PROTECTION

by Francisco (Pancho) Puelles

ISSUES IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION

IN MANITOBA

From the Construction of the Common Schoolto the Politics of Voices

Edited byRosa del C. Bruno-Jofre

The Edwin Mellen PressLewiston/Queenston/Lampeter

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicat ion Data

Issues in the history of education in Manitoba : from the constructionof the common school to the politics of voices / edited by Rosa delC. Bruno-Jofre.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 0-7734-9330-11. Education~Manitoba--History. 2. Education-Social aspects-

-Manitoba-History. I. Bruno-Joffe, Rosa del Carmen, 1946-LA4182M3I87 1993370'.971'27--dc20 93-4629

CIP

A CIP catalog record for this bookis available from the British Library.

Copyright ® 1993 The Edwin Mellen Press

All rights reserved. For information contact

The Edwin Mellen PressBox 450

Lewiston, New YorkUSA 14092

The Edwin Mellen PressBox 67

Queenston, OntarioCANADA LOS 1LO

"We welcome teaching as women's work, and asmen's work. We believe that there is no way oflife personally more satisfying, professionallymore rewarding, socially more valuable, morallymore demanding. As women teachers we havean added excitement in these times of change.There is stirring in us a spirit of rebellion: thereis awakening in us a spark of divine discontent."

Sybil Shack, Women in Canadian Education.1975.

Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.Lampeter, Dyfed, Wales

UNITED KINGDOM SA48 7DY

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 111

INTRODUCTION• Ken Osborne

PARTI THE PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION OF THECOMMON SCHOOL 17

CHAPTER ONEForging a New Protestant Ontario on theAgricultural Frontier: Public Schools in Brandonand the Origins of the Manitoba School Question,1881 - 1890• Tom Mitchell

CHAPTER TWOThe School Question Continued: The Issue ofCompulsory Schooling in Manitoba• Richard Henley

CHAPTER THREEThe Struggle over Modernization in ManitobaEducation: 1924 - 1960• Benjamin Levin

19

47

73

PART II OPENING PEDAGOGICAL SPACES 97

CHAPTER FOUR"To Rouse the Workers from Apathy andIndifference': The Educational Dimension ofUnionist and Political Practices in Brandon,1900 - 1920"• Tom Mitchell and Rosa del C. Bruno-!ofr£ . 99

CHAPTER FIVEMennonites and Modernism: The ChangingImpact of the Mennonite Collegiate Institute onMennonite Education and Society in Manitoba,1888 - 1948• Gerhard J. Ens

CHAPTER SIXUkrainian Language Education in ManitobaPublic Schools: Reflections on a Centenary• Marcella Derkatz

137

157

PART III TEACHER EDUCATION IN MANITOBA 225

CHAPTER SEVENTeacher Education in Manitoba: 1945 - 1982• Alexander D. Gregor 227

PART IV TEACHERS'ORGANIZATIONS . 293

CHAPTER EIGHT"We Must Stand Fast for the Sake of OurProfession": Teachers, Collective Bargaining andthe Brandon Schools Crisis of 1922• Tom Mitchell

CHAPTER NINEThe Manitoba Teachers' Federation, 1919 -1933:The Quest for Professional Status• Rosa del C. Bruno-Jofre'

PART V FORMAL EDUCATION AND THEABORIGINAL PEOPLE: BUILDING ARESPONSE .

CHAPTER TENIndustrial Education for Manitoba Natives:Case of Rupert's Land Indian School• Brian Titley

The

295

325

369

371

CHAPTER ELEVENHigher Education for Native Students atManitoba Universities: The Quest for EqualAccess• Deo H. Poonwassie 405

PART VI WOMEN 429

CHAPTER TWELVEThe Making of a Teacher, 1917-1935: OneWoman's Perspective• Sybil Shack

CHAPTER THIRTEENTeaching as Growth, 1935-1976: One Woman'sPerspective• Sybil Shack

CHAPTER FOURTEENThe Oblate Sisters, A Manitoban Order:Reconstructing Early Years, 1904 - 1915• Rosa del C. Bruno-Jofre

431

471

511

CHAPTER FIFTEENDecoding the Subjective Image of WomenTeachers in Rural Towns and Surrounding Areasin Southern Manitoba: 1947 - 1960• Rosa del C. Bruno-Jofre and Colleen Ross . . 569

PART VII MEMOIRS

CHAPTER SIXTEENRecollections, Reminiscences and Reflections• Compiled by Rosa del C. Bruno-Jofre

and Sybil Shack

595

597

1

CHAPTER NINE

THE MANITOBA TEACHERS' FEDERATION, 1919 - 1933:

THE QUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL STATUS

Rosa del C. Bruno-Jofre

Introduction

The Manitoba Teachers' Federation (MTF), now the Manitoba

Teachers' Society (MTS), came into being in 1919. From its inception, one

of its prime goals was to establish teaching as a profession. This chapter is a

preliminary attempt to explore the discourse of professionalization developed

by the leaders of the Federation.

Four issues appear central to the argument constructed by the

Federation in building the professional status of teaching. These are: the

negotiation of salaries on collective bargaining basis while gaining recognition

as a distinctive professional body (salary, working conditions, and community

status were perceived as closely related); the acknowledgement of the role of

education as central to the building of the social order; the demands for input

into the decision making process; and the pursuit of extended professional

326

training (acquisition of special knowledge). The two latter issues are closely

related to professional autonomy.

The conceptualization of teaching as a profession and the discourse

that nourished the politics of professionalization were male-based and

consequently exclusive. An internal conflict over salary reduction in the

Winnipeg Local Association in 1932 made clear that, in times of crisis, women

had to fight for acceptance of their status as professionals within the

organization.

A brief examination of the historical context framing the creation of the

Federation and the background of its leaders sets the basis for the

understanding of the thinking that nourished the Federation's approach to

professionalization.

Historical Setting1

As early as 1907, Manitoba teachers had attempted to create a

professional organization, The League of Manitoba Teachers, which was to

promote "the stability of the teaching profession as regards its social,

intellectual, moral, financial, and general welfare."2 The attempt did not

succeed. At that time Manitoba's educational system was still

re-accommodating to the political and educational consequences of the

Laurier-Greenway compromise of 1897 and the establishment of the bilingual

system that this agreement had created. The process of consolidating the

educational state was still in the making. It was also a transitional period

during which economic relations were beginning to change. Although the

concept of collective bargaining was beginning to gain ground among workers,

there was still little room for a professional teachers' organization attempting

to establish a basis for the defense of its members' financial interests.

It was not until the summer of 1918 that the first steps towards the

organization of teachers at the provincial level took place. Teachers from

different parts of the province, who were marking examination papers for the

327

Department of Education at the old Normal School on William Avenue in

Winnipeg, originated a movement which shortly thereafter resulted in the

creation of the Manitoba Teachers' Federation.

On the evening of April 22, 1919, four or five hundred teachers met in

Winnipeg, approved the final draft of a constitution, and elected an executive

committee. Of the ten members only three were women. The first president

was Mr. H. W. Huntley of Winnipeg.3 In 1920, the Federation was

incorporated by the provincial legislature.4 As early as May 1919, executives

of the Manitoba Teachers Federation invited teachers' organizations from the

other western provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, to

discuss common problems. This was the initial move towards the creation of

The Canadian Teachers' Federation which was established in July 1920.5

The teachers' movement in Manitoba and in other Canadian provinces

needs to be understood in the broader ideological and political context of the

time. In 1916, the Manitoba legislature had passed the School Attendance

Act. The Minister of Education stated that this long overdue step was for the

protection of the state since the goal of education was to prepare a qualified

citizenry.6After 1900 Manitoba experienced an explosive population growth as

thousands of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe joined the earlier

immigrants from eastern Canada and Great Britain. Meanwhile there were

drastic transformations in the work place at the beginning of the decade; at

the time of the outbreak of war in 1914, Winnipeg was the third largest centre

of union activity in Canada. The War had damaged organized labour.

Unemployment, losses in wages, and conscription weakened the locals.

However, the inflation that went along with a slow economic recovery, the

unpopularity of conscription, the impact of veterans returning from the war,

anti-labour policies, huge corporate gains, and poor wages ultimately led to a

revival of organized labour. Brandon as well as Winnipeg was affected by this

process. In Winnipeg, the working class moved toward the creation of

328

industrial unions involving both skilled and unskilled workers. The reformist

integrationist approach of the Trades and Labour Council and the Trades and

Labour Congress (closely related to the American Federation of Labour) was

rejected in favour of the more radical labour activism nourished by parties like

the Socialist Party of Canada. In 1919, the movement finally converged in the

creation of the One Big Union (OBU).7

The second decade of the 20th century was characterized by the

creation of groups and organizations that along with labour and political

organizations challenged the prevalent passive notion of citizenship and

democracy. Thus, the Direct Legislation League, the Free Speech Defense

League, the Single Tax League, and particularly the People's Forum and the

Labour Church developed political oppositional discourses that challenged the

way power was structured. The Social Gospel movement had an important

place in the labour and political scene. Its preachers - notwithstanding the

opposition of conservative congregations - were involved with the Forum and

the Labour Church. They had a concern with education and democracy.

