GETTING POLITICALLY ACTIVE AND ENGAGED


BY SARAH WHALEN 34 ETFO VOICE | WINTER 2024


G


rowing up, my parents were both Canadian Auto Work- ers, union members at Gen- eral Motors and Chrysler. My aunt, Phyllis Lennox,


was a teacher in Kawartha Pine Ridge (KPR) and worked her way into local lead- ership. She became only the second woman to be elected president of the Ontario Pub- lic School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF). Aſter the merger of the OPSTF and the Fed- eration of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario in 1998, she became the first president of the newly formed Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. As a child, I knew that being a union


member was important. I heard conversa- tions about collective bargaining, member meetings and strike action. I attended rallies


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52