Canadians for Excellence in Education

On June 27, the Ontario government placed the Toronto District School Board under provincial supervision, vesting the powers of the Board of Trustees into a ministry-appointed supervisor.

Some trustees have argued that this will lead to cuts and the loss of “local democracy.”

But as a fellow trustee, I believe not only that supervision is not a threat, but that relieving us of our duties is the only way to bring accountability back to a school board that has been failing students and families for far too long.

Indeed, since I started my term on the board in November 2022, it has become evident that the current Trustee governance model is inherently broken. A culture of deference toward senior staff stifles meaningful oversight and in the rare instances where there is debate, it is often on trivial issues of identity politics.

The TDSB’s record speaks for itself. Management is bloated with 49 senior staff members, some holding nonsensical titles such as “Modernization and Strategic Resource Alignment” and “Organizational Transformation and Accountability.”

And there are also positions that bear the oxymoron title of a “central principal.” A principal, by definition, leads a school. How can one be a principal without a school that has students and teachers? There are 50 of these so-called “central principals” on the payroll, with no clear explanation of what they actually do.

Further, some principals are accorded the title of “senior manager,” another administrative position that drains resources while being far removed from the realities of the classroom.

Central principals seem to be nothing more than glorified consultants.

As if that wasn’t enough waste, the TDSB also regularly employs outside consultants, including one hired at $2,500 per hour. The irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars at Canada’s largest school board never seems to end.

But it is not just the issue of trustees letting staff run wild on the taxpayer dime. The majority of my colleagues have lost their focus on supporting student learning in classrooms, preferring instead to engage in identity politics and virtue-signalling.

We spent time at a June committee meeting debating whether the name of the physical education course was “inclusive” enough, all while students and staff dealt with no air conditioning in sweltering heat.

The topics that receive the most attention and lengthiest debates during board meetings rarely have anything to do with improving lagging math scores or supporting student wellbeing.

Instead, we spent countless hours debating whether the board should forcibly redistribute school council donations.

Some of my colleagues fall back on the familiar claim of “chronic underfunding.” But more money poured into a broken system only fuels more misutilization. As the popular saying goes: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome.

If the TDSB has been unable to effectively manage its current $3.7-billion budget, why would it be capable of managing more? Why should Ontario taxpayers entrust more money to this board to fund social justice experiments like an admissions lottery?

Education Minister Paul Calandra stepped in because the TDSB was unable to fix itself. That has been clear for a very long time.
Since TDSB supervisor Rohit Gupta was appointed two months ago, we have begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel. One of his first decisions was to direct that the board stop wasting money and time on renaming schools.

The action taken by the supervisor shows that it is possible to steer the board in the right direction when decisions are guided by common sense, respect for taxpayer dollars and not bogged down by trustees who don’t serve any real purpose.

The problems at the TDSB did not appear overnight and they will not disappear without firm, focused leadership.

Supervision is not the danger some of my colleagues claim it to be. It is the long-overdue solution.

— Dr. Weidong Pei is the TDSB Trustee for Ward 12 – Willowdale.

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In a letter sent to four of the six trustees at Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board in Brantford on Thursday, the union wrote that the “inappropriate” spending on the trip has “significantly eroded confidence in your ability to make sound, responsible decisions that reflect the needs and values of our school community.”

“School boards are expected to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, whether in a deficit or surplus situation,” Ms. Dunlop said on Wednesday. “I take this issue seriously and I have asked my ministry to explore all options available to investigate this matter.”

This is the second time in a month that the province has had to step in and review school board expenses.

Hence Ottawa’s Sir Robert Borden High School played “an Arabic song associated with Palestinian protest for Gaza,” as one news story called it, as the only music at its Remembrance Day ceremony. Meanwhile Sackville Heights Elementary School in suburban Nova Scotia, as another news story soft-pedalled it, said veterans and serving Canadian Armed Forces members “should consider leaving their uniforms at home.”