They were familiar with progressive education and applied some of its tenets

in popular educational practices. Winnipeg was a centre for the Social Gospel

in Canada. Salem Bland, J. S. Woodworth, W. Ivens, and Fred Dixon had

strong ties with the working class and achieved a high political profile. The

radicalization of the working class, however, went beyond the reformist

approach of the Social Gospelers.8

In 1919 the Canadian labour movement "rose up from coast to coast;"9

149,309 workers took part in 428 strikes across the country.10 It is not

surprising then that teachers decided to organize themselves. The Winnipeg

General Strike, the best known strike in the labour revolt of 1919, and the

sympathetic Brandon Strike took place less than one month after the first

convention of the Manitoba Teachers' Federation. The leaders of the

Federation recognized the relevance of organized action and collective

329

bargaining. They also recognized the relevance of education in the modern

state and wanted to claim their professional status.

Organized teachers across Canada were eager to avoid any stigma

attached to unionism and radical politics. In addition, the whole union

movement faced a severe crisis during the 1920's following the failure of the

1919 strike. Nonetheless, teachers' claims for better salaries were echoed by

labour leaders; and the teachers dismissed in Brandon in 1922 counted on

labour support.11 Incidentally, organized labour always valued schooling as

a means to gain political ground and to improve the standards of living for

their members. However, teachers' understanding of what constituted their

own self-interest and their social role set them on a different course. Unlike

the American Federation of Teachers which cultivated links with labour, in

particular with the reformist American Federation of Labour, the Canadian

Teachers Federation did not cultivate a formal relationship with organized

labour.12

The views of the Manitoba Teachers' Federation were conveyed to the

teachers and the public in The Bulletin, later titled The Manitoba Teacher

(1924), which began publication in 1919, immediately after the creation of the

Federation. In it the leadership tried to interpret the needs of teachers as an

interest group, and to conceptualize teaching as a profession in order for them

to organize their own reality and to define their role in the political and social

system. The Bulletin/The Manitoba Teacher also offered information about

the various national and international teachers' organizations as well as other

teachers activities, and it related the interest of teachers of Manitoba to the

interest of organized teachers in different places of the country. It is

interesting that all the activities of the Scottish National Union of Teachers

(NUT) had a prominent and consistent place in The Bulletin/The Manitoba

Teacher. There was also news of the American National Educational

Association and the American Federation of Teachers although it did not

330

appear regularly. The meetings and resolutions of the Canadian Teachers'

Federation were widely publicized.

The Leaders

Undoubtedly the character and political, educational, and social

background of the early leaders of the Federation helped to determine the

direction it took. Many of the leaders of the early Manitoba Teachers'

Federation came from eastern Canada although they were proud of their roots

in the "old country"; those of Scottish ancestry were usually identified as

Scottish. Early leaders such as E. K. Marshall, Charles Laidlaw, and Herbert

Huntley were well-educated, religious men, and mostly conservative, politically.

They were all familiar with progressive ideas in education. All of them had

important roles in the formation and policies of the Canadian Teachers'

Federation.

The inside politics that accompanied the creation of the Federation

remain to be explored. Active militant teachers of radical persuasion are

known to have been active in the early days. A case in point is James Skene,

who did undergraduate work at the University of Edinburgh and who later

obtained Manitoba industrial training certification. Skene, who was the

Director of the Manual Training Program in Brandon until he was fired in

1919, was very active in the Brandon political scene. Skene was a vocal and

apparently influential member of the Brandon Social Democratic Party, the

People's Forum, the Labour Representation League, the Dominion Labour

Party, and the Brandon Teachers' Association. In fact, in January 1919 he

served on the education committee of the Labour Party when E. K. Marshall

from Portage La Prairie was proposed as a speaker on the topic of

Democracy and Education.13 (There is no mention of Skene after 1922.)

Other interesting names are Fred Tipping, a veteran of the 1919 Winnipeg

strike, J. W. Murden, and Arthur Beech who are referred to as having

experience with the labour movement in Great Britain. Tipping and Beech,

331

who were industrial arts teachers and non-academic, were Winnipeg delegates

to the annual Federation's convention as early as 1920. Their names are not

as conspicuous in the public work of the Federation as one would expect

although Fred Tipping continued to play a relevant role in the local labour

movement. His active role in left wing politics could be a cause for his low

profile in the Federation beyond the Winnipeg Local.E. K. Marshall, who was the first editor of The Bulletin, became

president of the Manitoba Teachers' Federation in 1922, and the first General

Secretary of the Federation, a position he held from 1924 until 1945. He set

the tone of the Federation and was probably the most influential person in the

organization during those years.Marshall was born of Scottish parents in Shelburne, County Dufferin,

Ontario. He graduated from Normal School in Ottawa, the University of

Manitoba with a Bachelor's degree, Illinois University with a Master's degree,

and did research in psychology at Leland Stanford and at Clark. He taught

first in Ontario, and then in rural schools in Manitoba for four years. In 1905,

he was appointed to an elementary school principalship in Portage La Prairie

and then moved to the Portage Collegiate Institute where he was head of the

English Department. He was editor of the New Era (Portage), contributor to

the Free Press. Tribune. Farmers' Advocate. Grain Growers' Guide: he was

western correspondent for The School (Canadian Educational Journal). He

was chairperson of the Portage Ratepayers' Association, a leading figure of

the Conservative Party in Portage, and played an important role as Clerk of

Kirk Session in the Portage Presbyterian Kirk. He had been a representative

of high school teachers on the Advisory Board and President of the Manitoba

Educational Association, credentials that help to explain his later political role

in the Federation. The profile given by The Manitoba Teacher also reads:

His keen interest in the Progressive movement gives rise to much conjecture

both in Portage and elsewhere."14

332

Herbert W. Huntley, the first elected president of the Federation, was

born in Prince Edward Island, graduated from McGill with Bachelor's and

Master's degrees in Arts, and attended Harvard University where he

specialized in Science and Psychology. He began his teaching career in Prince

Edward Island. In Quebec, he taught at Wesley College in Montreal, and in

Manitoba where he was principal of Melita High School and then moved to

St. John's Technical High School (Winnipeg). He had been a member of

School Board and Trustee Associations. In 1923, he became the first

Manitoban president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation. He was sent as

a delegate to the World Federation of Educational Associations at San

Francisco in the same year. In 1924, The Manitoba Teacher portrayed

Huntley in the following way: "Education of the highest efficiency for the

Canadian schools, pedagogy raised to its inherent status, and Canadian

democracy safe-guarded by Canadian ideals is what Mr. Huntley is striving for.

If it be true that education is the guardian of young democracy, then must Mr.

Huntley be glad that he is a young man who has a share in the direction of

that education."15

Charles Walter Laidlaw, president of the Federation in 1923-24, was

originally from Guelph, Ontario. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts

degree from the Manitoba College and attended Normal School to obtain his

first class professional diploma. He taught in a rural school, then moved to

Winnipeg where he was principal of the Isbister School. He was involved in

business for some time until 1914 when he re-entered the profession as

principal of Norquay School. In 1921 he was appointed to the principalship

of the Machray Junior High School. In 1919, he was Vice-President of the

Manitoba Educational Association, and from 1920 he had a leading role in the

Winnipeg Local and in the executive of the Federation.16

The leadership in the twenties shared similar characteristics in terms

of background, sex, and main lines of thought. There are, among others,

Wilfred Sadler from Scotland who held a Master of Arts degree from the

333

University of Dundee, Scotland;17 Alexander Campbell, a leading Baptist, who

did studies at the University of Toronto, received Normal training in

Winnipeg, was inspector, and a former President of the Manitoba Teachers

Association (1917);18 W. A. Anderson (a high school teacher from Virden

District), originally from Ontario, who had a Master of Science degree from

the University of Manitoba, and in 1928 was doing graduate work at the

University of Chicago.19 The challenges to this leadership came from the

different interest groups within the profession including women. Composite

locals developed, such as the Rural Secondary Teachers and later, the

Suburban Composite Local. Sub-locals, some based on sex lines, became

influential in the Winnipeg Local in the late twenties. These developments set

the stage for a more complex executive at the end of the twenties.

Women had a presence, albeit small, in the Federation from its first

beginnings, but there was no female president until 1935-36, when C.

Parkinson was elected. The first vice-president in 1919 was Barbara Ferguson

Stewart of Kelvin Technical High School, Winnipeg, who retired as teacher in

1924.20 She was originally from Ontario. There were two other women in the

first executive, Ms. Yemen (Souris) and E. Moore (Winnipeg). In 1927, E.

