Ontario teachers will hold one-day strikes next week if an agreement is not reached

LOCAL

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Stephen Lecce, the Ontario Education Minister, announced that the government will compensate families whose children missed school days due to recent strikes. School boards are still opposing the Ontario government’s cuts in education: increased classroom sizes and mandatory online courses. The strikes have caused teachers to walk-off the job, having not reached an agreement with the government. Lecce said families with kids ranging from early childhood day care to grade 7 who missed school or needed care due to the strikes, will be compensated. The Ottawa-Carleton school board, among others, announced they will strike again if an agreement is not reached in the next five days.

NATIONAL

THE GLOBE AND MAIL Canadian students and education workers were among the 167 passengers that died in a plane crash in Iran. Across the country, universities honoured the victims with tributes, ceremonies and more. On Wednesday at 1 p.m., people came together on campuses to honour them with a moment of silence. University of Toronto has started a scholarship fund for international Iranian students, in memory of six of their students that lost their lives in the crash.

INTERNATIONAL

GLOBAL NEWS The RCMP is helping to identify victims of the Iran plane crash through DNA testing. However, there have been allegations of harassment, where families in Iran have been told they will not get positive identification nor the body of their loved one back if they speak to journalists. As for Canadian victims, the National DNA Data Bank, a database maintained by the RCMP, is gathering DNA samples of victims provided by their families to create DNA profiles and help forensic identification of Canadians in the crash.