The government is also investigating a trip taken by four trustees at the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board. The trustees in question, including the chair, have said they will repay their approximate $45,000 travel costs and are looking for outside support to cover the cost of the religious artwork they bought for schools.

This year’s deadline to apply for Toronto’s Youth Climate Action Grants has just passed so the city’s climate bureaucrats are now presumably reading grant applications from school children who want to engage in climate change activism. The program, a partnership between the City of Toronto, the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board, invites kids from junior kindergarten to grade 12 to apply for up to $1,000 per project or activity to educate and engage Torontonians on climate actions.

The application process begins by encouraging kids to read something called the TDSB Youth Climate Action Guide, which declares as a “climate change fact” that global warming poses “a threat to our economies, our environment and our lives.” It makes recommendations to students on how they can take an “intersectional approach to climate justice” and gives them “behavioural strategies” on “how to deal with climate anxiety and grief.”

How good a use of public resources is this? Are taxpayers really well served by having municipal and educational bureaucrats use their money to have the public schools churn out more Greta Thunbergs?

In true bureaucratic form, the City of Toronto publishes detailed guidelines as to what kinds of climate activism are eligible for funding. Social media campaigns are but paid advertising campaigns in newspapers are not. Food gardens can be funded through this grant, but not pollinator gardens, and if a contractor is hired to build a garden box, no more than 25 per cent of the grant money can be used for this purpose. Field trips are eligible but not the rental of conventionally-powered vehicles or other gas-powered equipment. Project supplies and items like pencils, paper, flyers, and posters are allowed, but not “disposable items” like bottled water. Just what is supposed to happen to project supplies if they are not disposed of after the project is completed the climate activism funding guidelines do not say.

Students must identify in their grant application the climate action topics that match their project idea. One topic is reducing food waste. Another is environmental education: raising awareness about climate change, sharing Indigenous knowledge about climate action and so on. Also sustainable transportation: helping Toronto “achieve its goal of 75 per cent of school/work trips under 5 (kilometres) are walked, biked or by transit” — a goal officially adopted by Toronto City Council as part of its “TransformTO Net Zero Strategy.”

The sustainable transportation goal has a bit of an Adam Smith “man of system” ring to it. “The man of system,” as Smith wrote in his 1759 book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, “seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board. He does not consider that the pieces upon the chess-board have no other principle of motion besides that which the hand impresses upon them.”

Here we imagine the thoughts of the City of Toronto central planners trying to arrange everyone’s commutes. “Thompson, Brown, Wilson, and Lee all live less than 5 (kilometres) from their workplace, but which of them should be the one in four who drives? At 4.8 (kilometres), Lee has the longest commute of the four, so he would cause the most global warming if he drives. But Lee has an electric car, so it might actually be best for the environment if he drives and the other three walk, bicycle, or take transit,” the bureaucrat might think to himself.

“Meanwhile, Thompson lives further from the bus stop than Lee, so maybe Thompson should be the one who drives. On the other hand, Brown and Wilson have kids to take to extracurricular activities, so maybe one of them should drive. But Brown’s kids only have activities on Monday, while Thompson’s kids have activities on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then again, the Thompson kids’ piano lessons on Wednesday are within walking distance, so Thompson only needs to drive on Tuesday and Thursday and can bike to work the other days. Brown should drive on Monday and take the bus the rest of the week, and either Lee or Wilson can drive on Wednesday and Friday. Meanwhile Anderson, who lives 5.3 (kilometres) away from work, should be allowed to drive all the time.”

“And now,” the City of Toronto climate bureaucrat may spend the next week considering, “here is a $1,000 taxpayer grant for Greta and her grade 3 classmates to launch an educational campaign to encourage Thompson, Brown, Wilson, and Lee to stick to this commuting plan to reduce global warming. But only if that educational campaign doesn’t involve anyone drinking out of disposable water bottles.”

