Teachers' union urging Quebec to install air purifiers in poorly ventilated classrooms
Quebec's major teachers union federation (FAE) is urging the government to install air purifiers in all classrooms where ventilation is deemed inadequate.
As the Omicron variant wave sweeps the province, "air quality should be at the heart of the strategy to combat COVID-19 in schools," the FAE said in a news release.
The majority of primary and secondary students are expected to return to face-to-face classes on Jan. 17.
But some, including those in specialized classes for students with disabilities, returned to school as early as Jan. 3.
Often, these are school populations that are "heavily handicapped and for whom compliance with rules related to, among other things, the wearing of procedural masks and physical distancing is particularly difficult, if not impossible," the release said.
In Montreal's school services centre alone, "since January 3, 16 of the 24 classes have been closed because of outbreaks," said FAE president Sylvain Mallette in a telephone interview.
While the settings in question come with unique issues, he said the numbers are a taste of the problems that could be found in many classrooms.
"Teachers feel that not all safety measures are in place," he said, calling for teachers to have access to N95 masks.
The ventilation issue is not new.
Last April, the Legault government revealed that just over half of the 15,000 classrooms tested had satisfactory ventilation.
About 1,000 other classrooms were removed from the calculation because of faulty or missing measurements, after a Radio-Canada investigation revealed that the testing protocol was not followed in the majority of cases studied, distorting the results. The investigation led the FAE to be suspicious of the department's data for the remaining 15,000 classrooms.
The government promised that CO2 readers, which measure air quality, would be installed in all classrooms before the start of the school year. This deadline was then pushed back to the fall and then to mid-December.
"Today, thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of students in Quebec are paying the price for the government's erratic management of ventilation and air quality," said Mallette.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 11, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian gov't proposes new foreign influence registry as part of wide-spanning new bill
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is proposing a suite of new measures and law changes aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada, amid extensive scrutiny over past meddling attempts and an ever-evolving threat landscape.
Boeing Starliner capsule's first crewed test flight postponed
The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing's new Starliner space capsule was called off for at least 24 hours over a technical issue that launch teams were unable to resolve in time for the planned Monday night lift-off.
Teacher charged in historical sexual assault of Calgary teenage girl
Calgary police have charged a teacher with the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl more than 20 years ago.
Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, argues he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Man banned from owning animals after fatal Calgary dog attack
The owner of three Calgary dogs that got loose and mauled a woman to death in 2022 has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine within one year and banned from owning any animal for 15 years.
East-end Ottawa family dealing with massive rat infestation
Residents in Ottawa’s Elmridge Gardens complex are dealing with a rat infestation that just won’t go away. Now, after doing everything they can to try to fix the issue, they are pleading with the city to step in and help.
Mediterranean staple may lower your risk of death from dementia, study finds
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Newfoundland and Labrador latest province to tighten rules on Airbnbs
Newfoundland and Labrador is the latest jurisdiction to bring in stricter rules for short-term rentals, with a coming set of regulations that will force operators to register with the provincial government.