A union representing high school teachers in Ontario is calling on the province to provide funding for anti-violence training programs and the hiring of mental health support staff to address violence in and around schools.
The president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation says the union's members are calling for help in ensuring schools are safe.
Karen Littlewood says the issue of school violence has been a challenge in Ontario schools for a long time, but she is hearing from teachers that the situation appears to be worse than before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the call for funding but a spokeswoman has said the government is providing additional resources for mental health, after-school programming and sports, and mentorship programs for students.
Grace Lee said last week that the government has committed to hiring nearly 7,000 new education workers and 1,000 teachers, while increasing student mental health funding to $90 million under this year's budget.
Schools across Ontario have seen violence in recent months including a fatal shooting outside a Toronto school in October, a stabbing at a London, Ont., high school that sent a female victim to hospital with serious injuries in November and another stabbing at a high school in Oakville, Ont., last month.