All posts by Kevin Drager

ETEA Lobbying Trip to Victoria

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ETEA President Stu Malinowski and 15 other FPSE presidents embarked on a lobby mission to Victoria on November 19-20, 2025. The theme was “Mobilization for Education” and the ETEA specific message was simple: when it comes to private international education, choose Union.

The lobby meetings were quite intense since they met with 8 separate MLAs in person and one government Deputy Minister on Zoom. Three meetings of particular note were with BC Premier David Eby, Minister of Post-secondary and Future Skills Jessie Sunner, and Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon. 

Overall, the ETEA/FPSE lobby was a big success. It was an incredible learning experience. Moreover, each meeting with senior officials lasted 30 minutes, so it allowed for substantive discussion and not just lip service. ETEA forcefully delivered our message and it was well received.   Stu also networked and promoted ETEA brand awareness.

The lobby effort has not stopped with this junket. FPSE is already planning a second Victoria visit in late winter, 2026. To be sure, the ETEA will be there building on the foundation we have already set. 

ETEA Responds to Languages Canada Sounding the Alarm on Student Numbers

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The following letter was sent to Languages Canada:

Dear ICEF Monitor, 

My name is Stuart Malinowski. I am President of the Education and Training Employees’ Association, which has been proudly representing the interests of private sector international education instructors since 1995. The ETEA is also a proud member of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, serving 18 public and private postsecondary institutions in BC.

I am writing in response to an article posted on your website on July 29, 2025 titled:  

“Nearly 30 Canadian language programmes closed, marking the “sharpest decline in the sector’s history”. This article was a follow up to a related ICEF article published on July 23, 2025 titled: “Measuring the impacts of the first full year of Canada’s foreign student enrolment cap”.

The ETEA and FPSE share Languages Canada’s deep concern over the dramatic decline in student enrolment and concomitant school closures and job losses happening across Canada. The numbers are truly “alarming”. Moreover, both the ETEA and FPSE want to work with organizations such as ICEF, Languages Canada and government bodies such as PTIRU to help address this crisis. 

Promoting, establishing and collaborating with a professional union such as the ETEA can be an important step towards improving the image and performance of any private ESL institution or the sector as a whole. In a unionized environment, accountability, transparency and mutual responsibility and interest prevail. Principles and standards matter. So do values such as fairness, mutual respect and collaboration. In a unionized environment, the bar is set higher for teachers be it in wages, and security, conduct. In a word, professionalism.

We have been working hard to lobby for our industry and undo the catastrophic changes that the Canadian government has made to our industry. Many of us have spent our entire careers teaching ESL and providing rewarding experiences for students. We continue to lobby for a more common sense approach to immigration reform.

I look forward to collaborating with ICEF and Languages Canada in an effort to stop the steep decline in student visas. Our industry deserves better than this.

Stuart Malinowski

ETEA President and Organizer

ETEA Response to International Student Visa Cuts

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The Education and Training Employees Association represents over 140 teachers at private post-secondary institutions in the lower mainland. The ETEA is also a proud member of the Federation of Post Secondary Educators which represents over ten thousand post secondary instructors throughout BC. 

The ETEA’s primary mission is to protect and enhance working conditions and wages for private sector instructors in the Lower Mainland.  ETEA represented schools meet higher educational standards are more accountable than non-union schools.

Recently, the Federal Government announced a two-year, 30% reduction in the number of international student visas.  The ETEA supports and works to ensure good learning conditions for international students.  We are pleased the government is finally taking action to improve private international education conditions. However, the approach has been heavy handed and off the mark. 

First, the visa cap doesn’t distinguish the good schools from the “bad apple” schools which exploit students and teachers; it simply lumps all private schools together, negatively impacting teachers and students at reputable, regulated, unionized schools.

Second, International students are not the reason for the housing crisis. 

Third, the Government’s harsh, top-down approach has obscured important consequences of limiting student visas including the economic impact for teachers, for communities, and the impact on the ongoing execution of regulatory enforcement.

We believe there is a better way to ensure international students have a good educational experience.  We propose:

  1. Government should work in partnership with unions, schools, and accrediting bodies in order to improve the international student experience, the student visa system, and keep Canada a premiere destination for students.
  1. There should be consideration and protection of teachers’ jobs.
  1. Include teachers’ voices in all deliberations. We have experience, knowledge of regulations and their impact, and a professional dedication to high quality post secondary education.
  1. Create a regulatory framework that protects students from bad actors in the industry. These bad actors need to be managed through enforcement of current PTIB rules and the regulations of agents.
  1. Create more robust procedures, including an ombudsman, to follow up on student complaints, non-compliance with PTIB standards, and to ensure greater oversight and enforcement for offending schools.
  1. Adjust the number of student visas allocated to Canadian schools that have been identified as currently having an unsustainable number of international students.
  1. Impose stricter regulations on agents as is being done in Australia.  Australian schools must terminate relationships with agents who don’t abide by ethical standards of conduct or who engage in dishonest practices.
  1. Foster good working conditions for teachers (wage, physical space, curriculum) including through unionization which will improve the quality of education, create more secure, less precarious work, and therefore improve the reputation of the industry.

Formal Notice of ETEA’s 2022 AGM Thursday, November 24th at 7pm

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Hello Union Members,       

We are looking forward to seeing all of our members at the ETEA’s 2022 Annual General Meeting on Zoom, Thursday, November 24th at 7pm.  We request that you join a few minutes early. 

There is a call for nominations for executive positions for the 2022-2023 year:  President (responsible for overseeing the ETEA union), Treasurer (responsible for overseeing the finance of the union), First Vice President (responsible for grievances) and Second Vice President (responsible for communications). 

If you would like to nominate anyone for any of these positions, please contact our nominations officer Mike Buchan mikebu1etea@gmail.com. Nominations may also be made from the floor of the meeting.

Please see your Bargaining Unit Director for the specific zoom details, the agenda and the AGM package. We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!

In Solidarity

Susan Roth 

ETEA Second Vice President