TORONTO, Ontario, August 8, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ontario’s largest association of Catholic parents has opposed the homosexual “anti-bullying” clubs being developed for Ontario’s Catholic high schools. The group also called on the Toronto Catholic District School Board to pass amendments to its equity policy designed to protect Catholic teaching in the schools.
“We feel that the amendments enhance, strengthen and clarify the document making it more relevant to the diverse student population enjoyed by the TCDSB as well as more faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church,” wrote Darlene Canton on behalf of the Toronto Association of Parents in Catholic Education (TAPCE) in June.
TAPCE is the Toronto affiliate of the Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education (OAPCE), which is recognized by the Ontario government as the voice for parents with children in Ontario’s publicly-funded Catholic schools. Canton is an officer with TAPCE and a member of OAPCE’s board of directors.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board’s equity policy, passed earlier this year as part of the Ontario government’s sweeping equity and inclusive education strategy, has sparked an unprecedented mobilization of parents who fear that it will give homosexual activists a foothold in order to further subvert already weak Catholic sexual teaching in the schools.
In August the board will be considering a set of amendments to the policy promoted by trustees John Del Grande and Angela Kennedy to ensure that equity and inclusion are interpreted consistently with Catholic teaching.
Canton’s letter was addressed to TCDSB board chair Ann Andrachuk, Director of Education Ann Perron, and Catholic Parent Involvement Committee chair Jonathan Page.
In it, Canton also opposed the creation of clubs focusing on “sexual orientation,” which were mandated by the Ontario Liberal Government in all publicly funded schools including Catholic schools.
“TAPCE does not support any type of club which singles out one sector of students to the exclusion of everyone else,” wrote Canton.
She also explicitly opposed so-called “gay-straight alliance” clubs, which have been a lightning rod in recent months in the controversy over the Catholic schools’ implementation of the government’s equity strategy.
“A GSA club works against the true intent of the Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy insofar as it is mutually exclusive of all other students who are bullied for reasons other than their sexual orientation,” she wrote.
At the same time, she endorsed a broader type of support group that, she said, “would allow any student who feels unsafe, harassed, bullied or excluded, for whatever reason, to go where they can receive support, guidance and assistance from trained staff members, guidance counsellors and/or Child and Youth Workers.”
The letter from the Toronto Association of Parents in Catholic Education can be found here.
Contact Information:
For trustees of the Toronto Catholic District School board click here.
Catholic Bishops of Toronto Archdiocese:
Most Rev. Thomas Collins, (416) 934-0606, [email protected]
Mgr Vincent Nguyen, 416 724-0900, [email protected]
Mgr William T. McGrattan, (416) 769-6001, [email protected]
Most Rev. John Boissonneau, (416) 207-4983, [email protected]
Director of Education, Ann Perron: 416.222.8282 ext. 2296, [email protected]