The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Former ATA executive receives honorary membership

Laura Harris
ATA News Staff

Earl Hjelter is more than a pretty face in a fancy dress shirt.

That fact was made clear by Association Past President Frank Bruseker in his remarks prior to presenting Hjelter, the former associate executive secretary, with the second of two honorary memberships bestowed at the ATA’s 93rd Annual Representative Assembly.

Bruseker and Hjelter both taught for the Calgary Board of Education and worked shoulder to shoulder while with the Association. It was from that palette of experiences that Bruseker painted a fascinating and complex portrait of Hjelter.

Bruseker spoke of Hjelter’s renowned and exquisite taste in clothing, joking just a little about his rainbow of “high-quality, 637-thread-count Egyptian cotton shirts.” He noted Hjelter’s lifelong passion for travel and his extensive education, which, in addition to a BEd from the University of Alberta, includes a graduate diploma in international relations from the University of Stockholm and a master degree from the London School of Economics. He then spoke of Hjelter’s work with the ATA, providing numerous examples of his professionalism, his dependability, and his incredible depth and breadth of Association knowledge. The quintessential example related to the night that all collective bargaining agreements in the province had to be signed and in place to guarantee the ratification of the five-year memorandum of agreement between the ATA and the provincial government.

Just five hours before the midnight deadline, Bruseker recalled, he heard rumblings about issues with five or six school boards. Anxious, but not panicked, Bruseker called Barnett House just after 7 p.m. to see if, by chance, Hjelter was there and ready to take control of any emergent situations. He was.

Hjelter accepted his honorary membership sporting a finely tailored suit and—living up to his billing—one of his trademark Egyptian cotton shirts.

Hjelter graciously acknowledged Julius Buski, who also had an honorary membership bestowed upon him that morning. He then paid tribute to those who inspired and encouraged his academic achievements—his mother and the teaching staff who taught him at Ryley School. “Three university degrees later,” Hjelter reflected, “I owe so much to the efforts of this one small school staff in a village with ­limited resources. But it was those teachers, people like you, who inspired me to go into education and take the path that brought me here today.”

Articulately citing the litany of issues faced and fought by teachers and the teaching profession over the past 40 years, Hjelter demonstrated the depth and breadth of knowledge referenced earlier by Bruseker. Discussing the time following the ratification of the five-year deal between teachers and the provincial government, he confirmed that his support for the teachers of Alberta will continue into his retirement.

“For those familiar with the concept that no good deed ever goes unpunished, tensions arose almost immediately in 2008 and continue into the present with economic impacts on funding arrangements, staffing uncertainties for 2010/11 and different perceptions over who had agreed to pay for what and how,” said Hjelter. “However, I am confident that teachers will rise to the challenges once more. My heart is with you.”

In closing, Hjelter displayed his typical grace by thanking all those he felt had a hand in his growth and success. The list was quite thorough but, fittingly, he saved his final thanks for the “rank-and-file teachers of Alberta who are the cornerstones of education.”