'It's about hope': Peel schools to raise rainbow flag in June for Pride Month
Board will also fly Indigenous flag ‘in the spirit of equity, inclusion and reconciliation’
The Peel District School Board (PDSB) has agreed to fly the Pride flag at all of its schools in June for Pride Month, after an outcry from LGBT advocates in response to a decision not to fly it last year.
Tuesday's decision includes raising an Indigenous flag at the same time. The board says it is consulting with Indigenous communities about what specific flag they would be raising.
"The Board's motion to raise the Pride and Indigenous flags is about acceptance and inclusion, but it's also about hope," Janet McDougald, chair of the PDSB, said in a tweet sent out by the board.
"It's about understanding that everyone should feel proud of who they are and that public education plays a role in upholding the inherent dignity and worth of all persons."
In June, all <a href="https://twitter.com/PeelSchools?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PeelSchools</a> sites and schools will raise the Pride and Indigenous flags, in the spirit of equity, inclusion and reconciliation. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/inclusion?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#inclusion</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/peelequity?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#peelequity</a> <a href="https://t.co/0BiGEvQrf5">pic.twitter.com/0BiGEvQrf5</a>
—@PeelSchoolsLast year, the PDSB decided not to raise the rainbow flag even though surrounding school districts were already flying it at certain times of the year — including Halton, York, Durham and Toronto.
This decision, the board said, had to do with the difficulty in amending a policy which only allows the Canadian and provincial flags to be flown on PDSB flag poles.
"It is a process we need to discuss and put in place so we're consistent and fair with everybody," McDougald said in early May, just days before a meeting at which the board heard from speakers representing an LGBT advocacy group.
LGBT advocate Paul Skippen, who was a speaker at that board meeting along with his husband and two kids told CBC Toronto on Wednesday that his family is "deeply touched" by the board's decision.
"This has been an amazing life lessons for our kids on what Pride is all about," he wrote in an email.
"From just a few weeks ago where [one of my kids] was made fun of for the first time for having two dads, for not being 'normal' ... to now all of Peel raising the flag across regions. Families come in all shapes and sizes. Today our kids can visibly see that we are accepted as just as normal as everyone else's. We are deeply touched."
At Tuesday's meeting the PDSB approved a revision of the flag raising policy, and the establishing of a committee to develop criteria for approving flag raising requests.