MacLeod said she spoke with the school board’s director, Pino Buffone, and “shared my anger, disappointment and, honestly, utter confusion on how Remembrance Day at a school whose namesake was Prime Minister in World War One could get this so wrong.”

An Ottawa school played an Arabic-language Palestinian protest song associated with fighting in Gaza as the soundtrack to its Remembrance Day presentation, causing outrage and distress for some students and parents.

The song was the sole musical accompaniment to a slide show of Canadian soldiers and words about peace shown at three Remembrance Day ceremonies for different age groups at Sir Robert Borden school on Monday, according to students and parents.

The musical selection was distracting and distressing to some in the audience, particularly Jewish students, some of whom complained to the principal afterwards.

Principal Aaron Hobbs defended the selection during one of those meetings, saying it was chosen to bring diversity and inclusion to Remembrance Day that is usually only about “a white guy who has done something related to the military.”

Hours later, after Hobbs had “a closed-door meeting,” staff said when National Post tried to contact him, he sent an email to the school community apologizing.

“It has come to my attention that the inclusion of the song ‘Haza Salam’ in the program caused significant distress to some members of our school community. For this, I would like to offer my apologies,” Hobbs said in the letter.

“We acknowledge that Remembrance Day is a solemn occasion, where the focus should remain on honouring those who have sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we hold dear. The inclusion of a song that could be seen as politically charged was not in line with the values of respect and unity that we strive to uphold at this school,” Hobbs said in his letter.

Several parents and students who spoke to National Post said they could hardly believe what song was selected for the school assemblies for students from grade seven to 12.

“It is hard to believe I’m hearing this at an assembly in Canada for Remembrance Day,” said a student who asked their name not be published, not out of fear of the administration but from other students.

“It was weird. I was confused. What is this song saying?”

Several students used a phone app to identify the song and it took them to music platforms featuring artwork of Palestinian protests and additional songs by the artist that seem less focussed on peace, the students said.

The song was Haza Salam by Mahim Ahmed, according to the students.

The title is often translated into English as “This is Peace” and it appears to have been released less than two months after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel by Hamas.

It has since become identified with Palestinian protests about Israel and the continuing war in Gaza. Online, versions of the song have been made into videos showing montages of photos of causalities from Gaza, Palestinian protests, and artificial intelligence-derived images of combat scenes with explosions.

“There was only one song. There were no other ethnic songs, or other songs, just one. It was played three times,” said a parent of a student at the school who asked not to be named.

“They chose an Arabic song about peace for Gaza as the only song to play for a Remembrance Day service.”

Erica Phillips, who has a child enrolled in the school, said she was upset when she heard about the school’s Remembrance Day service.

“I have a great uncle who was in the war, in the air force, and he was shot down over Italy and taken prisoner. This service took away from the events of the war, it took away for the sacrifices of my great uncle and others. I became very emotional,” she said.

“This day is supposed to be about remembrance. When I think of everything my uncle went through and still survived and went on to raise a family — my child got none of that at school today.

“What they did was not about that. It did not represent that at all. It ignored my great uncle’s memory. It is not inclusive when you are excluding others,” Phillips said.

Another parent, who is Jewish, said the song is one in a long line of similar incidents at the school that make Jewish students uncomfortable or fearful.

“No one would allow a song in Hebrew to be played, even if it was called Shalom, at a Canadian Remembrance Day ceremony. It should have been a song in English or French or an Indigenous language. How did Arabic become an official language of Canada?

“Something is wrong at the top,” said the parent, who asked not to be named publicly for the sake of their child.

Although Hobbs disagreed the song was problematic at a meeting he had with several students, he later changed his message.

“We recognize that the song chosen — while intended to highlight themes of peace — also inadvertently caused offence and discomfort to some students, and for that, we regret our choice,” Hobbs said in the letter to school families.