Moore, at the time on staff at Daniel Mclntyre Collegiate Institute, Winnipeg,

became the official delegate of the International Federation of University

Women to the World Federation Conference in Toronto. The Canadian

Branch of the organization had the privilege of nominating the representative

and appointed Ms. Moore who was Secretary of the International Relations

Committee of the Canadian Federation.21

Perhaps one of the most interesting women of the Federation's first

decade was Beatrice Maude Bradshaw. Originally from Guelph, Ontario, she

came to Manitoba when she was a child. She went back, however, to

Macdonald College in Guelph, to take courses to improve her skills in

elementary teaching. She started as a teacher in rural Manitoba in 1904; four

years later, she moved to Winnipeg where she taught, among other places, in

334

the primary department of the "Model" School. She became the principal of

David Livingstone School in 1922. The Manitoba Teacher describes her

involvement with the organization: "Some years ago when the Women

Teachers' Club was first formed Miss Bradshaw became an enthusiastic

member, was chosen a member of its executive and in 1918 was elected

vice-president."22 Later when the Federation came into being she became a

very active member. She served on the Local's executive for several years and

was elected vice-president of the Local for 1921. She served on the executive

of the provincial Federation. In fact in 1924, she was the only woman

member on it.

In September 1928, Margaret Bell became the first woman President

of the Winnipeg Local. She had been president of the Winnipeg Women

Teachers' Club and an active member of the Federation from its beginning.

She held Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from the University of

Manitoba specializing in History.23

There is little information about the many women who were active in

the various locals in the early days of the Federation. These women were

better educated and had higher qualifications than the great majority of

women teachers of their day. Very few had executive positions at the

provincial level. There is no doubt that the women whose names appear in

the lists of the many committees, particularly of the Winnipeg Local, put

countless hours into anonymous work which is now difficult to identify.

The Issue of Salaries/Material Conditions

Salaries, working conditions, and tenure were central concerns leading

to the creation of the Federation. Salary was considered an important

indicator of community status. The initial meeting of July 1918 set the tone:

"Teachers salaries are no better than laborers' wages. Unite and we can

demand that they be raised."24 Charts 1 and 2 and Table 1 show the

comparison of Manitoba teachers' earnings with industrial salaries and wages

335

CHART 1

£arsi»«a CaapariMi «f MaBitsirt Ttictef » ta Isiwtri*! SaUriea «4W*jaa ii CiM*t an* ti C***4ia» Tetehera 1910-1955

1910 1920 1926 1929 1933 1938 1941 1947 1948 1549 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

YEAR

Mb. Teach Sal Can. Ind. Wage Can.lnd.Sal Can. Teach Sal

CHART 2

Ear.1 *a C..t«ri». .f Tweh.r» i • Hultota t. *••• Etrt*r. •«tataritt !• HHlteta 1910-1955

N20 .926 1929 .933 1938 .941 1947 ,948 .949 ,950 .95, ,952 1953 ,954 1955

YEAR

•*• Mb. Ind. Wage * Mb. Ind. Sal * f*. Teach Sal

336

TABLE 1

Wage Comparisons of Wage Earners, Salaries i n the Manufacturi ng 1 ndustries of ManitobaTo Average Teachers' Maries in Manitoba

andCanede, 1910-1955

Canadian Teachers' Federation, Research Study Ho. 2, Julg 1957 )Table 1.1(p48), Table1.2(p48), Table1.3(p49)Table 1.16(p55), Table 1 17 (p56). Table 1.18 (p56)

Note: The term "teachers" refers to the entire teaching staffof public schools--classroom teachers, principals,and special iiutrxtors

The term "wages' refers to thwt emplogment earningsthat are paid based on an hourly basis

The term "salary" refers to those emplogment earningsthat are paid based on an monthly basis

Year

19101920

19261929193319381941194?19481949

19501951

1952195319541955

ManitobaIndustry Wagerib. Ind. Wage

11531180861

10341181163418331900201322702442261926472745

ManitobaIndustry Salary

Mb. Ind Sal

18711926151816511650231925632729281830SO32193419

35253655

ManitobaTwcher Salary

Mb Teach Sal628949

120812091017935

10041635180420302108222423462514

28162940

CanadaIndustry WageCan. Ind. Wage

50011061029

1073

777956

1220

1713

1960

2067

2183

24342647279228532959

CanadaIndustry Salary

Can. Ind Sal925

18111891

1977

1608

1720

1801

248526872836

29983296

2513

370738543997

CanadaTeacher SalaryCan. Teach Sal

446841

1019

1061

985938993

1457

1623

1763

1903

1998

2192

236825402693

)urc«: Trends in the Economic Status of Teachers 1910-1955

337

in Canada and those of Canadian teachers between 1910 and 1955. Teachers'

complaints were well founded. By 1920, Canadian industrial wages and

Canadian industrial salaries were higher than both Manitoba teachers' and

Canadian teachers' salaries. The average teacher's salary in Manitoba was

$949 (the average teacher's salary in Canada was $841) while the Canada

industry wage was $1,106 and the Canada industry salary was $1,811. By 1926,

the average industry wage in Manitoba was $1,153; the average industry salary

in Manitoba was $1,871 and the Manitoba teacher salary $1,208.

Anecdotal references to salaries were usually included in The Bulletin.

For example, the principal of one of the largest secondary schools wrote: "I

have a staff of splendid teachers, all experienced and exceptionally

well-trained; yet the girl in the telephone office gets $250 more than the best

paid of them." The Bulletin commented: "This is not an isolated case, we

venture to think."25 The Report of Commission on Status and Salaries of

Teachers of 1919 referred to the tremendous disparities in salaries and the

lack of a schedule of salaries based on qualifications and experience,

particularly outside the large centers. For example, the report indicated that

in one municipality, salaries ranged from a minimum of $540 to a maximum

of $950 in the case of women teachers.26

The educational system was divided into small school districts: 2,077

for the academic year 1920-21 with 1,816 districts in operation; 2,094 for the

year 1921-22 with 1,792 in operation. Each had their own School Board who

had local control of hiring and salaries of teachers.27 Drops in agricultural

prices generated serious problems in the collection of taxes for school

Purposes. The system reflected not only class and rural-urban divisions but

the anatomy of provincial power in which ethnicity also played a role. From

the beginning, the Federation had as a major goal the elimination of the

district system and the substitution of larger units of administration. The

system had a direct impact on the working conditions that teachers had to

endure. The Murray Report (1924), produced by the Royal Commission,

338

established by Premier Bracken in 1923, recommended consolidation as

means of dealing with school problems in rural areas.28 The recommendatio

was not implemented for political as well as economic reasons since

consolidation was highly resisted in rural areas.29 In 1945 there were still

1,450 one-room schools, mostly located in rural areas and small towns

involving 1,875 school districts throughout Manitoba.30

The Federation always argued that the status of the profession would

be raised by securing salaries that would attract the best human resources to

the profession.31 In a letter, dated September 22, 1919, addressed to the

Winnipeg School Board, the Winnipeg Local Association of the Federation

informed the Public School Board of its formation and indicated that it

included 90% of the city staff at the time. It made clear that the objective of

the Association was similar to that of organizations among other professions:

to give standing and stability to the profession and to raise the standard of

service. Serving the interest of teachers would be of great value to the Board

and to the cause of education in Manitoba. This first letter contains two

resolutions that the Association expected the Board to approve:

1. That the Winnipeg Association of the ManitobaTeachers' Federation write the Secretary of theWinnipeg Public School Board announcing theorganization of a branch among the Winnipeg Teachersas a whole, including the revision of salary schedule shallbe decided in agreement, and in cooperation with therepresentatives to be appointed by the Federation.

2. That the Winnipeg Public School Board be asked toappoint a Committee of five to meet a similar committeeof the Federation to consider a revision of the presentsalary schedule. 32

On November 1st, 1919 the Winnipeg School Board announced the

salary schedule to be effective January 1920. The tone of the letter addressed

to the Winnipeg Local is instructive. The School Management Committee

stated that it examined schedules from various parts of Canada, the United

339

States, and the British Isles, considered local and general economic conditions

and recognized "the clearer perception by the public of the importance of

education to the life of the community and as a consequence a juster

appreciation of the service rendered by a good teacher."33 In the meantime

an exchange of letters made clear that the Board moved toward the creation

Of a mechanism to ensure the local association's participation in the

development of salary schedules. The process was characterized by the

request for clarification of meanings and responsibilities. In spite of the initial

indignation of some trustees, the Winnipeg Local of the Federation

established the Conference Committee in 1920 to negotiate and upgrade the

salary schedule with the School Board. The Board agreed to confer with duly

appointed members of the Federation for the purpose of reaching

agreements; all future salary schedules would be the subject of conference

before adoption.34 It was the Winnipeg Local Association's and consequently

the Federation's first success.

