Vaccine mandate for B.C. teachers should be done provincially, not by school district: union president

The president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation is speaking out against the province's assertion that vaccine mandates for educators aren't its responsibility but up to school districts.

The president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation is speaking out against the province's assertion that vaccine mandates for educators aren't its responsibility but up to school districts.

In a statement released Friday, Teri Mooring said the BCTF doesn't oppose a vaccine mandate for kindergarten to Grade 12 workers, as long as privacy rights are protected and medical exemptions are accommodated.

"The BCTF will not be standing against a mandate," Mooring's statement said. "It's the right thing to do at this stage in the pandemic."

The statement was released days after the province added employees of the B.C. Public Service Agency to the list of workers who will soon be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Teachers, however, aren't under such a mandate.

"The districts are the employers," Premier John Horgan said in a news conference Thursday. "We are the funder, to be sure, but there is a dual relationship here between (school board) trustees and the government."

Mooring said it's "become clear" to the BCTF "that a COVID-19 vaccine mandate is likely to come to the public education system" and encouraged teachers and staff to get vaccinated now if they can.

But Mooring said she takes issue with the province's position.