a commercial about what a classroom is going to look like,” said Dr. Henry, likely confusing anyone who has borne witness to the video. She went even further, decreeing, “what the video showed was a conversation with students and their parents about what changes they could expect in the classroom this year, as well as their anxieties about returning to class,” which is a silly explanation given that none of the child actors speak and there are no parents present in the ad. This was not an attempt at a conversation but rather the BC government reiterating their paternalistic command to “be calm”.
The BCNDP has continued the shameful policy of direct and indirect payments to private schools while continuing to tell teachers there is no money to reduce class sizes. In Coquitlam alone, 193 teachers were laid off in May. Private schools (which are exempt from following the Human Rights Code and therefore free to discriminate against workers and students) received a cool $430,621,435 in direct grants from the government during the 2018-19 school year plus millions more in exemptions from property tax, tax credits on donations to private schools, and costs in auditing and administering the whole scheme.
Educators in BC are already responsible for more children on average than educators in the rest of Canada. The gap has widened from 1.5 students in 2002–03 to 3.4 students in 2016–17. This is because as of 2015–16, BC’s per-student spending remains $1,866 less than the average for provincial funding.
The recommendation from the BC Centre for Disease Control is for workers to maintain a two-metre distance at the workplace. Compare and contrast that with Dr. Bonnie Henry and Education Minister Rob “The Revolution Betrayed: What Is the New Democratic Party and Where Is It Going?” Fleming’s plan for students and education workers to maintain a zero-metre distance in classrooms with more than 30 students. Wording from their plan includes, “if space is available on buses, each student should have their own seat unless sharing with a member of their household” and, “schools and school districts can consider a transparent barrier to separate the driver from the students”. If only there was some state apparatus, perhaps a Ministry of Education or Health that could provide the resources to ensure that all students have access to their own seat on a bus with a barrier for the driver. It is unfortunate the BCNDP have no means to implement their own health and safety recommendations.
The good doctor could have used her position and background in epidemiology to pressure the fiscally prudent New Democrats into investing in public education and a safe plan to reopen schools. Instead, she appeared in an ad promoting her catchphrase and reassuring teachers, parents, students, and anyone else who could contract COVID-19 that she was perfectly capable of having child actors wash their hands on a film set. What really set Dr. Henry apart from the other distinguished candidates for Class Enemy of the Month was her chastising of anyone who confused her “conversation with students” with a fairy tale deception of a classroom in BC during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, active COVID-19 cases in BC are at an all-time high, just in time for students to return to underfunded and understaffed schools. In response to the recent surge, Dr. Henry, ever the practitioner of practical jokes, has in turn ordered bars and nightclubs to lower the volume on their stereo systems. No, seriously.
It may surprise some who read this but, students need teachers, and working class people need public schools. Obviously, this is hard for the BCNDP to understand, as shown by the way they fought the BCTF at the bargaining table demanding concessions for months.
Organised labour needs to prioritise the struggle for a universal public monopoly on social services, which is working peoples’ way out of the economic crisis, providing decent jobs and quality accessible services to all.
If any RY-JM reader would like to lobby the BCNDP government for Education funding, we recommend the New Democrats Leader’s Circle. For only $100 dollars a month you gain access to: admission to two yearly events with BCNDP leader John Horgan; $50 tickets to select events throughout the year; a chance to attend an annual conference call or webinar with BCNDP leader John Horgan; and most persuasively of all, the opportunity to “forge strong connections with diverse British Columbians who share your commitment to progressive social democracy.”
Be Calm,
Be Kind,