The history of the 1922 Brandon school crisis, however, shows the

difficulties encountered in initiating some form of collective bargaining outside

the city of Winnipeg. The Brandon School Board did not recognize the

teachers' right to negotiation. Tom Mitchell argued that the Brandon Board

based decisions on an archaic and oppressive model of industrial relations.35

The crisis in the middle twenties brought back difficult times for teachers who

suffered the impact of depressed grain marketing. Late in 1926, The

Winnipeg Local Association encountered great difficulties with the Winnipeg

Board when the latter ignored "the rights of the teachers to fuller conference"

and proceeded to revise the schedule for 1927 after a presentation by the

Conference Committee. There was an intense exchange of letters between the

Board and the Federation and the Board assured teachers that they would

have an opportunity for a free exchange; any decision, however, remained with

the Board.36 The crisis in the thirties proved that the Local had gained a say

'n the process of settling salaries.

340

The question of salaries and community status were intrinsically relate 1

to the question of power at micro and macro-level within the context of

creating the framework for political relations. The emphasis on the status of

teaching as a profession must be seen within this context. The teachers saw

the need to have a strong position in the set of political relations. This could

be achieved only through organization. At the Annual Convention in

December 1919, a resolution was passed asking for the creation of a board of

arbitration where disputes would be settled by a major body beyond the

jurisdiction of school boards. The Legislative Assembly approved the creation

of the Board of Reference. The Board was composed of representatives from

the Federation, the Manitoba Trustees' Association, and a member of the

Department of Education's Advisory Board. Many cases came before the

Board of Reference; but it lasted only three years. Not all school boards

wanted to abide by the Board's decisions and the Board could not enforce

them.37 Earlier in 1920, the Assembly had approved the act of incorporation

of the Manitoba Teachers' Federation. In an exhilarating letter President

Huntley wrote: "Hence, the teachers can feel from now on that they are like

the doctors and lawyers in having an organization which can legally represent

them in all vital matters; and that their differences can be referred to and

adjusted by an impartial body."38

The Federation argued that professional affiliation empowered

teachers. The Federation needed to build a case for professional autonomy

as part of the building of the teachers' political space. The Manitoba Teacher

used powerful examples. The editorial of March 1926 was entitled "Now and

Then." It refers to an alleged assault on a young woman in charge of the rural

school in Ashern and the attention it had received. It went on to say:

But note this, the teacher was a member of theFederation and she appealed at once to herorganization. And also note this, had such athing happened in pre-Federation days, theteacher would appeal to the trustees. In one case

341

out of ten it might work. You see the assailantwould commonly be well known to the membersof the school board, a personal friend, probablyof at least one member... No, there wouldn't bea chance of getting justice from the board.39

In June 1931, an article published by the Winnipeg Tribune entitled

"Rural School Teachers" was reproduced in The Manitoba Teacher. The

article is a review of the annual report of the Tenure Committee of the

Manitoba Teachers' Federation, which investigated cases of alleged unfair

treatment of teachers. In 1930, the Committee reported on 283 cases, most

of them in rural districts. It showed that 27 teachers were wrongfully

dismissed. The Committee succeeded in having them reinstated. In twelve

other cases, the Committee found evidence of unjustified campaigns in the

community against the teacher. The list of complaints went on: "There were

four district rows over a Christmas concert. Six teachers were slandered, four

had to put up with bad boarding conditions. There were two cases of

unlawful interference by ratepayers. In one case, the son of the school board

chairman interfered with the teacher's work. One teacher was forced to do

janitor work, and another was expected to pay for a broken window pane."

The journalist urged the public to support the Manitoba Teachers' Federation

in order to maintain the prestige of the teaching profession.40

The Federation had difficulties in reaching teachers in rural areas.

E.K. Marshall wrote in 1924: "Up to the present one of our most difficult

problems has been the rural teacher, often isolated, sometimes difficult to

interest, and hard to reach even with a permanent official."41 In most rural

school districts the initial salary was also the final salary. The Federation kept

asking for a salary schedule to solve the problem. "Rural trustees have not yet

been educated to the point of realizing that a good teacher who remains in

their service becomes more valuable to them year after year, valuable, not

only in the class-room but as a member of their community."42 The hiring

process contributed to teachers' lack of power and interest in becoming a

342

member of the Federation. The Board of Trustees tried to hire women whose

image corresponded with their own concept of a teacher. In many cases

graduates from Normal School went back to their own school system. In these

cases some degree of permanence was secured as well as a non-union teacher

Oral testimonies are eloquent. Constance F. had her first experience as a

teacher in 1929 in her own home area, immediately after Normal School. "It

was the school I attended when I went to school from grade one to nine. I

boarded at home and I taught my own sisters and one brother over the course

of the years."43

These teachers were often considered a possession of the community.

Teachers were simultaneously servants, role models, and sometimes leaders.

Literary sources and oral testimonies make clear that most communities

expected teachers to be happy with the spiritual and perhaps pedagogical

rewards of their vocation. Gabrielle Roy, nationally recognized Franco-

Manitoban novelist, conveyed the approach of many young women teachers

in rural areas when she wrote in Street of Riches: '"You give me so much in

salary, I give you so many hours of work ...' No, it was not in that spirit that

I wanted to do business with the village [Cardinal, Manitoba, in the twenties].

I should give it all I could. And what would it give me in return? I did not

know, but I gave it all my trust."44 Reorganization of districts, in particular

consolidations of rural schools with the schools of neighboring towns or

villages, or even with other rural schools, was advocated by the Federation.

This ultimately helped the professionalization process but in the meantime

alienated a number of one-room rural school teachers.

Occasionally, contributors confused service with personal dedication

and sacrifice which were seen as an inherent part of the profession. This

notion was, however, challenged by teachers who wrote letters to the editor

of The Bulletin. 'Service cannot be the only reward' resounded as a painful

complaint in The Bulletin. The following excerpt is an example:

343

"Service" and "sacrifice" - these are noble words,precious words in the teacher's vocabulary. Youngteachers and old teachers find their hearts warmwith disinterested care. However, they may losesome of their magic. When life becomes forteachers a grim struggle for existence, whenbusiness men and politicians with one breathdeclare ours a noble profession so essential forcitizenship, and with the next breath try to beatthe teacher's wage to that scarcely equal to theunskilled and untrained, we are tempted to cry ahalt to these fine words and ask for action. 4^

The Bulletin/The Manitoba Teacher emphasized the understanding that

teaching was an essential public service. The Federation put great emphasis

on the relevance of education in the social order.

The Gender Factor

Gender played a significant part in what was expected of teachers in

urban and rural communities. The notion of teaching as public service was

hindered by differential treatment based on gender. This treatment was

clearly reflected in salaries as shown in Chart 3 and Table 2, which compare

minimum and maximum salaries for male and female elementary teachers in

Winnipeg, 1910-1955. For example, in 1920 the minimum salary for females

was $1000 and for males $1,700; in 1929, the maximum for females was $2,200

and for males $2,800. Chart 4 illustrates differential minimum and maximum

salaries for female and male secondary teachers in Winnipeg. Table 3 shows

differential maximum salaries for female and male elementary principals in

Winnipeg. The Federation itself proposed a differential minimum salary in

1922.46 Thej-g was ajso the assumption that women were transient in the

profession. As Aileen Garland recalled, when the pension fund was in a poor

state in 1930, she heard a principal saying "that this was because so many

women had failed to marry."47 Married women were banned from the

profession until 1947. The Federation did not deal with equal pay for equal

344

tst Htxi»«» S«l*n« f»r M»lt lU FtTeteters 1910*1955

1910 1920 1926 1929 1933 1938 1941 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

Y»«r

345

TABLE 2

Minimum and Maximum Salaries For Elementary Teachers in Winnipeg,hale and Female, 1910-1955

Mal«Mint •*• FemaleMlnJ * M»l«t1m$ * F«maleM»x$ •*•

CHART 4

Ml jt BIO t* Mtxl••• SiUrle* T«r Scc*B*tr| Teacter* UM»lt 1*4 FtMlt. 1910-1955

6000 T

50000

0 4000LL 3000

AR 2000

1000

1910 1920 1926 1929 1933 1938 1941 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

YEAR

^ FemaledinJ MaleMaxJ •& FomaleMaxt

Year Minimum $ Minimum $ Maximum! Maximum!MaleMin! FemaleMIn! MaleMax! FemaleMax!

