Trudeau raises violent Mexican teacher strike with President Pena Nieto

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he cited his time as a school teacher Tuesday when he raised the issue of a violent Mexican teachers’ strike as part of his human rights discussion with President Enrique Pena Nieto.

During a joint news conference on Parliament Hill, Pena Nieto was asked by a Mexican journalist about the ongoing labour strife with his country’s teachers, which recently left eight people dead in an incident in his country’s south.

The Mexican president called on the "dissident" teachers to do their "social role" and work harder for the betterment of their communities.

But Trudeau waded into the discussion, unprompted, in part because of his previous classroom experience.

"Obviously, as a teacher, I had a good conversation with the president on this, on the concerns around the troubling incidents, but also the need to engage in constructive dialogue and ensure a strengthening of the rule of law," he said.

Human rights questions have followed Pena Nieto to Canada this week, where he has tried to keep the focus on deepening economic and environmental co−operation with Canada and the United States.

The latter country enters the discussion on Wednesday, when U.S. President Barack Obama arrives for the expanded Three Amigos summit.

Amnesty International has pressed Trudeau to raise human rights issues with Pena Nieto, including what it says is state−backed sexual violence against women, and to explain the disappearance of 27,000 Mexicans in the decade since the country launched a war against drug cartels.

On Tuesday, it was an ongoing labour fight involving resistance to Pena Nieto’s new education reforms, leading to unrest in several provinces, that reared its head.

A group called the National Co−ordinator of Education Workers, or CNTE, has blocked highways in order to get the government’s attention.

The union is protesting new legislation by Pena Nieto that includes mandatory exams for teachers to maintain their jobs, and it also calling for the freedom of union leaders that it says the government has jailed. In one particularly bloody incident last week, eight people died in clashes in Mexico’s southern Oaxaca state, but it wasn’t clear who was responsible.

Trudeau said Canada will be a "strong and firm friend and partner to Mexico" as it deals with the conflict.

"It is important that we move forward towards greater respect and defence of human rights, and that’s ... part of the things that friends work together on well."

Amnesty International has called on the Mexican government to protect freedom of expression and association, and to conduct a thorough and fair investigation.

Mexican interior ministry officials met with the teachers union following the fatal incident in Oaxaca in an attempt to dial down the tensions.

On Monday, as he stood next to Trudeau, Pena Nieto appeared to blame the teachers for the recent violence, referring to "the issues caused by the dissident teachers union."

"It is regretful that the demonstrations that we have seen in different locations in our nation in southern Mexico, specifically in the state of Oaxaca ... that it goes beyond merely demonstrating and fighting for a cause," he said through a translator.

"It is causing problems to the community that they belong to."

Pena Nieto said the teachers should avail themselves of the "mechanisms" of the "rule of law" to fight for their cause.

"I would call them to perform their social role," he said. "They have to perform the social function of any teacher. They have to work for the benefit of their communities."