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Board had offending flag removed as per policy
A concerned parent with a child or children attending a Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board elementary school shared this photo with Campaign Life Coalition of a Pride flag affixed to a crucifix, which is a breach of the board's flag policy. The flag was removed when school administration was informed.
Photo courtesy Campaign Life Coalition
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Photo courtesy Holy Family Parish, Whitby
Campaign Life Coalition is sounding the alarm after learning that the Progress Pride flag was displayed affixed to a crucifix in a Catholic elementary school in December.
The political arm of the Canadian pro-life movement received a notice and a photo showing the pairing of the flag and crucifix from a concerned parent who requested anonymity. This guardian’s child or children are enrolled in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) headquartered in Mississauga, Ont.
Josie Luetke, Campaign Life’s director of education and advocacy, said that “anyone would know that these two symbols are fundamentally contradictory and should not be paired together.” She declared it “blasphemous to associate the two.”
This incident also represents a breach of the DPCDSB flag policy (8.06). According to section 2.5, while additional flags are permitted to be displayed “within DPCDSB buildings in support of particular observances,” usage is limited to “the areas of the school or facility allocated to the activities associated with the corresponding observance and shall be removed when the observance period ends. Since Pride month is celebrated in June, current protocol forbids the flag from flying in December.
Section 2.6 of the policy is also notable. It proclaims that the “display of additional flags is to be approved by the Director of Education or designate.” The current director is Marianne Mazzorato.
Bruce Campbell, general manager of communications and community relations for the board, informed The Catholic Register via email that “we would not permit any object being placed on a holy symbol such as a crucifix. When the matter was brought to our attention it was addressed immediately.”
The flag policy was most recently amended in June. Campaign Life and its supporters celebrated when a motion for the Pride flag to be flown outside DPCDSB schools was defeated by a 6-3 vote during a June 11 special board meeting.
The flying of the Pride flag has in recent years caused controversy within a number of school boards.
However, there is an appetite being expressed by the Dufferin-Peel units of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) for this decision to be overturned and for the Pride flag to be flown during June outside board facilities with three flagpoles.
The By-Law/Policies Review Committee Jan. 21 meeting agenda includes a motion for the third flagpole to be the ShareLife flag or a DPCDSB flag, such as the one bearing the message “We All Belong” rather than the current policy of the third flag being associated with the current liturgical year. Union members seek to add the Pride flag to the list of options.
Luetke received a copy of a letter sent to union members by acting presidents Lori Austin and Jessica Jakab. Their missive stated, “it is the intent of some groups to move toward more restrictive and anti-inclusionary measures, which is why it is very important that we have a presence and impact on policy changes moving forward.”
They also alluded to an incident where a Pride flag was removed from a Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School classroom in November. They alleged — incorrectly — that these flags not being permitted in classrooms “is actually not in the policy.”
Campaign Life and parents keen on keeping the Pride flag off school grounds were to be delegates at the Jan. 21 meeting. Luetke said there is no need for these flags as the crucifix is the ideal symbol of inclusivity.
“His Eminence, Cardinal (Francis) Leo, and his predecessor, His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins, have both said that the Cross and the Sacred Heart of Jesus are the only symbols you need to share this message of inclusion,” said Luetke. “I would like to see perhaps more pastors talking about this, explaining how Christianity is already inclusive of everyone. And then of course we need the board itself to be catechizing the students in the board so that they understand I am already included and God loves me. I don't need to seek any sort of acceptance or approval through secular and ideologically-driven symbols.”
In a post to the Campaign Life website, Luekte called on all Canadian pro-lifers to email Austin, Jakab and board trustees to urge them to defeat the initiative to display the Pride flag outside schools and other board facilities.
Campbell underscored that the “great majority of DPCDSB’s 151 schools, operational facilities and other sites contain only one flagpole,” and policy indicates that the flag must be the Canadian Maple Leaf. Schools with two flagpoles must use the Ontario provincial flag on the second flagpole. There are three facilities with three flagpoles: the Catholic Education Centre, a joint-use facility with a City of Mississauga community centre and a secondary school Campbell did not identify.
(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)
A version of this story appeared in the January 26, 2025, issue of The Catholic Registerwith the headline "Pride flag removed from classroom crucifix".
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