THE Surrey Teachers’ Association will be hosting a celebratory event on Saturday, April 30 to mark the changing of the name of their office building from Park Place Building to the Lloyd Edwards Building.  The event will take place from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Queen Elizabeth Secondary School at 9457 King George Boulevard.

STA President Jatinder Bir said, “As the first South Asian president of the Surrey Teachers’ Association, I am quite excited about having this opportunity to honour and celebrate Lloyd Edwards in this way partly because I immigrated to Canada the same year that Lloyd was elected president and also because I now have the responsibility to continue the work of racial justice, a cause he worked so passionately on.”

Edwards recently turned 90 years old and has been a witness to many changes in public education over the past nine decades.  BC Teachers’ Federation president Teri Mooring will be speaking at the event about a series of projects undertaken by the BCTF that grew out of Edwards’ demand for anti-racism action at the 1975 BCTF AGM.

“At a time when there continues to be avoidance of the necessary and difficult conversations about racism in our society, it’s important to reflect on the work of activists like Lloyd Edwards,” said Bir.

Surrey teachers say they are looking forward to the celebration of this historic event.