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In a 10-1 vote, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) trustees upheld its policy of not flying the Progress Pride flag outside school facilities with three flagpoles during June.
Delegates in favour and against amending the flag policy voted upon by board members this past June pled their case during the By-Law/Policies Review Committee meeting on Jan. 21.
Campaign Life Coalition, the political arm of the Canadian pro-life movement, urged supporters to make their voices heard with trustees. Matt Wojciechowski, the organization's vice president, was one of the speakers during the meeting.
In an email to The Catholic Register on Jan. 22, Wojciechowski expressed “his hope the overwhelming vote instills the importance of parents and other faithful Catholics getting involved and contacting trustees.” He praised them for “(turning) out in great numbers. Many, with rosaries in hand, prayed for divine intervention. What a beautiful witness of faith.”
Wojciechowski also expressed gratitude that Toronto's Cardinal Francis Leo weighed in with his thoughts. Trustee Paula Dametto-Giovannozzi received an email from Leo’s office advising all members of the DPCDSB to seek guidance from a May 4, 2021, statement issued by Leo’s predecessor, Cardinal Emeritus of Toronto Thomas Collins. This communique declares that the crucifix is the ideal symbol of inclusivity.
“Parents make a clear choice when they decide that their children will attend a Catholic school,” stated Collins. “They rightly expect that trustees, principals, teachers — all partners in education — will ensure that Catholic teaching is presented, lived and infused in all we do. In that regard, the appropriate symbol that represents our faith, and the inclusion and acceptance of others, is the Cross, which is visible at the entrance of every Catholic school ... There is a belief among some that unless one embraces secular symbols, one cannot be inclusive or accepting. This is simply not true.”
Time will tell if the overwhelming vote — Trustee Brea Corbet was the lone official dissentee (along with the symbolic vote of three student representatives) — will dissuade members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association’s Dufferin-Peel units from staging any more efforts to promote flying the Pride flag.
The flag legislation that was passed was for the facilities with a third flagpole — there are just three such buildings across the whole district — to fly the DPCDSB flag.
(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)
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