The union representing teachers in Ontario’s 12 French-language school boards is the first to outright reject the education minister’s call for mediation, saying the two sides are so far apart that it’s not worth it.

Rémi Sabourin, president of the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), said “mediation is not an option at this time.”

While talks continue with the province and the dozen French boards, “AEFO can assert that before considering mediation, the government and the French-language school boards would need to withdraw their demands which — if AEFO were to accept — would set us back 10 to 15 years in terms of teachers’ working conditions and students’ learning environment.”

Education Minister Stephen Lecce made the request to all teacher unions on Monday, saying an independent third party could help land deals.

But Sabourin — who heads the 12,000 member union of teachers and educational support staff — said “the progress teachers have made to ensure an internationally renowned education system and a world-class learning environment cannot be underestimated and tossed aside.”

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation is the lone union to accept Lecce’s offer for a mediator. However, OSSTF president Harvey Bischof said he wants to continue to make public all bargaining details.

The union, he added, “has no objection to mediation but we are also committed to transparency in this process and won’t consent to having negotiations dragged into the shadows.”

Both the public elementary and Catholic teacher unions questioned the need for a mediator. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has said the conciliator it requested to help in talks is also acting as a mediator.

Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, noted her union has already asked for the help of a conciliator “to assist the parties to reach an agreement” and would wait until the government has sorted out changes to its bargaining team and there are firm upcoming bargaining dates “before making further decisions.”

A source in the minister’s office said negotiating dates are being scheduled for next week.

In the legislature Tuesday, Lecce said Premier Doug Ford “has been very clear about his expectations of me, that we remain constructive and reasonable and student-centric to get deals so that parents of this province are able to keep their children in class.”

He noted that a mediator helped the province recently land a deal with education support staff represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

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“What is frustrating for those who observe is that every three years we are back in the same position, irrespective of party,” Lecce said.

“I want to be clear: Parents deserve to have predictability. Their children ought to be in class. The continuum of learning should not be impeded because a bunch of lawyers can’t get their act together.”