PRESENTATION BY THE PAN-ORTHODOX ASSOCIATION OF GREATER HAMILTON
TO THE HAMILTON-WENTWORTH DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA
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Reverend Fathers, Members of the Board, Brothers & Sisters, Ladies and Gentlemen: We appreciate the opportunity to present tonight, although it is disappointing that the Board did not take the opportunity to publicize the presentations to the public, or to offer an open invitation to members of the public on this important issue. Our communities found out by word of mouth, by which providence has allowed us to be here today. The Pan-Orthodox Association of Greater Hamilton represents Eastern Orthodox churches in Hamilton, made up of about 20,000 members. In speaking to the proposed Equity Policy, it has been the hope of our communities that this Board in its wisdom would shape its policies to reflect the realities of the general population of our city, defending the freedoms of families and students to articulate the views of their faith in Hamilton-Wentworth public schools. The proposed Equity Policy has not done this. This document, and curriculum currently in use which it would underpin, stigmatizes students, staff, and families who hold traditional views on marriage and sexuality. This Policy advocates the promotion and acceptance of so-called gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered 'orientations' and 'gender identities'. Those who would speak out in opposition to such teaching in the schools would violate this policy, and open themselves up to disciplinary actions, as well as stigmatizing and discrimination. The Orthodox Church holds that such teachings contradict the foundation of our understanding of the human person, created in the Image and Likeness of God. The Orthodox faith advocates a life of modesty - including questions of sexual relations - which is violated by the normalization of the kind of sexual materials and discussions which the proposed policy would make a normal part of everyday classroom life. Instead of contributing to the sexualization of our students, the Orthodox Christian communities in Hamilton and area would hope that the Board would, at the very least, take an impartial approach, calling on staff and students to treat each other compassionately, without any need to repeatedly infuse with sexual references the legitimate discussion of fairness and equity. Far from being a balanced document, the proposed Policy is full of sexually oriented terms, leading one to conclude that the document is ideologically constructed, designed to promote one particular worldview - a secular, liberalized, anti-traditional, and entirely western European worldview - to the exclusion of all others. The Orthodox communities of the Greater Hamilton area draw our members from a wide variety of cultural and linguistic groups, from Greece to Russia, North and Central Africa, the Middle East, Ukraine, Romania, and the Far East, as well as a wide variety of other cultures. The proposed Equity Policy rejects the traditional approach to human sexuality, marriage, and modesty around sexual issues that is held by virtually every traditional culture around the world. It suggests that the views of one culture - a tiny subgroup of North American culture - are somehow entitled to trump the views and faith of almost every other faith and culture that make up our community in Hamilton-Wentworth. The proposed policy reflects a very myopic, western-centred view of the world, and seems to be ideologically committed to imposing its own narrow doctrines on virtually every other cultural and religious group outside its own small circle. Such sanctioning of the freedom of conscience and free expression of students and staff in Hamilton-Wentworth schools would send a clear message to Orthodox Christians throughout the province: your beliefs are not welcomed in public schools. The Orthodox community in Hamilton constitutes approximately 20,000 public school supporters, including fast-growing immigrant populations. Like most cultures around the world, and like a plurality of people born in Canada, those of the Orthodox Faith hold traditional moral views on marriage and sexuality. Almost all children of our Faith currently attend public schools. It is worth clarifying that Orthodox Christians are not connected with the Roman Catholic church, nor are we Separate School electors. More precisely, we are actually prohibited by electoral laws from registering as Separate School electors. The vast majority of children from Orthodox Christian communities in Hamilton attend public schools. Should the proposed Equity Policy be passed in its current form, members of the Orthodox community would take this as a signal that the views of our Faith are no longer welcomed in Hamilton-Wentworth public schools, and would have no alternative but to seek education elsewhere for our children, and to encourage all our faithful to seek an educational home for their families in which they could enjoy the freedom of belief and expression of their Orthodox Christian faith. Most of the Orthodox Christian faithful in Hamilton come from immigrant families, many of whom do not speak English, and most of whom are unlikely to speak up about this issue. They are working families, who will not write letters, nor will they call their school trustee. But let us be clear: the Orthodox Christian faithful in Hamilton-Wentworth will recognize instinctively the fundamental areas of disagreement between what our Faith teaches, and what is mandated by the proposed Equity Policy. Please ask yourselves: Is this the signal this School Board wants to send? Is this Board prepared for the implications this policy would have on its demographics and enrollment? To this end, we call upon the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board to do two things: FIRSTLY, to guarantee in its policies that the cultural and religious views of all its students and staff on matters of equity, and in particular, issues of sexual morality, will be safeguarded, and that the freedoms of those expressing such views will be protected, and SECONDLY, to shelve the Sexual Orientation strand of the proposed Equity Policy, concentrating instead on imparting values which respect the dignity and freedoms of all members of society, and in particular, to delivering academic skills in an environment that respects the views and freedoms of all members of our community. We thank the members of the Board for your time, we wish you well, and pray that God will grant you wisdom in your deliberations. |