1910192019261929193319381941194719481949195019511952195319541955

1000170017001700129814401636160017801960196019601890188522972303

575100010001000855930974120013801560156015601890188522972303

1400250025002800216823522672380039804160416041605190518557475753

ysu170020002200165118482099380039804160416041605190518557475753

Source: Trends in the Economic Status of Teachers 1910-1955(Canadian Teachers' Federation, Research Study No. 2, July 1957)Table3.3(p83), Table3.11 (p91)

Note. The term "teacher" refers to the classroom teacherThe term "Elementary" refers to the public system only

346

TABI£ 3

Maximum Salaries For Elementary Principals in Winnipeg,Male and Female, 1910-1955

Year

1910192019261929193319381941194719481949195019511952195319541955

Maximum $MaleMax*

2700340038003800294231923606400041804360436043606290628568476853

Maximum $FemaleMaxj

1700220028002800210223522696400041804360436043606290628568476853

Source: Trends i n the Economic Status of Teachers 1910-1955( Canadian Teachers' Federation, Research Study No. 2, July 1957 )

Table4.19(p121), Table4.20(p122)

347

work. When analyzing the internal crisis in the Winnipeg local in the early

thirties, Garland wrote:

Equal pay for equal work was considered just anddesirable by most of the women and some of themen but the women on the Winnipeg Localexecutive advised the rank and file that the timewas not ripe to press for it. They were right. Thepublic was not ready to accept it. The strugglewould be to prevent an increase in the differentialbetween the salaries of men and women.48

In fact, the situation reached a critical point in 1932 in the Winnipeg

Local. The depression hit home in 1931 when tax collection dropped

considerably. At that time, there were already a number of clubs/sub-locals

that had become very active within the local, such as the Senior High School

Men, Senior High School Women, the Elementary Teachers (mostly women),

Winnipeg Senior High School Male Assistants Club, Women Principals

(requested recognition in 1931), Technical Teachers; Junior High School

Women's Sub-Local, Junior High Men Principals.

The School Board asked the Local's Conference Committee to meet

with a special committee of the Board to discuss the city's financial situation.

Effective March 1, 1932, teachers' salaries were cut 10%. By May, the City

Council was in serious financial trouble. Meantime the Senior High School

Men's Sub-Local had been in touch with the Board unofficially. On

November 30,1932, the School Board Committee proposed a revised schedule

for 1933. The new schedule proposed a drastic reduction in women's salaries

which strongly affected all women principals and women teachers in junior and

senior high school and purposely increased the differential between women's

and men's salaries. For example, the salary of women high school assistants,

women elementary principals, and supervisors receiving the maximum would

be reduced $400; the salary of those in the same categories but with the

minimum salary would be reduced $200; as would that of Junior High School

women. The changes in the schedule for women principals of Elementary

348

schools corresponded with those made in the schedule for Women Teachers

in High School. In reviewing the schedules, the sub-committee of the Board

considered that in view of the greater responsibilities of men, most of whom

were married and had families to support, any reductions made in schedulesapplying to them should be very moderate.49

Women representing the various sub-locals became members of the

Conference Committee. They also formed the Women's Salary Committee.

The four women's groups strongly rejected the proposal and the schedule as

discriminatory and requested that the necessary reductions be graduated

following a percentage scale. The men supported the schedule or failing that,

a flat cut. The Men Teachers' Club appointed a representative to consult with

and advise the Executive of the Local and was instructed to accept the salary

schedule as proposed by the subcommittee of the School Board. 50

The argument developed by women in defending their status as

professionals and their political space in the negotiation process questioned

the premise of the male's family responsibility as a basis for determination of

salaries. They placed emphasis on services rendered and denounced the

injustice of placing the burden almost entirely on women.

The Women Principals' Sub-Local resolved that they were "entirely

willing to accept such a reduction provided it be made on an equitable basis,

taking into account the services rendered and the responsibilities borne by

women as well as those of men."51

The Women High School Teachers' Sub-Local went on record "as

favoring payment on the basis of services rendered and not on the basis of

family responsibility but should any cut based upon the latter principle be

proposed that there be a survey made of the responsibilities of all members

of the staff -- men and women."

They protested against the fifty percent increase in the disparity

between the maximum salaries of women and men doing the same work. In

the 1932 schedule, they said that the disparity at the maximum was $600 while

349

. the proposed schedule the disparity was $900. In the proposed schedule

the maximum for women was the minimum for men doing the same work. "A

manifest injustice", women concluded. They further protested against the

reduction in the minimum of high school women and pointed out that under

the proposed schedule the minimum for high school women was $800 less

than for high school men; $400 less than for junior high school men and $100

less than for Grade Six Manual Training Teachers. The revision implied

average reductions for the high school women assistants of approximately 14%

and for men assistants of 3%; it increased disparity of 50% in the salaries of

women and men high school assistants. Finally they recommended that the

teachers on the lower schedules be treated as generously as possible.52

The Junior High School Women's Sub-Local pointed out that the

existing inequalities between women and men teachers doing the same work

was increased by the schedule. In this schedule there was a disparity of $1,000

between the salary paid to men and women assistants in the junior high

schools. Furthermore the maximum for women was the minimum for men.

They opposed the proposed revision and went on record "as favoring payment

on the basis of services rendered and not on the basis of family responsibility;

but, should any cuts based on the latter principle be proposed, there be a

survey of the responsibilities of all members of the staff, men and women."53

The Elementary Sub-Local passed a resolution as a body declaring that

in the interests of justice, the discrimination against women and in favor of

men was flagrantly unfair. It resolved that the Elementary Teachers' Sub-local

request the Conference Committee to consider the smaller salaries and

exempt salaries of $1,000 from further reduction apart from the stay of

increments, no matter what schedule is adopted.54

Women built strong solidarity ties and consequently a common front.

They made powerful arguments for the affirmation of their professional status.

The crisis made them and the existing inequities visible to the male members

1

350

of the Winnipeg Local. The Manitoba Teacher did not include references to

this matter.

At the general meeting of January 11,1933, the women's proposal that

reduction be done following a percentage scale was passed. At the meeting

of the local on February 8, it was known that men were applying to the

Manitoba Teachers' Federation for status as a separate local. On February

11, the executive approved the request with two dissenting votes, the only two

women on the executive, Gertrude Addison and Amber Glenn. Until October

there were two locals, the Men's Local and the Winnipeg local constituted by

the women and three men, Fred Tipping, J. W. Murden, and Arthur Beech,

the three who had a labour tradition behind them. In October, an

arrangement was made that persisted until 1966. Two Locals were

established, the women's and the men's. The Winnipeg Local, "the parent

body" (which was later called the Winnipeg Teachers' Association, and then

the Winnipeg District Association) acted as an executive committee. Every

measure concerning both Locals had to be passed by the two Locals before

the Winnipeg Local could handle the matter.55

Early in 1933 the Board had refused to deal with the two locals;

therefore the Conference Committee worked out a "rather bumpy sliding scale

which reduced the salary roll by 20 per cent... It was not what we hoped for

but it was the best we could do."56 The Board adopted this modified version

of the sliding scale prepared by women to which men had agreed. The Board

recognized the right of teachers to have an input in the decision on salaries.

The Issue of the Centrality of Education in the Social Order

The Federation argued that the teachers' demands for better salaries

and working conditions were in tune with the role that formal education had

in the social and political life of the country. Mr. H. W. Huntley addressed

this issue in his presidential address in 1919. The politically conservative tone

of his approach became apparent when he said:

351

The people of Manitoba seem to realize theimportance of education. They frankly confessthat if we are to escape to extremes of Russia,Austria and other illiterate countries it is onlythrough a system of education. They are willing tomeet us, hence the fault must lie with ourselves.Every teacher should be in this organization andshould try to do his or her best part.58

There was certainly a contradiction between the low status of the

profession and the increasing social role of education in the political

construction of Canada. The preoccupation with schooling as an agency of

political socialization was apparent in the National Conference on Character

Education in Relation to Canadian Citizenship that took place in Winnipeg

in October 1919. This conference was financed mostly by the business elite

of Canada. The Manitoba Teachers' Federation also thought of schooling as

the backbone of the nation. The teachers' mission was, in the view of the

Federation, to prepare the "highest class of citizenship."59

In the mid-twenties, the Federation felt liberated from the charges of

radicalism that the Brandon school crisis and fear of unions had brought in its

beginnings. The concern with social order and the evils of radicalism abated,

leaving room for a stronger emphasis on character building and juvenile

delinquency, on education and democracy, and on education and the building

of a citizenry. Articles from the Christian Science Monitor in which the role

of education is pivotal in the building of character were often reproduced in

The Manitoba Teacher. One of them reads:

Many citizens today are concerned over thelawlessness in community and national life.Respect for law, the development of symmetricaland upright character, in the case of thousands ofchildren, the citizens to-be of this republic, mustcome through the schoolroom or not at all. "Bigbusiness," this business of teaching? I know ofnone that is bigger. 6°

352

The Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, a committee of the Winnine

Local, was created in the mid-twenties and stemmed from the belief that

teachers had a role in the prevention of growing juvenile delinquency. T

1927, it recommended that teachers "use all opportunities that the law allows

for daily religious exercises, and every opportunity at whatever time of the day

for moral instruction in the school classes."61

The emphasis on schooling as a means to secure the dominant values

and hegemonic ideology took various forms during the twenties and early

thirties. The Federation always emphasized the centrality of schooling in the

building of Canadian citizenship although its publications never examined the

meaning of Canadian citizenship. One can safely assume that to be a good

British subject was considered the major thrust of being a Canadian citizen.

The Federation's approach was strongly assimilationist and had ethnocentric

overtones. Leaders of the Federation were disturbed by the nationalistic

tendency displayed by Ruthenians and Scandinavians on two counts. It

interfered with the process of Canadianization by not encouraging the hiring

of English speaking teachers; it interfered with the development of the

Federation.62 The exchange of letters, in 1923, between Alfred White and an

Ukrainian respondent made clear the strong resistance on the part of the

Federation to New Canadians trying to keep their own language and culture.

