Motion to ban most flags at Waterloo Catholic schools, including Pride flag, fails

Waterloo Region's Catholic District School Board trustees narrowly voted down a motion that would've banned Pride flags in schools. CTV's Jeff Pickel reports.

Flags of all stripes may be allowed to fly at Waterloo Catholic District School Board schools after a controversial motion was voted down Monday night.

Trustees were voting on a motion put forward by Trustee Conrad Stanley, proposing a ban on all flags except for the Canadian flag, Ontario flag and the school board’s flag.

“There is no need, nor reasonable justification, for any other international political or identity-based flags to be flown which might confuse the all-encompassing, inclusive and fully representative natures of the Ontario and Canadian flags,” his motion read.

Despite his motion explicitly mentioning identity-based flags, Stanley said the motion was meant to depoliticize school environments.

The idea kicked off strong opposition from the community. People opposed to the motion rallied outside school board meetings in March and April, including Monday night.

Some people came wearing rainbow colours, others held signs supporting LGBTQ2+ community members.

Patrick Etmanski, President of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association’s Waterloo Region chapter, was among the crowd.

“Teachers are here because they want to support the kids that they serve and there are kids all the way from kindergarten to Grade 12 who really do appreciate the support,” Etmanski said. “The Pride flag is a huge visible symbol of that, as are some other symbols that we have around safe spaces and all the other things and the teachers are here to make sure that the board understands that that’s important to staff but also to the students.”

Ultimately, the motion failed by a vote of 5 – 4.

Trustee Board Chair Comments

Trustee board chair Renée Kraft voted to keep Pride flags at schools.

“Ultimately, we decided as a board to move forward with continuing to do as we have been, which is to focus on our core motto of being a welcoming place for all,” said Kraft.

She said they came to decision after hearing from the community.

“It is a benefit. There has been many educators and students that have come forward to share those experiences and how [raising the Pride flag] has benefited since instituted in in 2021,” Kraft said.

Former Director of Education weighs in

The former Director of Education at the WCDSB, Loretta Notten, was also at Monday night’s meeting.

“It was important for me to see how the board was considering the issue and how they were arriving at the decision,” said Notten. She was education director in 2021 when she decided WCDSB would be among the first Catholic school boards in Ontario to fly the Pride flag.

“I think we made the decision in the first place because we know that it’s a very important issue in the community and for our staff and for our students,” Notten said.

According to Notten, the proposal to reverse the decision and remove the flags would have been very damaging.

“Once you’ve taken a step forward, if you move backwards, I think it actually has the potential to cause even more harm and send an even more damaging message,” said Notten.

In previous years the WCDSB has flown the Pride flag during the month of June.