Toronto Catholic school board rejects motion to fly pro-life flags, endorse National March for Life
The motion would have declared the board's opposition to pro-abortion laws and formally encouraged students and staff alike to attend the National March for Life on May 9.
Trustees at the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) have axed a motion to fly the pro-life flag on every building in the school board throughout the month of May.
Out of the 10 TCDSB trustees in attendance on Tuesday, eight voted against the motion.
The motion would have also declared the board's opposition to pro-abortion laws and formally encouraged students and staff alike to attend the National March for Life on May 9.
The trustee who put the motion forward, Michael Del Grande, and Ward 8 trustee Garry Tanuan voted in favour of the motion.
“Not even if the Pope was there would they have changed their vote,” said Del Grande in an email to True North.
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Ward 2 trustee Markus de Domenico said that the vote showed the board was committed to providing a “rich educational experience” for students without adding “US-style” politics.
During Del Grande's opening remarks, he dedicated three minutes quoting from Pope Francis' document on human dignity.
“The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behaviour, and even in law itself is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake,” Del Grande read.
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Tanuan also voiced his reason for supporting the motion as well, stating: “As the Indigenous child or person looks at the orange Every Child Matters flag in June as a symbol of justice, truth, reconciliation and hope, so does the person that looks at the pro-life flag for safety, truth and hope.”
East York Ward 11 trustee Angela Kennedy, who voted against the motion, explained why she voted no by saying that those who send their children to a TCDSB school “will receive a well-rounded education rooted in gospel values with Christ at the centre of all learning.”
“Parents do not expect the kind of indoctrination that this motion promotes,” she said.
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“The TCDSB has Catholic graduate expectations and this motion if passed would destroy the meaning of these expectations and render them meaningless,” Kennedy continued. “It would be impossible to be a discerning believer informed in the Catholic faith.”
Del Grande emphasized that there is "no legitimate reason" for the motion not to pass unanimously, given that each trustee has expressed support for the Catholic Church's unchanging stance on abortion.
“I trust you will do the right thing this evening for the children, for our Catholic faith, and for God who himself became a defenceless unborn child whose divine heart no doubt breaks with every abortion. That’s a holocaust,” he said.
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