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Teachers vote to approve deal with Nunavik school board

After about two and a half years of negotiating, the Association of Employees of Northern Québec and Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, Nunavik's school board, have come to an agreement. In this latest round of voting, 90 per cent of teachers and 95 per cent of support staff were in favour of the deal. 

Recently, 90 per cent of teachers and 95 per cent of support staff voted in favour of the deal

Félix Lebel, Francis Tessier-Burns · CBC News ·
Teachers smiling and holding flags that read "here we go".
Since the previous collective agreement expired in 2023, teachers and support staff in Nunavik held several events calling for faster negotiations. It took 2.5 years for the Association of Employees of Northern Québec and Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, the region’s school board, to come to an agreement. (Félix Lebel/Radio-Canada)

Teachers and support workers in Nunavik have overwhelmingly voted in favour of an agreement-in-principle with Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, the region's school board. 

The Association of Employees of Northern Québec (AENQ), which represents the teachers and support staff, and the board announced Wednesday they'd reached the agreement earlier this month, narrowly avoiding a strike. 

In this latest round of voting, 90 per cent of teachers and 95 per cent of support staff were in favour of the deal. 

"We're relieved, even though we knew our members were going to approve the agreement," said Larry Imbeault, AENQ president. "We're relieved that we didn't need to put more pressure and ultimately go on strike." 

A man holding a microphone in front of a building
Larry Imbeault in Montreal in January 2025. He is the president of the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec. (Philippe Granger/Radio-Canada)

Background check issue resolved

The parties had been negotiating for more than 30 months. One of the final sticking points was the period of time teachers would have to respond to a request of a criminal background check. 

The board wanted the power to break a contract and effectively fire the employee if they hadn't responded within 10 days. 

The union was concerned the response window was too short and that it could lead to people losing their jobs if they simply hadn't checked their emails on time. 

The parties finally agreed that the school board would inform the union for every request of a background check. 

"We framed this provision a bit more to allow the union to defend its members if necessary," said Imbeault. "Of course we would have preferred what we'd asked for at the start … [but] both the union and members are satisfied with this compromise." 

In the coming weeks, the school board and the AENQ will be working together to finalize the collective agreement, which will then be brought to teachers. 

That agreement will run until March 31, 2028, with the next round of negotiations expected to start in October 2027. 

Imbeault says the union hopes to find permanent solutions to some issues, so future negotiations won't extend beyond what's necessary.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Félix Lebel

Reporter

Félix Lebel is a reporter with Radio-Canada in Kuujjuaq, in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec.

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