Last week, one public school in Ontario sent home permission slips to parents to seek approval to not give children Canadian flags on Canada Day from a local Lion's Club..The school says the slips were sent home for approval because the "history of the Canadian flag may be perceived as harmful to some families.".Sunderland Public School responded to the Western Standard by saying, "The Durham District School Board (DDSB) is committed to providing, workplaces and learning environments that center indigenous and human rights and that are welcoming, respectful, safe and inclusive."."As you know, at the conclusion of the presentation we wanted to provide individual Canadian flags to those children whose families had agreed that they could have one," Superintendent of Education Erin Elmhurst of the DDSB told the Western Standard in a email.."As part of this commitment, we acknowledge that many people have been marginalized historically and that this marginalization continues to negatively affect students and families." .The DDSB said it is committed to upholding the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and fulfilling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action and this is one of the reasons the slip was sent home.."As an educational institution, we take seriously our responsibility to ensure that our current actions do not infringe on indigenous and human rights and that we actively support reconciliation efforts," Elmhurst said..Elmhurst said the intention of of the slip was to respectfully acknowledge that the history of the Canadian flag may be perceived as harmful to some families.."We value community partnerships, and the wealth of knowledge community members have to share with our students," Elmhurst said.."Our letter home was simply designed to provide choice to students and families about the taking of a flag and was in no way intended to diminish the importance of our national flag or cause harm."
