Dear Editor,
June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Recently, the Toronto Catholic District School Board passed a motion to fly the rainbow flag and celebrate pride month in June. We believe the vote was wrong on moral and legal grounds.
Section 93 of the Canadian Constitution guarantees the right of Catholics to run their schools according to their faith. That section states, “Nothing in any such Law shall prejudicially affect any Right or Privilege with respect to Denominational Schools which any Class of Persons have by Law in the Province at the Union.” The vote violated this right.
Moreover, the vote was taken by nominally Catholic trustees, elected to represent Catholic ratepayers who then voted for an agenda contrary to Catholic teaching. They take an oath of office to defend, not defy, Catholic teaching. No trustee campaigned for election to reject the guidance of Cardinal Thomas Collins on such Denominational issues.
Parents enrol their children in Catholic schools expecting that the education they will receive across the curriculum develops critical thinkers and builders in the context of Catholic teaching, learning and faith development.
It is the legal right of Catholics in Ontario to impart these values without being subjected to accusations of bigotry and hatred by woke politicians or activists.Section 29 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, reaffirms the denominational right which Catholics have to Separate schools. The trustees’ job is to defend those rights, not to sell them out or give them away.
Their vote on May 6 was an unethical and illegal rejection of their duties to maintain our children’s rights to receive a true Catholic education.
Lou and Michelle Iacobelli
