Edmonton Elks organize free camp for high school football players sidelined by strike

Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, home field of the Edmonton Elks, is seen on Tuesday, June 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON — High school football players sidelined as a result of the Alberta teachers strike are getting some gridiron help from the CFL’s Edmonton Elks.

The strike, in its third day Wednesday, means a number of school sports teams are having their seasons put on hold indefinitely, including high school football, flag football, volleyball and soccer.

• Download our app to get Edmonton alerts on your device

Ryan Brower, community co-ordinator of amateur football with the Elks, says the team wanted to step up to make sure local football players still had the chance to get some practice time in during the strike.

He said the 125 available slots were filled within a number of hours, with another 90 student athletes put on a waiting list for the six practice days planned throughout the month.

“It just goes to show the passion people have,” Brower said of the uptake.

“Kids want to keep developing.”

Brower, who noted the camp was made possible with help from the province’s umbrella organization Football Alberta, said the student athletes who attend will learn from the pros. Elks players from each position will be helping out, including two-time Canadian Football League all-star receiver Steven Dunbar Jr.

“Our community is better off when this organization is out and serving people,” said Brower.

Tim Enger, the director of Football Alberta, said in an update this week that most high school leagues have cancelled this week’s games as an immediate response to the strike.

Among the games cancelled, Enger said, was a match between two of Calgary’s largest high schools — Notre Dame and St. Francis — who were set to meet at the Calgary Stampeders’ McMahon Stadium in an annual event that he said garners the largest turnout for a high school football game in the country.

The strike is affecting some 740,000 students in 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools, which all closed Monday.

It began after teachers overwhelmingly rejected the government’s latest offer, which included a 12 per cent wage increase over four years and hiring 3,000 more teachers to reduce overcrowded classrooms.

That offer also included money to cover the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine for teachers.

The president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, Jason Schilling, has said the pay bump wouldn’t make up for years of stagnant salaries and the additional hiring commitment isn’t enough to fix overcrowded classrooms.

Premier Danielle Smith’s government has repeatedly defended the government’s proposal, saying it’s fair and designed to address issues teachers are raising.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in an interview Wednesday the government’s position remains the same and it’s waiting for the union to come back with another proposal.

He said the two sides are having “exploratory conversations,” which he hopes will lead to formal bargaining meetings.

“That hasn’t happened yet, and we again are asking the union leadership in those exploratory talks to come back to us with a proposal that could meet the support of their members.”

He said students are ultimately “going to bear the brunt” of the strike the longer it goes on, and the government hopes teachers might call off the strike in advance of a new deal being reached.

“Students should be in schools learning and we can continue to have conversations to find out what’s necessary for us to reach a deal.”

Starting Thursday, teachers will also be locked out of schools, a move the government’s bargaining committee said would provide predictability by ruling out changing job action tactics by teachers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2025.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press