Timeline: BCTF Past Presidents Interviews

Jim Cairnie served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1963 to 1964. In this interview he discusses the campaign to secularize BC’s public schools, the major reorganization of the BCTF’s governance structure during his presidency, and his later staff role working on income security programs including the Salary Indemnity Plan.

Learn more about Jim Cairnie’s interview here.

Bob Buzza served as President of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) in 1967-68 and later as the Federation’s General Secretary and Executive Director from 1973-1989. In this interview, he discusses his early life and teaching career, the BCTF’s growing political role, and international work.

Learn more about Bob Buzza’s interview here.

Jim MacFarlan served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1973 to 1975, after serving as First Vice-President from 1971 to 1973.

In Part 1 of this two-part interview he discusses his path into union activism in Burnaby, the March 1971 one-day provincial strike over pensions, the 1972 political action campaign and Teachers’ Political Action Committee (TPAC), the 1974 Surrey teachers’ strike, and the Federation’s Bargaining and Professional Rights Task Force.

Learn more about Jim MacFarlan’s interview Part 1 here.

In Part 2 of this two-part interview, recorded the same day, he draws on his decades in the Federation to reflect on the BCTF’s early affiliation with, and later departure from, the Canadian labour movement, the Women in Teaching (WIT) movement and Status of Women Program, and the long campaign over class size and composition.

Learn more about Jim MacFarlan’s interview Part 2 here.

Bill Broadley served as President of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1975 to 1977. A longtime Victoria mathematics teacher, he discusses his career in teaching and union work. During his presidency, he was involved in the BCTF’s fights over wage controls and public funding for independent schools. He also talks about his later role helping establish the College of Teachers.

Learn more about Bill Broadley’s interview here.

Pat Brady served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1977 to 1979, and later as President of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) from 1981 to 1982. In this interview he discusses chairing the BCTF’s Annual General Meetings and Representative Assemblies for over two decades, his international work with the CTF and the World Confederation of Teaching Professions, and his later leadership of the BC Retired Teachers’ Association.

Learn more about Pat Brady’s interview here.

Al Blakey served as President of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1979 to 1981, following two decades of grassroots organizing that began in Vancouver’s elementary teachers’ local. He helped win the province’s first teacher bargaining contracts, co-founded the progressive Teacher Viewpoint caucus, and led the union through a province-wide pensions dispute, a landmark Terrace strike, and years of political action.

Learn more about Al Blakey’s interview here.

Larry Kuehn served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1981 to 1984, and later spent more than three decades on Federation staff, primarily as Director of Research and Technology.

In Part 1 of this two-part interview he discusses his rise from Kamloops local leadership to the BCTF presidency, the 1981 Yorke Report, the Expanded Scope of Bargaining campaign, the February 1982 member referendum on the right to strike, the province-wide Solidarity protests and teachers’ strike of November 1983, and the Kelowna Accord that ended it.

Learn more about Larry Kuehn’s interview Part 1 here.

In Part 2 of this two-part interview, recorded on a separate day, he discusses introducing new communication technologies to the BCTF, his international work in South and Central America and southern Africa, and the Federation’s Aboriginal Education program.

Learn more about Larry Kuehn’s interview Part 2 here.

Pat Clarke served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1984 to 1986. In this interview he discusses the 1983 Solidarity protest and general strike, a Kitimat local presidents’ fly-in in support of a disciplined local president, the BCTF’s Charter of Rights challenge for full collective bargaining rights, and the Federation’s later Global Education Project and Program for Quality Teaching.

Learn more about Pat Clarke’s interview here.

Elsie McMurphy served as BCTF President from 1986 to 1989, leading the Federation through the fight for full bargaining rights under a Charter of Rights challenge, the provincial government’s Bills 19 and 20, and the resulting province-wide certification campaign and the April 28 and June 1, 1987 protests against those bills. She had earlier served as BCTF First Vice-President and went on to spend a decade as BCTF Executive Director.

Learn more about Elsie McMurphy’s interview here.

Ken Novakowski served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1989 to 1992, and later as its Executive Director (2000-2009).

In Part 1 of this interview he discusses his rise from Langley Teachers’ Association activism to the BCTF Executive, including the 1974 Surrey teachers’ strike, the December 1980 pension-indexing protest, the 1981 Expanded Scope campaign in Langley, the fight against Bills 19 and 20, and negotiating the local’s first collective agreements.

Learn more about Ken Novakowski’s interview Part 1 here.

