While parents and students do not have a formal mechanism to conduct a strike, the strategy is worth examining in relation to community action. The fact that students are the basis of public education funding gives parents considerable power within the public system. An organized protest by parents and students using strike tactics can have major impact on decision-makers. For example, in Inverness County, Nova Scotia in September, 1991, parents throughout the county kept all students of the Inverness District School Board home for the first two days of classes as a protest against the board's plans to amalgamate schools. Reported in the media as a two-day county-wide "student strike," this action helped defeat the amalgamation plans and unite resisting communities.

Successful protests should:

  • Ensure that there is community-wide or district-wide communication and support for the “strike action.”
  • Have clearly-articulated demands.
  • Minimize impact on students by timing the action to occur at less important times.
  • Use the media to maximize the impact on decision-makers.
  • Have on-site demonstrators, with placards and information to hand out at the school(s), administration offices, etc. (similar to picket lines).
  • Maintain order.

Civil Disobedience

Throughout our history individuals, organizations and communities have resorted to deliberately and openly disobeying laws and government regulations in order to uphold higher principles of social justice and human rights. Civil disobedience has been an important element of North American democracy, reinforcing human dignity, limiting government power and providing avenues for political, legal and social dissent. 16

While there is dispute over the exact definition of civil disobedience, most scholars agree on the following criteria:

  • the conduct must be illegal.
  • it must be predominantly non-violent.
  • it must be open and visible in order to stimulate public debate.
  • protesters must be willing to accept the punishment for their actions.

Two general categories of civil disobedience have been identified; direct and indirect. Direct civil disobedience breaks the law that is being challenged. Indirect disobedience breaks a law that may not itself be objectionable in order to draw attention to an injustice or to challenge the status quo.

Generally Canadian society is tolerant of civil disobedience because it allows citizens outside of the established legal and political system to make their voices heard. However, in issues of public service such as education, civil disobedience can be a risky tactic and is at best a last resort. There is risk that the public, being denied normal service, may react against the protest, regressing the cause. Civil disobedience actions related to education issues are usually indirect and involve some form of trespass: sit-ins, occupations and lock-outs of schools, school board and provincial offices, road blockades, "crashing" board and government meetings, etc.