World Teacher Day - Member's Statement

Mr Speaker I rise today to celebrate World Teachers Day. I am here in no small part because of the teachers I had along the way. Mrs. Ohm, who taught me how to write numbers (I still remember her showing me that the year was changing from 1-9-7-9 to 1-9-8-0). Mr. Visser, the kind principal who let me eat lunch in his office most days of the worst year of my social life in grade 4. Mrs. Boyle, who cared enough to call my parents in the middle of my grade 10 year to tell them that I had missed a couple of classes and that I should not skip school because she thought I showed promise. Mr. Abbot, my cranky and brilliant grade 12 Political Science teacher and RAF veteran who occasionally yelled at us in Swahili but always took seriously his task to train a group of politically literate and curious teenagers.

Mrs. Stulac, Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Desmond and all of the teachers under whose care and guidance I place my own children each morning.

Teaching is truly a noble profession today and every day I am honoured to express my gratitude and support for teachers: the ones who brought me here, the ones who are nurturing my children now, and all of the others who, quite literally, have the future in their hands.