Sask. education minister calls RCMP on group who held sit-in at his office in North Battleford

A sit-in at the education minister's office in North Battleford on Friday ended with the RCMP being called.

Education minister Jeremy Cockrill said he had a meeting arranged with an individual teacher, but others, including other members of the local teachers association, showed up for a sit-in.

"I'm happy to meet with any constituents of the Battlefords as long as we can have respectful conversation. But when you get to intimidating my staff, I'm sorry I'm just not gonna tolerate that," Cockrill told reporters on Monday.

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation has been engaging in rotating strikes and withdrawals of voluntary duties since mid-January, after bargaining on a new collective agreement came to a standstill when the government said it would not negotiate on class size and complexity during contract talks.

Cockrill said the group wanted him to phone Premier Scott Moe so they could discuss their concerns. The education minister also said he met with the group for around 15 minutes before attending to other constituency matters.

"[They were] a fairly calm group but there started to be a couple individuals exhibiting some disruptive behaviour and intimidating my staff and I think that's really where I drew the line and asked the RCMP to come and remove these folks from the office," Cockrill said.

Cockrill said members of the group took photos of his two staff members despite them asking them not to.

"That's not the type of behaviour that I would have going into anybody else 's office and I would expect the same for people coming to my office," Cockrill said.

Watch| Battlefords Now reporter captures moment where RCMP asks group to leave:

Battlefords RCMP confirmed it received a report of a protest at an office on Friday at about 3:20 p.m. CST. The Mounties said the group left without incident after officers arrived at the office.

CBC News is attempting to reach out to people who attended the sit-in. CBC Saskatchewan is always open to news tips and information through an email to sasknews@cbc.ca.