Halton’s Catholic school board will not fly the Pride flag over its schools in June.
Instead, trustees voted to provide staff and teachers with mandatory training “on the Catholic Social Teaching on loving and accompanying students who identify as 2SLGBTQ+, denominational rights and rights of students and staff under the Ontario Human Rights Code.”
Schools will be directed to post safe space signage, and the board will raise awareness of Pride month following guidelines provided by the Institute for Catholic Education.
A statement released by school board chair Patrick Murphy described the actions as “first steps in an ongoing commitment to supporting the 2SLGBTQ+ members in our HCDSB community.”
“We received a great deal of feedback on the proposed motion to recognize Pride Month from members of our community, and we know that some will be disappointed with the outcome of our deliberation,” the statement added.
Changes “nearly invisible”
Oakville parent Ian McCombe, one of nearly 1,000 people who viewed the board’s April 26 deliberations, says the actions “fall well short of the changes we were hoping for.”
“Flying the Pride flag publicly would be a symbol to the community that Catholic schools are welcoming and accepting of all individuals,” he said. “The changes the board implemented instead are nearly invisible to the students who need to see them.”
"We need the schools to do a better job of letting 2SLGBTQ+ know that they are loved as they are," he added.
That was the message behind an April 6 delegation by Oakville student Nicole Hotchkiss, who asked the board to fly the Pride flag at St. Ignatius of Loyola Secondary School during the month of June as a sign of support for LGBTQ+ students and staff.
Trustees declined to act on her request that night, voting simply to accept the delegation as information.
But Burlington trustee Brenda Agnew subsequently filed a motion calling on the board to fly the Pride flag outside all schools throughout the month of June, as well as put up Safe Space posters in every classroom.
Noting that many in the board community identify as LGBTQ+, she said the action would demonstrate that “we support and are welcoming of all students, staff and community members.”
Oakville trustee Nancy Guzzo seconded Agnew's motion.
Thousands sign petition
More than 17,000 people signed a petition created by HCDSB student trustee Kirsten Kelly, calling on the board to fly the flag as “a visual and symbolic reminder” to LGBTQ+ students that they are supported.
The board also received hundreds of emails and letters for and against the motion. Trustees heard from five delegations on April 20 but didn’t complete their meeting before considering the motion.
On Monday night, trustees spent nearly four hours arguing over a series of substitute motions and amendments ranging from indefinitely postponing discussion, to establishing a policy that only the Canadian flag should be flown, to flying the Pride flag outside of the board’s main education centre.
Agew warned trustees that rejecting her motion would send "a very clear negative message.”
“It says that we just cannot accept 2SLGBTQ people – that we’d rather they stay hidden, that we don’t believe that they should be seen.”
But trustee Janet O’Hearn-Czarnota, whose substitute motion was eventually adopted by trustees, lamented the divisiveness of the Pride flag proposal.
“What this has done has really created sides in our school community, which is very unfortunate, and it saddens me,” she said.
Symbolic gesture, says Oakville trustee
Oakville trustee Peter DeRosa suggested the motion was political and said he had heard from “members of the silent majority who told me they are reluctant to speak out for fear of repercussions.”
He also said the motion would fail to give students the tools and resilience they would need once they left the board’s schools.
“Symbolic gestures with no significant follow-through leave the impression that the bullying problem will stop if we fly a flag,” he said. “It will not.”
The argumentative board meeting left McCombe with a poor impression of Halton’s Catholic trustees.
“The actions and conduct of some of the trustees during the board meeting were shameful as they seemed to take every opportunity to delay, obstruct and talk about anything other than the possibility of flying this flag and what it would mean to staff and students,” he said.
“HCDSB had a chance to act as a leader in the Catholic school system and instead showed a deeply divided, dysfunctional board room.”