Josie Luetke:
Interim writer, Josie Luetke, Talk Turkey
In 2021, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB), the second largest Catholic school board in Ontario—encompassing Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, and the surrounding area—voted to fly the Pride flag outside its Catholic Education Centre and a couple of other buildings.
Not even four years later, not only did the board re-affirm its decision from last year to no longer fly the Pride flag, but it just amended its flag protocol to prevent the display of this flag in classrooms during “Pride month” too.
At a Jan. 28 DPCDSB board meeting, months of lobbying from pro- and anti-flag proponents came to a head, with delegations from myself, the Archdiocese of Toronto, former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne, Mississauga City Councillor for Ward 2 Alvin Tedjo, the “Regional Hate Crime Coordinator” Constable Joanna Styrczula, and others.
In a stunning rebuke of the efforts of LGBTQ activists, who were hoping to expand the flag policy, the board instead restricted it further, voting 9-1 in favour of a motion to only display Canadian, provincial/territorial, and DPCDSB flags within its buildings going forward.
On the one hand, it’s just a flag … but on the other, as Wynne pointed out, “I think we all know that we are talking about much more than that.”
The fight over flags is a proxy battle for a greater culture war.
What transpired in the board is mimetic of the same rapid tidal shift we’ve been witnessing in society post-COVID. Christianity is cool again, or at least cooler. Parents are saying “We’ve had enough.” “Woke” is now a dirty word, and gender theory widely suspect, as attested by the re-election of Donald Trump south of the border and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s growing confidence in stating there are only two genders.
In her delegation, Wynne said, “Every time a Catholic school board demonstrates that it is choosing to move away from the policies of inclusion and equity that have been a hallmark of publicly funded education in Ontario, it raises the very real question of why we, as a society that has demonstrated that we value the beautiful diversity of this country, would continue to support that institution.”
As has been pointed out by many an astute commentator, when the Left praises “diversity,” they have a very narrow conception of diversity in mind; they cannot suffer a Catholic institution remaining, well, Catholic.
Threats of withdrawing public funding of Catholic schools (also made in a recent Globe & Mail opinion piece) were once potent, but their effectiveness may be waning. What is the threat of a loss of funding compared to the much more imminent threat of the loss of values?
Wynne was asked point-blank by Trustee Paula Dametto-Giovannozzi: “Should Catholic schools be upholding the teachings of the Catholic Church?”
Wynne deflected, remarking that “Catholic school boards in Ontario are required to uphold the Education Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, just as every publicly funded board in the province is expected to.”
At least she, unlike other delegates, didn’t pretend Catholic teachings were compatible with the celebration of Pride.
In my own delegation I quoted Cardinal Thomas Collins’ 2021 statement on Pride flags: “There are times when the presentation of Catholic teaching will clash with the views held by many in society, whether these relate to human sexuality, the sanctity of life, issues of social justice or other deeply held beliefs … Frequently, since the time of Jesus, Christian teaching has not aligned with currently prevailing opinions.”
This clash was evident at the DPCDSB board meeting—with one side wielding rosaries and the other Progress Pride pins, each trying to drown each other out with boos or claps respectively when Wynne approached the podium.
She posed an interesting question near the end of her presentation: “Why does a Catholic school board that used to be explicitly supportive of flying the flag, no longer consider it acceptable to do so?”
The answer, I think, is that the flag was finally recognized as the sign of ideological conquest that it is. That’s why everyone has been fighting over whose flag gets flown.
For years, Catholic teaching has been steadily subverted in the Catholic school system, under the cover of “pluralism,” “tolerance” and “inclusion.” The takeover wasn’t subtle, but too many players have been willing to make compromises—to find common ground on sex-ed, as Wynne said, where none should have been found.
Many, not just Catholics, already, know that their personal beliefs clash with much of “the establishment’s”—our government, mainstream media, the educational system, and regulated professional bodies. They are discovering, however, that they cannot retain these beliefs without preparing to come into conflict with the same institutions intent on wiping out these beliefs.
Why has the DPCDSB flag protocol become a flashpoint, drawing delegations and emails from outside the region?
If one board goes, what’s to prevent the next?
And what happens to the fragile ideological hegemony in Canada?