Lisa MacLeod, member of provincial parliament for the riding of Nepean, where Sir Robert Borden school is just a kilometre down the road from her constituency office, decried the school’s assembly.

She said using the song did not follow the Royal Canadian Legion protocols and was distressing to Jewish students.

MacLeod said she spoke with the school board’s director, Pino Buffone, and “shared my anger, disappointment and, honestly, utter confusion on how Remembrance Day at a school whose namesake was Prime Minister in World War One could get this so wrong.”

MacLeod is calling for discipline against the principal.

Hobbs did not respond to phone messages or emails from National Post on Monday.

Joe Koraith, a spokesperson with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, said the board had no comment on the Remembrance Day issue beyond the letter from Hobbs.

In 2022, two Jewish student alleged they walked into a room at Sir Robert Borden school to be greeted by students speaking in a German-like accent who made a N**i salute. There was a sw****ka, the symbol of N**i Germany which perpetrated the Holocaust during the Second World War, depicted on the floor.

Two students were charged with hate crime offences in connection to the incident, that occurred before Hobbs became principal.

They allegedly refused to allow special needs assistants into their classrooms, and denied the existence of disabilities, opting instead to try and "break" such students to set them on the "right path." Very little teaching of the actual curriculum took place, with science and s*x education taking a back seat to religious doctrine.

“In my view, the mature minor designation is a loophole created by the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) (and other Canadian medical associations) to allow doctors, whether qualified or not, to make important medical designations which can have life-long adverse effects on a child living in Alberta,” said John.

CALGARY DAD WARNS....

The father of a transgender child has come forward to warn Albertans of the “mature minor” designation, a loophole that makes gender transitioning accessible to children without parental consent.

The Calgary dad, whose 14-year-old underwent so-called “gender-affirming care” in 2014, alerted the Western Standard to Alberta’s medical system allegedly transitioning hundreds of children they have deemed “mature minors.” The age of consent in Canada is currently 16 years old.

The father, who will be referred to as John, as the Western Standard has agreed to withhold his identity due to concerns of creating unnecessary family rifts, said his daughter was 14 when she started to have symptoms of gender dysphoria, a psychological disorder where the patient feels their biological anatomy does not align with their gender, per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V.)

“In my view, the mature minor designation is a loophole created by the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) (and other Canadian medical associations) to allow doctors, whether qualified or not, to make important medical designations which can have life-long adverse effects on a child living in Alberta,” said John.

“Medical associations in Canada are influencing medical practices with their collective personal ideologies. I find the practice of children being allowed to make decisions in regard to life-changing surgery and drug regimes to be reprehensible. If this isn’t playing politics with our nation’s children, I don’t know what it is.”

The mature minor designation is an option for children in provinces across the country.

Children who are granted the “mature minor” determination can bypass the established channels of parental permission or even government thresholds, such as the recent policies proposed by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, to undergo medical intervention to change genders or access Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta states: “Alberta has established no set age for a mature minor. The more serious the proposed treatment, the greater the level of maturity required before a child can be considered a mature minor. The courts generally recognize approximately 16 years as the threshold for maturity, and none have recognized any individual younger than 14 years. Child Welfare authorities in Alberta consider 12 years of age sufficient for a child to be consulted on decisions that affect the child, although the child’s opinion is not determinative of what does occur. These consultations are typically related to the disclosure of information or decisions about the custody of the child."

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta slate the age of 12 “sufficient” to be deemed a mature minor, and is entitled to give consent for a proposed treatment. “A guardian has no authority to override or veto the mature minor’s decision (mature minor doctrine),” says the college.

All it requires is for the child to provide “informed consent” through a simple downloadable form and a brief consultation with a pediatrician, said John.

John and his former wife shared joint custody of their daughter, who will be referred to as SR, from when she was a baby to 14 years old. He said he had always been close with his daughter, and she “was always a very smart kid” who maintained 87% grades, was on the dean’s list and the honour roll.

