(LifeSiteNews) — Thousands of students across Canada stayed home on June 1 to protest the promotion of “Pride Month” in the public education system, with one school missing 75 percent of its students, according to a top pro-family group.
As Canadian schools celebrated the June 1 beginning of so-called “Pride Month,” thousands of students were absent nationwide, taking part in the first annual “National ‘Pride’ Flag Walk-Out Day” initiated by pro-life and pro-family organization Campaign Life Coalition (CLC).
“The first ever National ‘Pride’ Flag Walk-Out Day was a huge success,” CLC’s director of political operations Jack Fonseca told LifeSiteNews. “The parent participation and student absence rates in many schools and parts of Canada was much higher than we had even dreamed of achieving.”
“For instance, we’ve heard from local parents that Windsor, Ontario’s Northwood Public School saw 600 out of its 800 students stay home on June 1st. That’s a staggering 75% walk-out.”
UPDATE (05/30/23): Major victory as York Catholic District School Board votes against raising LGBT flag
Your committment to this campaign has paid off – please continue circulating the petition far and wide, and read below about our huge victory at YCDSB thanks to people like you.
(LifeSiteNews) – During a May 29 York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) meeting, trustees voted 6-4 against flying the pro-LGBT flag atop of its schools and other buildings in celebration of so-called “Pride Month”, in a move that has been met with pleasant surprise by pro-family advocates.
While the decision brought cheers from the crowd, some angrily shouted in protest and had to be escorted out by YCDSB security.
“The Cross represents all!” Myles Vosylius, a former student at Cardinal Carter Catholic High School in Aurora, Ontario, tweeted, celebrating the decision.
“The cross represents all!” – Faithful Catholic attending the @YCDSB meeting tonight, where the victorious decision was made NOT to fly the ‘pride’ flag! #YCDSB #CdnPoli #OnPoli pic.twitter.com/CSNCEQbS0c
— Myles Vosylius (@TheMylesV) May 30, 2023
While the YCDSB represents a victory for faithful Catholics in York region, many Catholic school boards have caved to pressure by LGBT activists and will fly “pride flags” during the month of June. However, increasingly, Ontario parents are fighting back as hundreds of students, reportedly predominantly Muslim, stayed home earlier this month when their schools flew the flag.
Parents have also begun to speak out against LGBT agenda being promoted to their children in schools. Pro-LGBT trustee for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) Wendy Ashby recently resigned after over 3,000 parents petitioned for her ousting.
Similarly, last month, a group of young Canadians protested a school-sponsored drag queen event in front of York Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
Furthermore, Campaign Life Coalition is calling for parents to keep their children home from school on June 1 to protest schools flying the “pride flag.”
“Parents need to keep up the pressure, just like this, right across the country!” Fonseca encouraged.
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As Catholics, we are taught that we must love our neighbour and treat every individual as a child of God, accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.
Parents make a clear choice when they decide that their children will attend a Catholic school. They rightly expect that trustees, principals, teachers all partners in education will ensure that Catholic teaching is presented, lived and infused in all that we do. In that regard, the appropriate symbol that represents our faith, and the inclusion and acceptance of others, is the cross, which is visible at the entrance of every Catholic school. It is the primary symbol of our Christian faith.
We have created this petition to express opposition of flying the pride flag at schools for the month of June. Our kids should not be forced to celebrate anyones sexuality, and a flag will do nothing to keep anyone more safe. Its nothing more than a symbol of sexual celebration, completely inappropriate.
Catholicism and parental rights are being threatened, and we will not allow teachers who are LGBTQ to influence our children.
We are not homophobes. We are trying to shield our children from any sexual ideologies, both gay and straight. Children are minors who have a right to a normal and innocent childhood. We are not STAKEHOLDERS. We are parents. EQUITY is not and will never be the same as EQUALITY. Inclusion means EVERYONE and the York Region Catholic District School Board & its Union members are infringing upon our religious beliefs by suffocating our children with woke political agendas & indoctrinations when they should be focusing on educating our kids!
We love all humans equally. Hate is the wrong word to describe parents feelings about the climate in schools today. Parents protesting the pride flag at school do not harbour any negative feelings towards the LGBTQ+ community. We do however feel that their rights seem to supersede everyone elses. We also believe that kids should never learn about sex at school and we condemn any classroom discussion or public display that encourages or promotes gender confusion and same sex lifestyles in a classroom setting. We also strongly condemn the nature of several library books that contain sensitive material on homosexuality and transgender issues in elementary school libraries. Similarly, we harbour no contempt for transgenders as individuals but their insistence on using female-only spaces is invasive.
The promotion of a pride sticker and the likelihood that a flag will go up in June at all schools suggests a particular political agenda, which warrants examination. Concern about alleged incidents of bullying directed at the LGBTQ community within schools has been raised. However when requesting specific information on the actual number of such reports, it was communicated that the data is currently confidential and not publicly available. Despite clarifying that only the number of incidents was desired, the same response was given.
The lack of transparency and information provided by the York Region Catholic District School Board concerning alleged incidents combined with these extreme campaigns using safe space stickers to promote political agendas, raises necessary questions about their motives. Despite facing opposition from relevant individuals, including the Archbishop of Toronto and Cardinal Collins, who have both explicitly expressed their disapproval of such displays, the union and its members have vehemently insisted the stickers remain.
We must stand up against this before the Board caves to the pressure of political correctness and decide to raise the pride flag too.
Please share this. We must get as many signatures as possible before May 20th so that we may present a united front at this months meeting with this petition in hand that will speak for itself and will represent all of us.
Thank you.
Sheree D
Mainstream media outlets have also reported mass absences. However, most schools have been reluctant to report exact numbers of the missing students.
Mario Spagnuolo, local president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, refused to give numbers but admitted to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that multiple schools experienced over 50 percent absence rates.
Similarly, two Ottawa schools had over 60 percent of their students stay home, while nine other schools were missing over 40 percent of students.
Schools in Oakville reported up to 30 percent of students staying home. While Toronto school officials were also unwilling to report numbers, they admitted to media that absences in some schools were “higher than normal” on June 1.
In London, school officials also refused to disclose the numbers of absences but told the London Free Press that there were significant “absences in pockets of schools.”
“We haven’t yet received reports from other provinces or cities, but we’re confident that a loud message was sent to school board officials there, too,” Fonseca asserted. “And that message is, ‘We don’t want schools indoctrinating our children with LGBT propaganda. Stop indoctrinating them. Start respecting our parental rights.’”
He revealed that some parents plan to keep their children home from school for another week or even the whole month to protest the promotion of the LGBT agenda to children.
“I think that’s a great idea, and CLC is encouraging parents across Canada to do the same,” Fonseca declared. “Let the woke educators and the woke school trustees know that you reject the LGBT lobby’s flag of conquest hanging over your children’s heads.”
“By that empty desk, show them you refuse to accept the LGBT lobby’s claim of ownership on the heart, mind, and soul of your son, daughter, or grandchild,” he said.
Canadians are increasingly standing up to LGBT activists and have experienced major victories in the past months. In May, hundreds of students, reportedly predominantly Muslim, stayed home when their London, Ontario, schools flew the “pride” flag.
Also in May, pro-LGBT school trustee Wendy Ashby resigned from the Waterloo Catholic District School Board after over 3,000 parents petitioned for her removal.
Last week, trustees in the York Catholic District School Board voted against flying the “Pride” flag atop of its schools and other buildings in celebration of “Pride Month.”