Professors from across Canada To Join Picket at Université Sainte-Anne

Church Point, Nova Scotia—On Friday 1 April, professors and librarians from across Canada will join the daily picket line at the main campus of Université Sainte-Anne for the second time. The legal Sainte-Anne strike, which 93% of members of the Association des Professeurs, Professeures et Bibliothécaires de l’Université Sainte-Anne [APPBUSA] voted to launch, is now in its fourth week. 

Prof. Ted Binnema, from the University of Northern British Columbia, notes, “all of the 63-member associations of the Canadian Association of University Defence Fund are watching this strike closely because our colleagues at Université Sainte-Anne are facing very familiar challenges. Now in the sixth strike among our members since November 2021, APPBUSA is fighting not only for themselves, but on behalf of faculty members, librarians, and archivists across the country.” 

Here in Nova Scotia, Prof. Andrew Biro, president of the Acadia University Faculty Association [AUFA], declares, “AUFA stands in solidarity with our APPBUSA colleagues and neighbours. We appreciate and admire their determination in their struggle for fair working conditions. The challenges that APPBUSA members face are similar to those faced by AUFA members, and we will continue to offer APPBUSA our full support for as long as it takes for them to get a fair contract.” 

The Sainte-Anne strike, the first in the university’s 130-year history, recently drew attention with its special “Tintamarre Triste” protest on 9 March. Transposing the local parade in which Acadians bang pots and pans in cultural pride, faculty and librarians banged pots and pans to protest the University’s abrupt and autocratic closure of the campus cafeteria. The professors donated the pots and pans to students suddenly expected to cook for themselves. 

In a national article for CBC’s Opinion site, Sainte-Anne professor Dr. Darryl Whetter laments what he calls the « vice-presidentification » of Canadian universities, where the best-paying roles on campus are in administration, “the one task where you don’t mentor students,” not in teaching or research. 

Location: Église Sainte-Marie, Church Point, NS, Municipality of Clare Time:Friday 1 April, noon, 12 p.m. 

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For more information, contact: [in English] Prof. Darryl Whetter, darrylwhetter@gmail.com, (902) 837-6050 [en français] Dr. Andrea Burke-Saulnier, aburkesaulnier@gmail.com, (902) 778-0065