Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Something very troubling has come to my attention and I feel the need to raise this issue in the House today.
Last week a letter went to parents of biathlon athletes in my community from their long-time coach, who is also a teacher in Hay River. Although I cannot read the whole letter in my Member’s statement, I would like to draw your attention to some parts of this letter. It reads:
“It is with much sadness and disappointment that I must share with everyone that I will be stepping down as the head coach of the Hay River Biathlon Team and Ski Club. I will finish out the season and continue to lead practices and coordinate the Polar Cup races and the Ptub races this year.
My reason for having to step down is the ongoing lack of support, which I have received over the years from my employer when it comes to volunteering and coaching the Hay River Biathlon Team. The latest reminder of this came when I required one hour of class time off in order to leave with the team, only to be told that I would have to apply for a half-day of discretionary leave and be responsible for covering the cost of a substitute teacher with being away, despite having another teacher offer to fill in for me for that one hour. As a teacher, I do not have lieu time or annual leave that I can draw from, so there are no options when your request for leave is denied.
This is just an example of numerous other requests in the past to coach our team, but with similar feedback. I feel that I am put in a position in which I am continually letting our athletes down as I cannot travel with them to competitions, especially after many, many weeks and months of preparation that we put in leading up to these competitions. It has been explained to me that the reason for this is that biathlon is not a school sport and, therefore, I am not entitled to the same leave as a basketball coach, for example.”
The letter goes on to explain the reasons why he decided to step down.
This teacher has been coaching in Hay River for more than 10 years. He has poured himself into his work, dedicating hundreds of hours each season, sacrificing his time and efforts to offer his services on a voluntary basis. It is not easy to find people who are willing, capable and qualified to make this type of commitment, and our government, unfortunately, does little to support teachers that coach outside of school sports. This teacher was only requesting a short amount of time from the workplace to be with these athletes. He is coaching kids, providing opportunities for them to be involved in sport within Hay River. He is also on the Hay River Ski Club and NWT Biathlon Board, and works to fundraise and plan for many opportunities for our youth.
It is also incredibly demoralizing to put so much into a program and then have so little support and recognition from your employer.
I’d like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
The only games that are covered by the Human Resource Manual for approved leave are that associated with Arctic Winter Games, Canada Winter Games or national level championships. There is no leave for work as a teacher in our community with a group of youth outside the school setting. This is further compounded by the messages in the media that you hear about the importance of volunteering and giving back to the youth in our community.
Youth are a very high priority of this government, and I don’t think we should distinguish between school sports and community sports. I don’t think that money can buy the kind of contribution that a coach like this makes, and it’s not the fault of the school and it’s not the fault of the principal. It is a policy that needs to be looked at.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