“I had a very close relationship with my daughter. I think kids get deeply conflicted, the stress comes out,” said John.

At the age of 14, SR lived exclusively with her mother. That’s when the “alienation” started, John said. He acknowledged the way divorce and “family problems” impact children.

Age 14 is also when SR started taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to suppress female hormones and promote testosterone. Her parents were not on the same page about her transition. Her mother encouraged it, while John voiced concerns she should wait until she is at least 18.

“This gender switching doesn’t happen unless there’s a real family problem, a high-stress problem. I think it’s built into this. I don’t think it happened by accident. I think this happens when there’s an environmental issue, the living environment,” said John.

“I don’t think this transgender stuff happens all by itself.”

He also brought up the influence and social contagion kids face at school. SR had many friends who called themselves transgender or “gender fluid.”

There were three Calgary-based doctors who aided in SR’s transition. All told John she was a “mature minor” without him providing consent and despite his 50-50 custody.

John said SR was prescribed Lupron (leuprolide acetate), a drug which the US National Institute of Health says is used to treat prostate cancer, endometriosis and uterine fibroids, by pediatrician Dr. Jorge Pinzon at the Metta clinic, which is part of the Alberta Children’s Hospital, at the age of 14. He also is a clinical professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of Calgary.

Pinzon confirmed with the Western Standard over the phone he had been involved in the process of transitioning "many" minors, but refused to give any details or elaborate further.

Pinzon confirmed with the Western Standard over the phone he had been involved in the process of transitioning "many" minors, but refused to give any details or elaborate further.

SR was also at the time meeting with Calgary-based psychiatrist Dr. David Gibbs, who “personally told” John “he had 500 kids come in, and issued hormone drugs to 496 of them.”

“There’s only four (minors) that he didn’t issue drugs (to). One of them he said was a lunatic holding a knife, and he was going to kill himself if he didn’t,” said John.

“He told me, and he was not shy about telling me, I couldn’t believe he was telling me this stuff.”

John went to meet Gibbs before a scheduled appointment with SR because he “wanted to talk to him and find out what’s going on with this guy.”

He found out all 496 were designated mature minors. “And that was 2014, that was 10 years ago,” said John.

“The big excuse they all use is, if the kid doesn’t get the drug, they’re threatening su***de. That’s always their excuse, it’s a real common excuse.”

Gibbs, now at the Calgary Counselling Centre, did not return multiple phone calls from the Western Standard.

The third doctor involved in SR's transition was Dr. Jonathon Dawrant, an endocrinologist at the Endocrine Clinic of the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

Dawrant had “mentioned to me he has administered (hormone) drugs, I think it was Lupron, to a 12 year old boy,” said John.

John went to the Children’s Hospital to get his child’s medical history to see if she was prescribed any drugs, and was refused.

“No, you can’t have them. Your child's a mature minor. We’re not going to give you your own child's, a 14-year-old’s, medical records,'" John said he was told at the time.

Dawrant did not return multiple phone calls from the Western Standard.

Hormone replacement drugs are often used to treat symptoms of menopause; however, institutional guidance recommends adult women not be on the drugs for longer than two to five years.

The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) in 2004 took a strong position against menopausal women taking estrogen and progestin simultaneously, due to increased breast cancer risk. Currently the CCS website says taking both hormones at the same time is the “most commonly used” treatment because “taking estrogen alone can cause cancer in the lining of the uterus.”

CCS now recommends that women avoid taking HRT for any reason other than to relieve severe menopausal symptoms that have not responded to other treatment," a statement on its website says.

"If you and your doctor decide that taking HRT is right for you, the lowest effective dose should be used for the shortest period of time possible."

John in highlighting CCS’s advisories mentioned, “this is for 50-year-old women. How dangerous is it for a kid?”

SR is now taking testosterone “and doesn’t understand the risk.” John said his child was “indoctrinated, totally indoctrinated with this stuff.”