In Part 2 of this interview he discusses the 1991 provincial election and Bill 82, the government’s 2002 stripping of the BCTF’s collective agreement, the Federation’s affiliation with the BC Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress, and the 2005 teachers’ strike.

Learn more about Ken Novakowski’s interview Part 2 here.

Ray Worley served as BCTF President from 1992 to 1994, capping a career that took him from New Zealand and Vernon classrooms to the heart of the Federation’s most consequential bargaining battles. His term was marked by the introduction of provincial bargaining for teachers, and the need to navigate internal divisions in the BCTF that arose in response.

Learn more about Ray Worley’s interview here.

Kit Krieger served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1997 to 1999. In this interview he discusses the 1987 certification and sign-up campaign in his West Vancouver local, the contentious 1998 provincial bargaining round, the Federation’s efforts to fight homophobia in schools, and the merger of the BCTF’s social justice programs.

Learn more about Kit Krieger’s interview here.

David Chudnovsky served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 1999 to 2002. He served on the BCTF executive for many years through the 1990s, and was elected President in 1999. After his presidency he helped found the Institute for Public Education in BC. David was elected as an NDP MLA for Vancouver Kensington in 2005 and served to 2009. In Part 1 of this two-part interview, he discusses his early activism, teaching in Surrey and his rise through the Surrey Teachers’ Association.

Learn more about David Chudnovsky’s interview Part 1 here.

In Part 2 of this two-part interview, he discusses the Public Education Advocacy Plan (PEAP), his work with South Africa’s Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU), the Charter for Public Education consultation he helped lead, the BCTF’s vote to join the BC Federation of Labour, his 2005 election as MLA for Vancouver-Kensington, the October 2005 teachers’ strike, and his later work founding the Institute for Public Education in BC.

Learn more about David Chudnovsky’s interview Part 2 here.

Neil Worboys served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 2002 to 2004. In this interview he discusses local bargaining and a series of strikes in Kitimat between 1988 and 1994, the Caravan Against the Cuts campaign, the BCTF’s 2003 vote to rejoin the BC Federation of Labour, and the 2003-04 College of Teachers fee strike.

Learn more about Neil Worboys’ interview here.

Jinny Sims served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 2004 to 2007. In this interview she discusses her path from Nanaimo local leadership to the BCTF presidency, the Federation’s 2005 affiliation with the BC Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), and the illegal province-wide teachers’ strike of 2005.

Learn more about Jinny Sims’ interview here.

Irene Lanzinger served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 2007 to 2010. In this interview she discusses the 2002 stripping of teachers’ collective bargaining rights, the BC College of Teachers fee boycott, the illegal 2005 teachers’ strike, the Federation’s votes to join the BC Federation of Labour and Canadian Labour Congress, and her presidency’s campaigns against the Foundation Skills Assessment and the Fraser Institute’s school rankings.

Learn more about Irene Lanzinger’s interview here.

Susan Lambert served as BCTF President from 2010 to 2013, capping a career that began with staff-rep organizing in Prince Rupert and teacher-librarianship in Burnaby and culminated in leading the Federation’s fight to defend public education after the 2002 stripping of the teachers’ collective agreement. As President she led a court challenge to that stripped agreement, campaigned against FSA testing, and navigated the 2013 bargaining dispute resolved through arbitration.

Learn more about Susan Lambert’s interview here.

Jim Iker served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 2013 to 2016. In this interview he discusses his years teaching in Burns Lake, his rise through local and provincial union office, the 2013 teachers’ strike, and the long legal battle over the government’s 2002 stripping of teachers’ collective agreements, which ended in the BCTF’s 2016 Supreme Court of Canada victory.

Learn more about Jim Iker’s interview here.

Glen Hansman served as President of the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) from 2016 to 2019, following terms as Second Vice-President (2010-13) and First Vice-President (2013-16). In this interview he discusses his years as a Vancouver elementary teacher and president of the Vancouver Elementary Teachers’ Association (VESTA), the 2005 and 2014 BCTF strikes, the 2016 Supreme Court of Canada ruling restoring bargaining rights over class size and composition, and working with the newly elected NDP government.

Learn more about Glen Hansman’s interview here.

Teri Mooring served as BCTF President from 2019 to 2022, leading the Federation through the COVID-19 pandemic’s upheaval of schools, bargaining, and governance, while also driving changes to the composition of the BCTF Executive Committee to address racism experienced by teachers and students. She had earlier served as President of the Quesnel local and as BCTF Second and First Vice-President.

Learn more about Teri Mooring’s interview here.