Education minister apologizes to mom for `poor choice of words'
Taya Thomas was shocked by the words Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill used during a meeting with her earlier this week.
Thomas, who lost her 13-yearold child Mayelle in late 2023, was speaking to the minister on Tuesday about cuts to programming that her daughter once relied on, and the struggles she had faced going to school in Regina.
Their discussion then moved to the current labour dispute and negotiations between the government and the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation.
“What do they want me to do? Give up my first-born child?” She recalled Cockrill saying in apparent frustration over the stalled talks.
“My jaw dropped at that,” Thomas told media.
When raised by the NDP in question period Thursday, Cockrill said he had apologized to Thomas, before admitting it was a “poor choice of words” and apologizing again.
More expressions of regret came when he spoke to members of the media after question period.
“It was a really poor choice of words on my part, and I apologize for that,” Cockrill said. “I'm human, I made a mistake.”
While Cockrill says he apologized to Thomas during their meeting Tuesday, she says she never got a direct apology.
“I was hoping maybe when he apologized, he might look at me in the eye,” she said. “He didn't.”
When speaking Tuesday, Thomas described Mayelle as “a wonderfully bright child,” who was “very loved in her community.”
“She was wheelchair-bound and she had some developmental delays but that really did never stop her from engaging and doing things like every other child,” Thomas said.
Mayelle had a condition that prevented her from sweating, which caused her to overheat in class. The entrance to her school also narrowly allowed her access while in a wheelchair.
During question period Tuesday, Cockrill responded to a line of questioning pertaining to Mayelle being restricted from advancing to high school on time because there were not enough resources to accommodate her needs.
“We would encourage all parents to be engaged with their local school divisions, be engaged with their local school communities,” he said at the time.
It was a response Thomas again took umbrage with and on Thursday she explained to media that she had reached out to her daughter's teachers to ask if she could have been more engaged and done more for Mayelle.
“I promise you you've been doing enough since she's been here,” Thomas recalled one teacher telling her.
“And I am still here, trying to do more. I'm doing my best.”