Photo: BCTF

Carole Gordon

A Kelowna elementary school teacher is the new BC Teachers' Federation president.

Carole Gordon was voted in as president of the large labour union this past weekend. She's spent the past 14 years teaching at Kelowna's Bankhead Elementary, the very same school that she attended as a child.

She knew she wanted to go into teaching from a young age, and her teaching career dates back to 1991.

“The attraction was in the teaching and learning, but I also wanted to be part of that family of teachers. I consider the union to be family in the same way,” Gordon said in a recent post on the BCTF website.

Gordon has served as second vice-president of the Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association, a board member of the Kelowna Child Care Society and a United Way director. She was also elected president of the North Okanagan Labour Council.

She ran as the NDP candidate for Westside Kelowna in 2013 twice, once in the general election and a second time in the by-election against then-Premier Christy Clark, following Clark's loss in her home riding of Vancouver-Point Grey.

“At the BCTF Summer Leadership Conference six weeks later, the president acknowledged my efforts and I got a standing ovation,” Gordon said. “It made me realize that even though I lost, my candidacy mattered to teachers.”

She has most recently served on the Executive Committee of the BCTF. The federation represents more than 51,000 public school teachers and is made up of more than 70 local teacher unions across the province. It's been in operation since 1917.

“I believe this work has to be done with empathy, curiosity, and humility because no one does this alone,” she said. “I’ll be centring teachers and bringing everybody’s stories with me, walking the halls with 50,000 teachers—that’s really important to me.”

Gordon is replacing former BCTF president Clint Johnston, who was elected last year as the President-Designate of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. Gordon will officially take over the BCTF president role on July 1.