BARRIE -- It was a powerful sight as thousands of teachers and education workers marched along Bayfield Street in Barrie on Friday.

And they weren't alone.

A massive joint strike action took place right across the province with protests in various communities as unions representing Ontario's 200,000 elementary, high school, Catholic and French-language members rallied.

"Your child should be in class, they should not be the casualty of union-led escalation," Education Minister Stephen Lecce stated on Friday. "While union leaders are continuing to organize further disruption, our government remains focused on getting deals that ensure students are learning each and every day."

Meanwhile, the four heads of Ontario's teachers' unions said they hope the province-wide strike and massive rally send a strong message to Premier Doug Ford and his government.

Thousands gathered at Queen's Park to show they are united in their fight.

During media questioning, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario President Sam Hammond said, "Our focus right now is to get back to the table to actually get a deal on behalf of students, parents and our members in this province."

The province-wide protest is the largest demonstration since 1997.

The four major education unions maintain the key issues remain the same, and say they aren't budging on what they believe will be deeper cuts to public education.

The government has partly backed off on both increasing class size and e-learning courses, though the unions say it isn't far enough.

In recent months, Lecce has offered to increase high school class sizes to 25 and require two online learning courses instead.

Elementary teachers say their key issues include guaranteeing the future of full-day kindergarten, securing more funding to hire special education teachers, and maintaining seniority hiring rules.

Late Friday afternoon, the union representing Ontario's English Catholic school board educators (OECTA) said next week's planned rotating strikes would be put on hold after "meaningful" talks with the province.

Following the province-wide strike on Friday, OECTA President Liz Stuart said that both parties would continue negotiations on Monday, leading to the suspension of further rotating strikes.

"Catholic teachers have demonstrated that we will do what is necessary to stand up against this government's cuts to publicly funded education. Should negotiations cease being productive, further strike action will be announced," Stuart wrote in a statement.

That means the planned strike for Thurs., Feb. 27 at the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board is now cancelled.

- With files from The Canadian Press