“Even if they gave me $1 million a year, I wouldn’t come back,” says a former teacher

“Even if I was given $1 million per year to do the same job, under the same conditions, I wouldn’t come back.”

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Edith Lamoureux taught high school history and geography in the Gatineau region for 17 years.

For years, she fought against the “chronic fatigue” that set in, from working 60-hour weeks trying to meet the “so glaring” needs of the students, the demands of parents, the lack of resources.

“We are squeezed like a lemon every day. We have to teach, manage the class, we are always in a state of hypervigilance and at the end of the day, we are completely exhausted even if our day is not over. And even when we are on leave, we are unable to stop,” she says.

Over the years, M^me Lamoureux began to develop anxiety and depressive disorders.

“I waited a long, long time before leaving. It’s been a year and a half since my doctor told me: “You need to take a break, you’re not invincible”. But so I felt guilty, I didn’t want to abandon my students, I didn’t want to abandon my colleagues.”

It was after seeing an experienced colleague leave, who had never broken down before, that M^me Lamoureux allowed himself to “put one knee on the ground”.

The teacher went on sick leave in February 2022. “When I took one last look at my class, I knew I was so at the bottom of the barrel that it was very unlikely that I would come back. »

In August, she resigned to accept a temporary civil service contract, although she had no guarantee of an extension. “I absolutely couldn’t go back,” she said.

Her contract eventually turned into a position and she was never going back.

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“The public service is a world of difference. We are appreciated, treated with respect. I experienced a big clash when I arrived. I had difficulty accepting all the consideration people had for me,” she says.

In a social media post that has circulated widely in recent weeks, M^me Lamoureux wanted to support the strike movement of his former colleagues, affirming that the time has come to redress the bar in education.

“For many teachers like me, it is already too late. But several thousand others are waiting to see the outcome of these negotiations to decide whether they leave the network.”