In the very early days, the Federation advocated the creation of a National

Education Department to help eradicate illiteracy and to "Canadianize all

immigrants past, present and future."63 There was no concern at all, at that

point, with the aboriginal people. A brief note about Jesuit missionaries who

died in the seventeenth century among the Huron Indians referred to their

work as self-sacrificing, self-effacing for the "temporal and spiritual good of a

savage and ungrateful people," This article had been reprinted from the

Quebec Teachers' Magazine.64

From the mid-twenties and in particular from 1930, however, The

Manitoba Teacher developed a rather sophisticated discourse imbued with

353

progressive ideas and Dewey's language about the relevance of education in

the development of a democratic society and not just in the preservation of

order. "Education is more than preparation for life, it is part of life itself ...

True democracy, in its very essence, is 'government of the people, by the

people'; there can be no lasting education of the people which is not equally

'by the people'. Educational Fascism, paternalistic training limited to the

earlier years of life, must be displaced by Educational Democracy, continuous

from youth to age ... Socially, the citizen is, at the same time, both the

governor and the governed; educationally, he must be both the teacher and

the learner."65 These ideas appear separated from the reality of school life

on two counts. Schools followed traditional pedagogical methods with little

innovation; the curriculum had a strong British orientation and it aimed, by

and large, to make students citizens of the British world-wide empire (marked

conspicuously in red on the Mercator world map). The Federation did not

contextualize these progressive ideas in the Canadian context. Furthermore,

most leaders were very proud of their British roots.

On December 1930, The Manitoba Teacher openly criticized the

Premier of Manitoba who did not priorize education as the Federation

expected it should. "Equality of Educational Opportunity, Representation by

Population, these things we have been taught to believe are the foundations

stones of our democracy - are they crumbling? Have they been forgotten?"66

At the same time, there was a preoccupation with national (including Quebec)

and international issues such as the League of Nations and childhood

education, culture, peace. The theme of international cooperation and the

role of education in building a community of nations dominated the scene.

The Issue of Input in the Decision Making Process

Input in the decision making process was an important goal of the

Federation. Like many other issues this one was of relevance to other

teachers' federations and to the Canadian Teachers Federation. The fourteen

354

points of what the Manitoba Teachers' Federation stood for in 1919 included

for example: "Increased representation of the profession upon bodies that

determine educational policy"; "Cooperation with all other bodies engaged in

educational work."67 In 1930, The Manitoba Teacher advocated a provincial

system of education with an underlying unity. The article commended the

work of the Advisory Board in pursuing that unity by drawing up courses of

study and choosing the textbooks. It goes on to say: "Such a body must be

in touch, on the one hand, with intelligent opinion, and, on the other, with

trained experts. In other words, it should consist, as it does, of representatives

of laymen and experienced teachers."68

The previous statement has significance because the Federation needed

to make the case for the teachers' special expertise in order to assert

professional autonomy. There was, however, a persistent tendency to equate

the relevance of experience with the relevance of theoretical knowledge. This

was noticeable in a comment, written in 1920, discussing the professional code

of etiquette, professional consciousness, and professional solidarity. It said

that the majority of those teaching were not as well prepared as they ought

to be, either academically or professionally. They lacked professional spirit

because they did not teach long enough to overcome the academic

deficiencies. This comment is in line with the actual situation in the field in

1920.69 The legislative report on the status and salaries of teachers shows that

in 1917 there were 1,028 teachers with third class certification in the province

of Manitoba.70 The construction of the argument supporting teaching as a

profession was constrained by the existence of a shortage of teachers,

particularly in the early twenties.

One of the Federation's major steps towards the building of

professional autonomy was the creation of the Research Committee in 1927.

The committee made a statement in 1928 which embodied its goals:

One aim of our Federation is the development ofa professional consciousness on the part of our

355

members so that our organization may take itsrightful place among well established professions.In order to do this we must take the leading partin the solutions of educational problems relating,not only to the welfare of the teacher, butespecially to the progress of education in generalthroughout the Province. To this end, theExecutive set up at the commencement of thepast year "The Research Committee" as a specialstanding committee.71

The Issue of Professional TrainingThe Federation was well aware that professional expertise was at the

core of any claim for professional autonomy. The number of poorly qualified

teachers was high. The 1919 legislative report on status and salaries of

teachers pointed out that the province did not have a teaching force adequate

for the educational requirements. Most rural schools (in particular one-room

schools) employed teachers holding the lowest grade of certificate, having the

least experience, and remaining for the shortest period in any school.72 It is

not surprising that at the beginning of its work, the Federation had a hard

time reaching teachers in rural areas.

Professional training was one of the main concerns of the Federation.

In 1921, it requested that the minimum qualifications for entering the teaching

profession be a four year course in high school (grades nine to twelve

inclusive) and two years professional training. It also asked that, in the future,

the Department of Education not grant a First Class Grade A certificate to

any teacher without a university degree or its equivalent. 73

Later, in 1924, the Federation stated that a Teachers' College at the

provincial university should be the ultimate goal. It requested, successfully,

that the short-term (twenty weeks) Normal School training be abolished. In

1925, the Minister of Education accepted the recommendation of the Advisory

Board that the minimum training for a teacher's certificate would be a one

year course at the Normal School, be it in Winnipeg, Brandon, Dauphin,

356

Manitou, or Portage La Prairie.74 The Federation had presented these

recommendations for professionalization before the Murray Commission on

Education (1923). In 1921, the Canadian Teachers' Federation had resolved

that it was desirable that a minimum requirement of four years' high school

training and two years' professional training be demanded of all candidates for

permanent professional licenses, provided that all outstanding permanent

professional certificates be continued, and provided that limited certificates

be granted after completion of three years' high school and one year of

professional training.75

From the beginning, the Federation encouraged its members to

improve their academic standing by taking summer school and extra-mural

courses. There was a steady increase in first class certificates from 10.8% in

1920 to 25.1% in 1928 and an equally marked decline in third class certificates

from 26.2% in 1920 to 8.8% in 1928. The Annual Survey of Education for the

year 1930 indicated that out of 4,378 teachers only 1,368 held first class

certificates (31.2%); 2,819 a second class (64.4%) and 73 a third class (1.7%),

the balance holding specialist certificates and permits.76 In 1930, Charles

Laidlaw reported on the revision and consolidation of the Public School Act.

He indicated that various obsolete clauses in the old Act had been omitted at

the request of the Federation; for example, the clauses dealing with public

examinations, official school visitors, the keeping of a visitor's book, and the

sections dealing with third class certificates.77 Professional training was central

to the Federation's argument supporting teaching as a profession since special

knowledge was considered a fundamental attribute of a professional teacher.

The Bulletin/The Manitoba Teacher devoted a great deal of space to

pedagogical matters, curriculum issues, book reviews, analysis of education

from a philosophical perspective (aims in education and the role of teachers

being the most noticeable) and of pupils' daily work, tests and examinations.

The Manitoba Teacher provided much systematic information about the

Dalton-Laboratory Plan of Education. It was described as a type of education

357

to satisfy the requirements of modern democratic life. It was conceptualized

as a new method, and as a different "way of teaching". There was also a

preoccupation with explaining clearly the Project Method. In October, 1924

Teacher published a lengthy review-essay of a book by Evelyn

Dewey which described the re-creation of a rural community through its

school. The review had been originally published by The Grain Growers and

was in tune with the Federation's view of the transformative role of schools

in rural areas.78

Teaching: A Profession as Construed by the Federation

The leaders of the Federation made a purposeful effort to argue that

teaching was a profession and conceptually to define teaching as a profession.

The Bulletin of March 1920 includes an article entitled "Professional

Consciousness". It identified four conditions for the use of the term

profession: a considerable body of special knowledge; an adequate period of

study of this special knowledge as well as practice in its application; a great

community need for the services of those in possession of that knowledge; a

consciousness of the members of the profession of their obligation to provide

service to one another and to the community. In the view of the writer of the

article, the great majority of teachers were not nearly as well prepared as they

ought to be, either professionally or academically. "The teacher situation

needs, on the part of all teachers, a long pull and a strong pull and a pull all

together."79

In 1921, President Huntley explored the notion of the teacher as a

professional in light of the role of the Federation. He argued that the very

existence of the Federation was at the core of the development of teaching as

a profession. He wrote that the Federation gave teachers "a means of acting

and thinking collectively, and in consequence, there has arisen a high

professional consciousness and a keen professional loyalty which is the main

358

factor responsible for the many notable advances made by the teaching

profession in this Province during the last two years."80

The argument supporting the professional status of teaching was well

expressed in an article published in November 1930. It discussed a

presentation at a meeting of teachers in which the speaker showed that

teachers had the "fullest right to apply that term to their vocation." It argued

that teaching fulfilled the three attributes of the recognized professions

particularly the ministry, law, medicine and engineering. These attributes were

the acquisition of special knowledge, the devotion of one's self, and service to

others. The writer emphasized modern pedagogy as "a highly technical subject

based upon the findings of psychology." The amateur instructor found it

difficult to train others because of ignorance of method. "Teachers and

doctors must be thoroughly trained before they are licensed to care for

education and health." The article closed with a powerful statement that

stressed professional autonomy and legitimized a place for teachers in the

educational political setting. It said: "If it is admitted that teaching is a

profession, the logical conclusion follows that teachers, trained experts along

special lines, should have something to say about what should be taught in our

schools."81

This conceptual preoccupation - which was not unique to the Manitoba

Federation - was related to the need to obtain recognition as a professional

body while having the right to negotiate salaries on a collective bargaining

basis.82 It is interesting to note that the concept of teaching as a profession

that was expressed in The Bulletin and The Manitoba Teacher, shows a viable

combination of contingent attributes of professions, such as community status

and salary, and properties, such as special knowledge and input in the decision

making process, which can be regarded as necessary conditions for applying

the term profession to an occupation following the standards of the modern

philosophy of education.83 The Federation tended to neglect the theoretical

contribution that teachers could make to the resolution of problems.

