York Catholic District School Board will seek legal opinion before deciding on a wide-reaching flag ban.
The motion from trustee Frank Alexander calls for an amendment to the board’s flag policy to ban most flags on school premises, in the interests of restoring “unity.”
The board’s policy review committee deferred the motion Feb. 7 for a legal opinion. Board chair Elizabeth Crowe said they had to consider the implications of such a policy in implementation and enforcement.
“What kind of discipline? Crowe said. “Could you suspend students from bringing a flag of the Maple Leafs to school? It’s a real, large, overarching change that trustee Alexander is looking for.”
The motion comes after the board faced widespread condemnation for refusing to fly a Pride flag at board headquarters during Pride Month last year. With the exception of the provincial, federal, municipal, school and papal flags, the resolution would bar flying and displaying any other flags on school premises. The motion justifies the move with the board having “been fraught with disunity over the flying of flags.”
But beyond the Pride flag, Crowe brought up the other flags that would be impacted by the policy, including flags of other nationalities and the Autism flag that some schools fly.
“There might be implications on that,” she said. “If this policy passes, what kind of enforcement mechanism would be allowed?”
The movement has earned concern and further condemnation among the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, with PFlag York Region mobilizing last month to oppose it.
Stop the Catholic Harm, an advocacy group opposing the teaching of anti-2SLGBTQIA+, pointed out a potential pitfall in the policy. It noted that students displaying Italian flags — highlighted in a recent social media post by Divine Mercy Catholic Elementary School in Vaughan — would get disallowed by the wording of the flag policy.
“There's still time to make it more clear that the intent (to bring "unity") is focused against the 2SLGBTQI+ community in York Region,” the group said.
Alexander said he was fine with the legal review of the policy, and that was part of his wish to have the policy go to committee.
“Then we can have a truly explicit report that would allow us to go forward,” he said.
