‘Pride’ endorses some RRDSB candidates

Press Release

The Education Act states that “The purpose of education is to provide students with the opportunity to realize their potential and develop into highly-skilled, knowledgeable, caring citizens who contribute to their society.”
This mandates that all students in our public education system must be supported, and instilled with a sense of dignity, confidence, self-worth, and respect for the differences in our society.
Under the Ford government, such differences have been under attack.
The PCs have attempted to erase LGBTQ2 young people from the classroom, and have rolled-back critical topics in the health and sex-ed curriculum that keep our kids safe–topics like online safety and consent to sexual activity, and content that normalizes LGBTQ2 people and their families.
Worse, they’ve instituted a “snitch line” for parents to report teachers who try to support their students.
The Rainy River District School Board has recognized that that is not okay. It has been a key ally of LGBTQ2 inclusion and champion of diversity initiatives in our community.
We urge forward-thinking voters who support LGBTQ2 youth to elect trustees who will continue that leadership. That’s why Borderland Pride issued a short questionnaire to all RRDSB candidates.
Sex-ed saves lives so our survey polled the candidates on their support for the modern, inclusive, and fact-based health curriculum scrapped by the Ford government.
The results are in, and Borderland Pride is pleased to recommend the following candidates for election to the board:
•Fort Frances: Peter Howie, David Kircher, Raymond Roy, and Rudolf Zeitlhofer;
•Alberton/La Vallee: Ralph Hill and Kathryn Pierroz; and
•Emo/Chapple: Janet Judson
The two Atikokan candidates were not surveyed.
Borderland Pride strongly discourages support of all other candidates, none whom responded to our questions despite multiple reminders, including by phone and voicemail.
We infer from their silence an animus to LGBTQ2-inclusive curriculum that is at odds with our human rights and the equality guarantees of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the strong record of the current trustees on diversity and inclusion issues.
This is an important election. Please support candidates that we know are going to stand up to Doug Ford’s bullying rather than those who are going to marginalize LGBTQ2 kids and their families.
Election Day is Monday, Oct. 22.