359

The nascent Federation found a favorable socio-legal climate which was

nourished by a mutually contradictory set of conditions. On the one hand,

education had gained a strong profile in the building of Canadian society. The

1914-18 war, massive immigration, the impact of the Russian Revolution, the

unsettling social conditions and political radicalization, especially in industrial

relations, created conditions for trusting education as the social panacea. On

the other hand, the movement toward unionization and the presence of unions

as legitimate political protagonists set the stage for legal recognition of

teachers' organizations. The leaders of the Federation were able to discern

their own political possibilities and articulated a discourse that took into

account the centrality of education in the social order and later in the

building of a democratic society. They even provided a pedagogical

alternative although it seems to have been limited to their own theoretical

interest.The Press of the time closely followed the Federation's development

and teachers' negotiations with the School Boards in major cities. The Press,

reported E. K. Marshall in April 1921, allowed free space in the newspapers

and gave his view of the ideals of the Federation in full.84 It showed a

concern with teachers' working conditions. The Press, on occasion, would

disagree with organized teachers. The Brandon Sun, representative of the

business elite constitutes a radical example. It did not hesitate to accuse the

Federation of practising Sovietism for its strong support of the Brandon

teachers in the school crisis of 1922.85

The Federation was instrumental in designing a political space for

teachers in which to exercise a degree of professional autonomy. It fought for

its place in the political setting of the time. In an article entitled "Why I am

a Federationist", the writer indicated in 1927 that the Federation was the only

means that teachers, as a body, had to make their voices heard by the

Department of Education; it was the channel the Department recognized

when seeking the advice of teachers; it was recognized by the Trustees'

360

Association as the teachers' organization with which it might cooperate to

develop policies. The power of the Federation was recognized by the Trustees

to prevent another Brandon crisis, the writer concluded.86 The Federation

had to differentiate itself from the Manitoba Educational Association, a body

which included inspectors, trustees, and departmental officials. The

Association's principal role was to operate the teachers' convention held

annually in Winnipeg during the Easter break. The Manitoba Teachers'

Federation defended its independence. According to the Federation's

leadership, the Manitoba Educational Association had a "useful function of

intermittent inspiration." It did not go beyond that.87

Government, educational bureaucracy, and trustees developed a

somewhat ambivalent approach to education and to the teachers as

employees. As a member of the early executive wrote: "The Teacher has

been and is still looked upon by many as a kind of necessary evil and it is

rather difficult to get away from this viewpoint."88 In 1920, the Winnipeg

Local wrote quite proudly that "Department officials, trustees and the public

in general are loud in their praise of our organization."89 This statement was

quite appropriate in terms of public relations after the 1920 gains of the

Winnipeg Local. Similar comments often appeared in editorials with

reference to the Federation, in particular on occasion of the Federation's

annual conferences in the early twenties. The comments did not reveal the

uneven character of the relations with boards and government that

characterized its political life. E. K. Marshall described the situation well in

1925. He said that the attitude of the Department of Education had been

sympathetic and he included the inspectors in his observation. He went on to

say:

"Trustee Boards are becoming more trustful ofthe Federation. So long as both of us are saneand reasonable we may safely debate points ofpolicy and procedure. It is not, however, thepeace of either fear or submission. Rather it is

361

the recognition of one another's separate sphereof action and desire to work together for thecause of education. All Boards and all teachersdo not yet measure up to the highest ideals, ofcourse, and consequently we have had a generousshare of controversy."9*

One area of controversy was the great difficulties the Federation had

with some rural districts. The goals of the Federation as stated in public

documents were certainly not shared by many rural trustees who opposed, for

example, consolidation or saw professionalization as an intrusion into their

micropower network, particularly in some ethnic communities. Nor could the

Federation fully reach most teachers in rural areas. Its goals and objectives

were not in line with the structural situation that conditioned their lives as

teachers. Thus, although the number of members of the Federation increased

from 1,800 in 1924 to 2,275 in 1927, more than a third of the teachers

remained outside the Federation.91

The Federation's discourse disguised in its universality the acceptance

of a patriarchal model of society that supported a sexual division of work. It

did not include the needs, experiences and perspectives of women teachers.

The Federation argued for professionalization yet retained women, the

majority of the membership, as second-class professionals, marginal in public

affairs. Equity was not an upfront issue. The 1932-33 internal conflict in the

Winnipeg Local clearly illustrates how, in a crisis situation, women had to

claim their status as professionals and their own political space inside the

Local and the Federation. Professional solidarity crumbled when men's

position of privilege was threatened with more egalitarian proposals. Women,

who were the majority, were able to assert themselves only with the power of

their own solidarity.

The Winnipeg Sub-Locals and Clubs that developed in the twenties

allowed the creation of strong interest groups representing women's interests,

in particular those of the junior and senior high school teachers. There is

362

certainly a difference in approach between that of the early pioneer women

who devoted time and energy to the Federation and the Winnipeg Local and

the women who, in 1932, clearly denounced discrimination and fought to

assert their group interest as women teachers.

The years between 1919 and 1933 can be characterized as formative

years in the life of the Manitoba Teachers' Federation. The Great Depression

deeply affected the financial ability of the Federation because most members

were unable to pay the fees.92 The Federation had to change priorities and

search for new directions. It created the Education Defence League to make

the public aware of the dangerous threat to the standard of education the

province had reached. The Federation emerged with a strong profile in the

forties. The Manitoba Teachers' Society Act was passed in 1942, when the

"Federation" became the "Society". Today, even without mandatory

membership, the Manitoba Teachers' Society represents almost 100% of the

teachers employed in public schools. The life of the Federation during the

"dirty years," however, still requires further research.

Notes

I thank Dr. Sybil Shack for her editorialcomments. Research for this study was madepossible by a grant from the Research GrantsCommittee of The University of Manitoba. Theauthor would like to thank Ms. Margaret Stevensfor the charts, and tables on salaries.

1. For a recent historiographical assessment of historical studies ofteachers' unionism see Wayne J. Urban, "New Directions in the HistoricalStudy of Teacher Unionism," Historical Studies in Education 2 (Spring 1990)and Andrew Spaull, "Fields of Disappointment: The Writing of TeacherUnion History in Canada," Historical Studies in Education 3 (Spring 1991)-Among the influential books published in Great Britain and the United Statesare the following: Martin Lawn and Gerald Grace, eds. Teachers: The Cultureand Politics of Work (London: Palmer Press, 1987); Martin Lawn, Servants^the State: The Contested Control of Teaching. 1900-1930 (London: ThePalmer Press, 1997); Roger Seifert, Teacher Militancy: A History of Teacher

363

1896-1987 (London: The Palmer Press, 1987); Paula Bourne, ed.,'s Paid and Unpaid Work (Toronto: New Hogtwon Press, 1985).

2. Harold Vidal, "The History of the Manitoba Teachers' Society."(M.Ed, thesis, University of Manitoba, 1958), 3.

3.

4.

Ibid., 4-5.

J. W. Chafe, Chalk. Sweat, and Cheers. A History of TheTeachers' Society Commemorating its Fiftieth Anniversary

19-1969 (Winnipeg: Manitoba Teachers' Society, 1969), 39.

5. Ibid.

6. Richard Henley and John Pampallis, "The Campaign forCompulsory Education in Manitoba," Canadian Journal of Education 7, 1(1982): 81.

7. See Tom Mitchell, "Brandon, 1919: Labour and IndustrialRelations in the Wheat City in the Year of the General Strike," ManitobaHistory, 17 (Spring 1989): 2-11; D. J. Bercusson, "Labour Radicalism and theWestern Industrial Frontier 1897-1919," Canadian Historical Review 58, 2(1977): 154-75; Robert Craig Brown and Ramsay Cook, Canada 1896-1921:A Nation Transformed (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974), 144-45;Doug Smith, Let Us Rise! An illustrated History of the Manitoba LabourMovement (Winnipeg: Public Press, 1985).

