Trustee Helena Karabela
The Halton Catholic District School Board suspended its sanctity of life policy which prohibits student organizations and its 50 schools from fundraising for “any charities or non-profits that publicly support, either directly or indirectly, abortion, contraception, sterilization, euthanasia, or embryonic stem cell research,” following pressure from the Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne and student protests against the pro-life requirement.
In February, the HCDSB voted 5-4 to require that all charities that receive funding from schools or students under its purview be in accordance with Catholic teaching on life issues. Some students and parents raised objections saying the policy lacked clarity and pressed for a new vote. In April, the board reaffirmed the policy in another 5-4 vote. Students wanting to support pro-abortion groups like Doctors without Borders or pro-embryonic stem cell research charities like the Canadian Cancer Society, organized walkouts to protest the policy.
When the board passed the policy, the resolution stated: “It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop.”
In April Education Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris wrote a letter to the board asking that it get further input from parents, students, and community groups affected by the funding decision. Naidoo-Harris asked the board to “pause implementation of its new policy” in order to allow “consultation” with “various voices in the school community.”
On May 1, the Halton board suspended the sanctity of life policy as it began a new round of consultations with stakeholders.
Trustees Paul Marai, Jane Michael, Arlene Iantomasi, John Mark Rowe, and chair Diane Rabenda voted in favor of suspending the policy, with Anthony Danko, Anthony Quinn, Susan Trites, and Helena Karabela voting against.
Marai, who had supported the policy in the first two votes, offered an amendment that the policy not be implemented until after “completion of community consultations.” The board said students, “may continue their fundraising activities in the same manner as they did prior to resolution #61/18 until an amended fundraising policy is approved by the Board in response to this resolution.” Marai said, “for those who felt ignored through this process, I’m sorry … I hope this is the first step … we take to make this right.”
The board was scheduled to receive feedback until June 2 after which the HCDSB will revisit the policy.
Karabella, a trustee from Oakville, said donations are a way of expressing the Catholic identity of the board and its students, and that Catholic schools and students should not be supporting institutions at odds with Catholic moral teaching. She also said she received feedback from parents who appreciated the sanctity of life policy.
The original motion stated in support of denying funds to anti-life charities and organizations that, “on January 19, 2014, Pope Francis wrote to the participants of the March for Life in France: ‘Let’s say “Yes” to life and “No” to death,’” and that “donations are ways of asserting our ‘Yes’ and our ‘No’ for or against institutions which support or violate the upholding of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.”
Campaign Life Coalition’s Jack Fonseca told LifeSiteNews, “five Catholic trustees are now on record giving material cooperation with evil, and have proven themselves unworthy to serve in the role of Catholic trustee, a role which mandates the safeguarding and advancement of Catholic teaching.”
Naidoo-Harris said after the board suspended its policy that she was happy with the decision and that “I, along with many, will be watching closely to make sure that the student voice along with various community voices are heard and that the board listens to this important feedback.”
Jeff Gunnarson, vice president of Campaign Life Coalition, said the Education Minister’s words suggest the Ontario government is not necessarily interested in consultations as much as the Minister wants the “loudest, most activist students to win the day.”
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association opposed the sanctity of life policy and has vowed to defeat the four pro-life trustees.
The HDCSB is expected to revisit the issue in June or the fall.
