Why did a GTA school board ban the Every Child Matters flag?
The move began as an attack on the Pride flag
Last year, schools in the Dufferin-Peel region flew orange flags on September 30 to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. But, this year, the local school board very nearly banned the Every Child Matters flag, an act that members of the Indigenous community have called a regressive form of erasure. It’s also part of a larger anti-DEI movement infiltrating public education.
Related: Two more corporate sponsors have abandoned Pride Toronto—and it’s giving anti-DEI
The past few years have seen culture wars play out in classrooms and school board meetings across the province. What was once viewed as inclusivity is now being presented by some parents and educators as evidence of “dangerous” progressive ideology, with everything from pronouns to sex ed framed as part of the radical leftist agenda. Flags have been a consistent lightning rod, particularly in the context of Catholic school boards, where LGBTQ issues are that much more controversial.
Back in January, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board trustees voted to uphold a policy banning the flying of the Pride flag. After all, who needs a rainbow when you have that eternal symbol of inclusivity: the cross? (This was an actual argument made by an actual teacher.)
The board’s new flag policy stipulated that buildings with one flag had to fly the Canadian flag. If there was a second pole, it had to host the provincial flag. Any third flag had to be associated with the liturgical year (i.e., the Christian calendar). This policy shift was meant to target the Pride flag without having to specifically say so, but in effect, it banned all flags outside of the stated allowances. In late January, a motion to make an exception for the Every Child Matters flag was defeated.
Then the province stepped in. Yesterday afternoon, in response to outraged members of Indigenous communities, Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra directed the board to amend its policy and allow the orange flag to be raised at its schools next week. (And in case you’re confused by the green flag flying nearby, it’s the current colour on ye olde liturgical calendar.)
Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”
