Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board trustees nearly unanimously voted against a motion to reverse its decision not to fly any flag other than the Canadian and Ontario flags from flagpoles at its schools.
After Tuesday night’s committee meeting and one school board trustee’s motion to enable the Pride flag to be flown at schools on the board was defeated, the Canadian flag, provincial flag, and DPCDSB flag will be the only ones allowed to fly.
The Canadian flag will be flown on the first flag pole. If there is a second flag pole at one of the school boards buildings, the Ontario flag will be flown, and in the rare case of three flag poles, only the DPCDSB flag can be flown.
Every trustee except for Brea Corbet, who put forward both the original defeated motion in June and Tuesday night’s motion, voted against the motion. All three student trustees also voted with Corbet though their votes aren’t counted in the decision, and if they were it wouldn’t have swayed the vote.
The meeting heard from over twenty delegates Wednesday night, most of whom were against the school board’s previous decision to limit flag pole use to civic flags.
For those in favour of flying the Pride flag, a common theme of wanting to protect kids from bullying and potential suicide was shared throughout, and the desire to ensure that kids who identify as LGBT+ know that they are welcome in the school board.
Matthew Wojciechowski, the Vice President of Campaign Life Coalition, and a father of two children in the school board spoke on behalf of his “pro-life and pro-family” organization against the defeated motion and the Pride flag.
Along with a petition that garnered over 30,000 signatures from community members and the testimony of community members against the motion, Wojciechowski credits the Archdiocese of Toronto for swaying the on the fence trustees to follow Church teaching instead of “gender ideology” during the vote.
“I think what really sealed the deal is the leadership of trustee Paula Dametto-Giovannozzi who was the only one to reach out to the Archdiocese of Toronto,” he told True North in an interview.
Dametto-Giovannozzi read out a response she received from recently appointed Cardinal Frank Leo affirming that the cross and the sacred heart of Jesus symbols were the most appropriate and sufficient symbols for inclusion, love, mercy and acceptance in the Catholic faith.
The statement affirmed that the Archiocese was behind those who voted against flying the Pride flag at DPCDSB schools and they had the Cardinal’s blessing.
“We’re talking about Catholic education, which, under the constitution, is protected. We have denominational rights in Ontario under the constitution for Catholic education,” Wojciechowski said.
In a pastoral letter released in June last year, Leo affirmed that “ the crucifix and Sacred Heart of Jesus were the “authentic and unsurpassed symbols of love, welcoming and compassion.”
“When it comes to Catholic education…You go to the bishops, you go to the church leaders. So it only makes sense that when there’s an issue like this that comes up in a Catholic school board – parents, teachers, the school board should seek counsel and advice from those who know Catholic teaching the best, which is the bishops and the diocese.”
Through out the debate on Tuesday Demetto-Giovannozzi repeatedly asked the speakers if they had consulted with their bishops or cardinals before making their statements. The only two who said that they had was one Catholic student against the raising of the flag and Wojciechowski.
When one delegate who was in favour of the Pride flag being flown was asked if she did so or if she believed that the Bible was the word of God, she replied only that she “believes in human rights.” While another said that she believes in the teachings of the Catholic church but that “human rights trumps” church teaching – a statement Wojciechowski said was utterly “un-Catholic.”
“If this was a conversation in the town hall, the City Hall, okay, you can have your opinions, and we can have a healthy debate about that…but we’re talking in the context of a Catholic school board so we have to align ourselves according to Catholic teaching,” he said. “When you have these Catholics and these union activists and these LGBT activists coming to our Catholic school board, and their intention is to change Catholic teaching. Well, I’m sorry, man, but that’s that’s not how it works.”
Many of the pro-Pride speakers were mobilized by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association.
OECTA did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.
