In 1917, the Alberta Teachers’ Alliance (the Alliance) was created in response to teachers leaving the profession in droves for better salaries and working conditions. Its inaugural annual meeting was held in Edmonton during Easter week of 1918.
The Alliance advocated for improvements to the profession:
- Better teaching contracts
- A minimum salary of $1,200 per year
- Full citizenship rights for teachers
- Pensions
- The right to appeal to a hearing before being dismissed
By 1920, the Alliance had created several locals, published the first issue of the ATA Magazine and helped to found the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF).
That year, the Alliance hired its first full-time employee, John Walker Barnett, as secretary-treasurer. Barnett held that position until retiring in 1946. He worked tirelessly to elevate the status of the teaching profession. His efforts resulted in the Teaching Profession Act of 1935, which established teaching as a profession in Alberta and changed the organization’s name to the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
To recognize his achievements, the University of Alberta granted Barnett an honorary doctorate of laws in February 1947. Barnett died that June, and the degree was conferred posthumously in the fall. The university’s chancellor, Fred G McNally, delivered an emotional speech, praising his friend and colleague as “an able teacher, as a man of great courage and singleness of purpose, as a fearless fighter, as a champion of the weak and defenseless, as a matchless leader and as a gallant and upright gentleman.”
Alberta’s teachers honoured Barnett by naming their headquarters Barnett House.
The ATA is proud to continue to advocate for public education and the teaching profession by serving its 46,000 members through professional development opportunities, collective bargaining, professional help and advice, and educational research.
Related documents
ATA executive secretaries
| 1920–46 | John W Barnett |
| 1946–58 | Eric C Ansley |
| 1959–68 | Stanley C T Clarke |
| 1968–88 | Bernie T Keeler |
| 1988–98 | Julius S Buski |
| 1998–2002 | Charles Hyman |
| 2002–18 | Gordon R Thomas |
| 2018–present | Dennis Theobald |
ATA presidents
1917–19 George D Misener
1919–20 Thomas E A Stanley
1920–22 Hubert C Newland
1922–23 Charles E Peasley
1923–24 John E Somerville
1924–25 William W Scott
1925–26 Frederick Parker
1926–27 Alfred Waite
1927–28 Harry C Sweet
1928–29 Harry D Ainlay
1929–30 Arthur J H Powell
1930–31 Roland D Webb
1931–32 Cedric O Hicks
1932–33 Milton W Brock
1933–34 George A Clayton
1934–35 Edward J Thorlakson
1935–36 Gordon G Harman
1936–37 Eric C Ansley
1937–39 Milton E LaZerte
1939–41 Raymond E Shaul
1941–43 James A Smith
1943–45 Clarence Sansom
1945–47 Harold C Melsness
1947–48 Herbert E Smith
1948–49 Edgar T Wiggins
1949–51 Frederick J C Seymour
1951–53 Marian Gimby
1953–54 Lars Olson
1954–55 Frank J Edwards
1955–56 George S Lakie
1956–57 H J McKim Ross
1957–59 Inez K Castleton
1959–60 Richard F Staples
1960–61 Arthur D G Yates
1961–62 John A McDonald
1962–63 Hugh C McCall
1963–64 Thomas F Rieger
1964–65 L Jean Scott
1965–66 Malcolm W McDonnell
1966–67 Frank W Hoskyn
1967–68 Bernie T Keeler
1968–69 Arthur M Arbeau
1969–71 Ivan P Stonehocker
1971–72 Walter L Hughes
1972–74 Murray Jampolsky
1974–76 Patricia M English
1976–77 Halvar C Jonson
1977–82 K Mac Kryzanowski
1982–84 Arthur V R Cowley
1984–87 Nadene M Thomas
1987–90 Brendan D Dunphy
1990–93 Frances M Savage
1993–99 Bauni M Mackay
1999–2003 Larry Booi
2003–09 Frank Bruseker
2009–13 Carol D Henderson
2013–17 H Mark Ramsankar
2017–19 Greg A Jeffery
2019–present Jason Schilling
