Brockville ‘Fight Ford’ rally highlights mental health strike, education funding concerns

With one local strike entering its ninth week and many others unhappy with the current conditions, health and education workers gathered in Brockville Saturday, July 25 to call for increased provincial funding for public services.

The crowd gathered in front of Thousand Island Secondary School included members from OPSEU Local 441 and Local 439, representing several local developmental and mental health agency employees, as well as members from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). Representatives from the Leeds and Grenville Labour Council were also on site for the event.

Lori Graham, president of the Leeds and Grenville Labour Council and local 441 member told Brockvilleist that that all the present members share the same core grievance: chronic underfunding from the Ford government.

“He [Doug Ford] has proven now he has no interest in increasing the funding for our public services that impact everyone in the province in one way or another,” said Graham.

“So, it’s important that he change his tune and redeem himself here and there. He could do that and maybe we will stop holding these protests, but otherwise all the unions feel the same.”

Graham said the Labour Council is disappointed with local MPP Steve Clark’s level of engagement on the matter, either with the unions themselves or on their behalf at Queen’s Park.

Nor does Graham feel that most employers of the gathered members have been advocating for their own employees.

“I think that Steve Clark is talking to our employers unfortunately, which is more of a shame on him because he’s not talking to the members,” said Graham.

Graham added that many employers, as well MPP Clark, are only interested in creating a narrative that the unions are “disruptive.”

“You know quietly in the background lack of funding is disruptive to services,” she said.

“In every publicly funded sector across Ontario, we as workers see it every day how much the disruption happens to the workplace, to those services.”

During the ongoing OPSEU Local 441 strike, which began on May 25, clients have not been able to access regular services at Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Mental Health (LLGAMH); the agency has scaled back to high-priority services, forcing clients to go to neighbouring communities or the emergency room to access services.

The agency restarted brief services on June 25, “providing community members with timely access to case management and supportive counselling,” according to an update put out on Facebook. Most core services have still not resumed, as the agency continues to prioritize urgent concerns.

Services at Children’s Mental Health of Leeds and Grenville (CMHLG) have been completely halted since the start of the strike, with no update on client services having been issued since.

OPSEU Local 441 is entering its ninth straight week of strike action.

MPP Clark told Brockvilleist in a statement that “our government’s 2026 budget provided increased funding for education, local mental health services, as well as historic increases for the developmental services sector.”

Leeds and Grenville Labour Council member Thomas Hopkins said that funding has not kept up with inflation.

Hopkins, who is also an occasional teacher with the Upper Canada District School Board, also pointed to ongoing bargaining around Bill 124 reimbursement.

Bill 124 was a bill that passed by the Ford government in 2018 that restricted public sector salary increases to one per cent, but was later deemed unconstitutional.

While some in the education sector have been issued reimbursements for lost wages, Hopkins said that the issued payments were not adjusted for the level of inflation experienced since the bill was repealed.

“OPSEU is still dealing with the fallout from 124,” noted Hopkins, adding that negotiations between the education sector and the government are ongoing but that the province is resisting full repayment.

“They’re still trying to push it even though it was repealed, but again, you’ve got a government who is going to just push their own mandate through.

“So, they might try it again or call a new bill and then put that one through and then it’ll take four years to get it repealed again.”

Concerned citizens gather at the July 25 “Fight Ford rally in Brockville. – Kevin Clasper-Inglis/Brockvilleist

According to Liza Zufelt, Local 441 president, the mental health and developmental services sectors have still not received any compensation since the bill was repealed.

Hopkins said underfunding of the education system has negative results for teachers and students. For one, teachers are not allocated enough funds to buy classroom supplies, meaning they must pay for much of their classroom expenses out-of-pocket.

Hopkins also noted that teachers are given cheques of $750 for supplies, but she believes that money would be better spent if schools were able to do one bulk order of supplies, as opposed to sending each teacher “to the local Staples to buy at the regular price.”

Kevin Clasper-Inglis/Brockvilleist

Sheryl Ananny, a retired teacher who came out to show support, agreed it was a problem.

“I retired because the support for teachers and support staff and everybody just became so untenable,” said Ananny.

“Then the pandemic hit and it made it even worse. You’re paying for your own teaching materials, you’re paying for your own chair, even bookcases because they have no furniture, they have nothing.”

She said that the gaps in the system would be even more glaring if it weren’t for teachers and support staff subsidizing the system.

According to Hopkins, most classrooms are also now lacking educational assistants (EAs), to the detriment of the overall teaching environment.

“EAs, they don’t exist in schools anymore,” said Hopkins.

“There’s a few of them but they’re there only for the developmental needs or for the people with autism, etc. And the regular EAs that you normally have in the classroom who help kids with just regular learning, to help assist the class, they’ve taken those totally out.”

Ananny says that the gap in support levels between when she first started teaching and when she retired is significant.

“When I first came into the board, it was wonderful. There was a lot of supports for teachers. There were workshops to help improve your teaching skills,” said Ananny.

“If you had a student that was exceptional, even if they were gifted, they would get an educational assistant. By the time I retired, it was basically you got an educational assistant if they needed their diaper changed or needed to be tube fed.”

Clark says that his focus as MPP continues to be delivering for his constituents.

“Including funds to improve care at our hospitals, attach more than 11,000 patients to team-based primary care and build new schools,” said Clark in a statement to Brockvilleist.

“All this while being part of a government under Premier Ford that’s standing up for Ontario and Canada, while creating the conditions for private-sector investment like we saw in Leeds and Grenville this week.

Despite this, the members in attendance overwhelmingly criticized MPP Clark’s performance on the issue.

“He hasn’t done [anything],” said Hopkins.

“He’s really good at showing up for photo ops. So, if you got an event, he’ll be there for the barbecue.”