8. See Tom Mitchell and Rosa del C. Bruno Jofre, "To Rouse theWorkers from Apathy and Indifference': The Educational Dimension ofUnionist and Political Practices in Brandon, 1900-1920" in Part II; Allen Mills,"Cooperation and Community in the Thought of J. S. Woodsworth,"Labour/Travail 14 (Fall 1984):103-120; Richard Allen, The Social Passion:Religion and Social Reform in Canada. 1914-28 (Toronto: University ofToronto Press, 1971).

9. Smith, Let Us Rise!. 37.

10. Ibid., 35.

11. See Mitchell and Bruno-Jofre, "To Rouse Workers".

12. It is therefore especially interesting that The Manitoba Teacherpublished an article by J. Dewey reprinted from The American Teacher inwhich he strongly argued for the need to relate teachers' unions to labour

364

unions. See John Dewey, "Why 1 am a Member of the Teachers' Union," TheManitoba Teacher IX, 2 (February 1928): 8.

13. Mitchell and Bruno-Jofre, "To Rouse Workers".

14. The Manitoba Teacher V, 4 (May 1924): 3.

15. Ibid., V, 2 (March 1924): 3.

16. Ibid, V, 1 (February 1924): 3.

17. Ibid, VIII, 7 (June 1927): 1.

18. Ibid, V, 3 (April 1924): 3.

19. Ibid, IX, 6 (June 1928): 6.

20. Ibid, V, 1 (February 1924): 3.

21. Ibid, VIII, 7 (June 1927): 2.

22. Ibid, V, 6 (June 1924): 5-6.

23. Ibid, IX, 7 (September 1928): 5.

24. Chafe, Chalk. Sweat. 17.

25. "Brevities," The Bulletin 1 (May 1919): 8.

26. Manitoba, Commission on Status and Salaries of Teachers.Report. 1919, 17.

27. Manitoba, Report of the Department of Education for the YearEnding 30 June 1922 (Manitoba: 1922), 161.

28. Manitoba, Report of the Educational Commission (MurrayCommission) (Winnipeg: King's Printer, 1924).

29. Benjamin Levin, "The Struggle over Modernization in ManitobaEducation: 1924-1960," 85, 88.

30. Robert Milan, "Education and the Reproduction of CapitalistIdeology: Manitoba, 1945-1960" (M.Ed, thesis, University of Manitoba, 1980),62.

365

31. G. J. Reeve (Secretary), Winnipeg Local, 30 January 1920.Informational leaf.

32. Letter from the Winnipeg Local to R. H. Smith, Esq., Secretaryand Treasurer, Winnipeg Public School Board, 22 September 1919; Report ofthe Committee on Salaries (Winnipeg Local), September 1919.

33. Letter from R. Smith (Winnipeg Public School Board) to Mr.G.J. Reeve (Winnipeg Local), 1 November 1919.

34. Letter from R. Smith to Reeve, 12 November 1919; Report ofthe Conference Committee, 13 January 1920.

35. Tom Mitchell, '"We Must Stand Fast for the Sake of OurProfession': Teachers, Collective Bargaining and the Brandon Schools Crisisof 1922", Journal of Canadian Studies 26, 1 (Spring 1991): 83.

36. Memo of Conference with School Board, 27 December 1926;Minutes of the Conference Committee, Winnipeg Loc'al, 4 January 1927; TheSchool Board to the Local, 11 January 1927; Letter from the School Board,9 February 1927; Memo of Meeting of Conference Committee, 28 February1927; Letter from Winnipeg Conference Committee to Winnipeg PublicSchool Board, 1 March 1927; from the Board to the Local, 13 April 1927;Conference Committee to the Board, 2 May 1927.

37. Chafe, Chalk. Sweat. 43.

38. H. W. Huntley, President, Manitoba Teachers' Federation.Letter to members, Winnipeg, 19 March 1920.

39. "Now and Then," The Bulletin VII, 3 (March 1926).

40. "Rural School Teachers," The Bulletin XII, 6 (June 1931).

41. The Manitoba Teacher VI, 7 (September 1925): 19.

42. Ibid, XII, 3 (March 1931): 2.

43. Interview with Constance Franzman by Rosa Bruno-Jofre,Winnipeg, 31 August 1990. Education in Southern Manitoba Collection,History of Education Resource and Research Project, Faculty of Education,The University of Manitoba.

366

44. Gabrielle Roy, Street of Riches, trans. Henry Binsse (Toronto:McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1967), 241.

45. The Bulletin 1 (May 1919): 8.

46. The Bulletin 20 (December 1922): 276.

47. Aileen Garland, "Old, Unhappy Far-Off Things and Battles ofLong Ago." The Manitoba Teacher (November-December 1968): 10.

48. Garland, "Old," 10.

49. Report of Sub-Committee on Teachers' Salary Schedule, 30November 1932; Garland, "Old," 11-12.

50. Men Teachers' Club, Resolution passed on Wednesday, 7December 1932, at 4:30 in Gordon Bell School.

51. Women's Principals Sub-Local, Resolution passed to bepresented to the Executive and Conference Committee of the Winnipeg Local,December 1932.

1932.52. Women High School Teachers' Local, Resolution, December

53. High School Women's Sub-Local, Resolutions to be sent toThursday's meeting with Conference Committee, December 1932.

54. Elementary Teachers as a Body, Resolutions, December 1932.

55. Garland, "Old," 13; Memo from Myrtle Johnston advising of ameeting of the four Women's Sub-Locals and the men who had remained withthe Winnipeg Local. Personal communication from Dr. S. Shack.

56. Garland, "Old," 14.

57. Ibid.

58. "President Huntley's Message." The Bulletin 1 (May 1919): 4.

59. See for example, The Bulletin 14 (1921): 164.

60. "Teaching as a Profession", The Manitoba Teacher (May 1927):20-21.

367

61. Report of Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, March 1927.This report was also published in The Manitoba Teacher VIII, 7 (June 1927):

19.

62. W. White, "The Educational Problem in the 'New CanadianSchools'". The Bulletin 26 (October 1923): 445-46; W. Mascuich, "The NewCanadian Problem," The Bulletin 28 (December 1923): 499-501.

63. The Bulletin I, 1 (May 1919): 6.

64. The Manitoba Teacher XI, 4 (April 1930): 2. Reprinted fromThe Quebec Teachers' Magazine.

65. "The Public and Education," The Manitoba Teacher XI, 1(January 1930): 2.

66. "Democracy 1930," The Manitoba Teacher XI, 3 (March 1930):26.

67. The fourteen points appeared regularly in the first issues of TheBulletin.

68. The Manitoba Teacher II, 9 (November 1930): 2.

69. The Bulletin 5 (March 1920): 40.

70. Manitoba, Commission on Status and Salaries of Teachers,Report.

71. The Manitoba Teacher IX, 5 (May 1928): 5.

72. Vidal, "History," 127.

73. Ibid.

74. Vidal, "History," 127.

75. J. Buck Geoffrey, "The Development of Teachers' Organizationsin Canada" (M.Ed, thesis, University of Manitoba, 1938), 12.

76. The Manitoba Teacher XIV, 5 (May-June 1933): 15.

77. "Report on the Revision and Consolidation of the Public SchoolAct," The Manitoba Teacher VII, 6 (June 1930): 14-15.

368

78. Amy Roe, "New Schools for Old," The Manitoba Teacher V, 7(October 1924): 26-28.

79. The Bulletin I, 2 (September 1919): 40.

80. The Bulletin I, 14 (November 1921): 144-45.

81. "Is Teaching a Profession?" The Manitoba Teacher XI, 9(November 1930): 1-2.

82. See for example, H. Charlesworth, "Is Teaching a Profession?"The Manitoba Teacher V, 9 (December 1924): 13. H. Charlesworth, GeneralSecretary of the British Columbia Federation was also the first president ofthe Canadian Teachers' Federation.

83. I used as a point of reference, J. E. McPeck and J. T. Sanders,"Some Reflections on Education as a Profession," Journal of EducationalThought 8, 2 (August 1974): 55-66.

84. Report of the Convention of the Manitoba Teachers' Federationheld in Winnipeg, January 1921. Manuscript.

85. T. Mitchell, "We Must Stand Fast."

86. A. M. S. "Why I am a Federationist," The Manitoba TeacherVIII, 7 (September 1927): 13.

87. "Cooperation and Independence," The Manitoba Teacher X, 6(June 1929): 1-2.

88. "From Mr. Nason," The Bulletin I, 2 (September 1919): 15.

89. G. J. Reeve, Secretary, Winnipeg Local, 30 January 1920.Notice of a meeting.

90. E. K. Marshall, "Manitoba Teachers' Federation," The ManitobaTeacher VI, 6 (September 1925): 21.

91. Chafe, Chalk. 59.

92. In 1933, the membership shrank to some 1,500 and the feeswere not being paid. Chafe, Chalk. 38.