Since mid-May, Mexican teachers have launched a nation-wide protest against new government measures that seek to shut down teacher (normal) training schools, base continued employment on teachers’ results on standardized written exams, and eliminate the need for pedagogical training for new teachers. The government’s response has been a wave of violence that includes the abduction and arbitrary detention of teacher union leaders, the firing of eight thousand teachers, and violent attacks on teacher and parent protests, which reached their worst point in Oaxaca on June 19 when security forces opened fire on protesters, killing 8 and wounding at least 45.

Working with CoDevelopment Canada, the BCGEU wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to press the Mexican Prime Minister on their government's human rights record during the summit in Ottawa at the end of June.

Read the letter here.