The Manitoba government has introduced several new measures to help improve student safety and bring greater accountability, discipline and transparency for teachers through legislative amendments.
The new teacher certification and professional conduct framework through the Education Administration Amendment Act includes a public registry of certified Manitoba teachers who have a teaching certificate, as well as information on whether a teacher’s certificate has been suspended or cancelled.
The teacher registry is now available to the public online.
The new teacher professional conduct review process has now taken effect. The review process will be led by an independent commissioner, Bobbi Taillefer, who will receive and investigate complaints, facilitate consent resolution agreements and refer cases to a hearing panel for adjudication. The hearing panel will be made up of teachers, representatives nominated by the Manitoba School Boards Association and members of the public, which include:
- Erin Bockstael (public representative), manager of family and community programs at the Women’s Health Clinic;
- Gavin Bruce Strang (public representative), a professor in the department of history at Brandon University;
- Gord Schumacher (public representative), the executive director of the Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police;
- Raven-Dominique Gobeil (public representative), the senior in-house attorney for the First Nations Family Advocate Office;
- Kevin Sterner (independent schools representative);
- Morgan Whiteway (Manitoba School Boards Association representative);
- Elizabeth Mitchell (Manitoba School Boards Association representative);
- Alison Bourrier (Manitoba School Boards Association representative);
- Charles Cochrane (Manitoba School Boards Association representative);
- Vinh Huynh (Manitoba Teacher Society representative);
- Jesse Thomaschewski (Manitoba Teacher Society representative); and
- Nicole Lavallee (Manitoba Teacher Society representative).
The registry is available to the public at www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/profcert/registry/index.html.