“Kids need encouraging. They can go off the rails pretty quickly," he said.

John said based on his own experience, including joining a support group of other parents going through a similar situation, his is not an isolated experience. It's a whole system, he explained.

"The courts support it. So you got the courts, you got the psychiatry association, you got the medical association. And they all are on the same party line. And even the university profs. They’re all provincial or federal employees. They’re employees. And that’s why they think they’re deemed to be the ‘saviour’ of our society. That’s what they’re going to do, they’re going to ‘save’ these kids,” he said.

“I don’t know why they think that, but they sure do.”

"The judge will say a child at the age of 14 is capable of making a decision. A lot of judges in Canada will use that. They claim a 14-year-old can make a decision. So the judges are buying into this too.”

“(Kids) are extremely immature at that age. What do they know at 14? To make decisions about Lupron, and changing their s*x.”

“There’s another angle, it’s the psychologists. They’re being extremely political with these psychologists and doctors," said John.

"The question is, why are they dictating to their members that they have to think a certain way? They have given them the authority to deem these kids as mature minors. But why are they doing that? I think a lot of these medical associations are very left wing. You know, ‘we know everything, and we’re going to tell you how to live.’”

“Once these kids say they want to be the other s*x, it’s over and done with. You can’t do anything about it.”

John said the weight of the responsibility goes all the way to the top.

“The federal Liberals, they're pretty supportive of this whole program," he said.

“Trudeau’s even said he fully supports all trans people. He’s come out and said that lots of times. And he marches in gay parades, he’s totally supportive."

"The bottom line is once a child is designated as a mature minor by someone who practices medicine, in many cases this essentially rules out a parent from being part of the decision for a child to proceed with potentially life changing procedures and with being administered potentially dangerous and/or life changing drugs.”

How can we put activist teachers in sole custody of our children’s most intimate s*xual identities when they can’t even run a field trip without stoking fear and divisiveness?

GETTING THE POLITICS OUT OF SCHOOL POLITICS

Ontario education minister Jill Dunlop has ordered a provincial probe into the Toronto District School Board “field trip” that ended up at a pro-Palestinian rally recently.

This is a welcome move, as TDSB was dragging its feet. All the same, we expect powerful teacher unions will fight any disciplinary action taken against their members.

A troubling trend has emerged recently of out-of-control school boards and educators attempting to become the moral and political arbiters of right and wrong. In so doing, they undermine parental authority.

Toronto Sun reporter Bryan Passifiume reported students as young as eight were taken on a “field trip” to “observe” a protest about water quality at Grassy Narrows First Nation.

Some were told to wear blue, representing “settlers.” One student who said she felt uncomfortable was reportedly told, ‘You’ll get over it.’

The demonstration quickly became pro-Palestinian, with organizers leading marchers in anti-Israel chants. Independent sources told the Sun that some students came home with “Zionism Kills,” stickers, reportedly handed out by some TDSB teachers.

This is unacceptable, but speaks to a wider issue. A public school system is just that: public. Students arrive at the classroom from a variety of cultures and religions. It isn’t up to a teacher to tell a child their beliefs don’t matter.

Left-leaning school boards and activist teachers have shown a worrying propensity to stick their noses where they don’t belong. Several provincial premiers are bringing in legislation requiring parental involvement before a child can change their gender identity at school. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will introduce legislation in October that will require parental consent for any child under 16 to change their pronouns in school.

There’s been knee-jerk pushback from teacher unions and activists. Alberta Teachers’ Association President Jason Schilling says teachers are worried about the new rules.

“It does definitely have a bit of a dark cloud hanging over things,” he told the Canadian Press. The incident at the Toronto school demonstrated a shocking lack of judgment by teachers and other educators. We need teachers to teach, not indoctrinate students with their own prejudices.

How can we put activist teachers in sole custody of our children’s most intimate s*xual identities when they can’t even run a field trip without stoking fear and divisiveness?