Saskatoon students say high school is censoring Pride week
Students at a Catholic school in Saskatoon say their high school is restricting and censoring Pride week celebrations.
Members of the Youth Alliance Club at Holy Cross High School told CTV News strict directives have been laid out regarding how staff should handle the week celebrating LGBTQ2S+ diversity.
Pride Week must be called “We All Belong Week” and there cannot be any school-wide events or announcements, according to members of the club.
“Students are not allowed to speak over the intercoms and address the problems or the joys that we experience from being queer. Only adults are allowed to speak,” Tailor Schubert, a Grade 11 student at Holy Cross, told CTV News.
Schubert was told the rules were put in place to appease teachers and students “who are uncomfortable with the existence of queer students,” but it in turn, Schubert believes LGBTQ2S+ voices are being silenced.
We All Belong Week events must take place in a separate room — instead of an open space, like a cafeteria — according to Schubert.
“I feel we're being treated unfairly,” Schubert said.
ERASED FROM YEARBOOK
Schubert said the Youth Alliance Club was also left out of the yearbook because the photo featured the Pride flag.
The students suggested editing out the flag, but the club said the idea was rejected.
“We’re just being pushed to the side and I wish we could celebrate ourselves freely,” said Emmerson, a Grade 10 student at Holy Cross.
In an email to CTV News, Derrick Kunz, a spokesperson for Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools (GSCS) said he doesn’t know why the Youth Alliance Club was left out of the yearbook and wasn’t able to reach the principal.
“All students, no matter their circumstance or how they identify, are welcomed and supported — especially students who are marginalized,” Kunz wrote in an email.
“We are all beloved children of God, so the notion that all belong is how inclusion is commonly expressed.”
Members of the Holy Cross Youth Alliance Club are shown in a photo. (Laura Woodward/CTV News)
Last week, an internal email from the school division’s superintendent of education, Tom Hickey, was leaked. Hickey told Catholic elementary school principals to keep students away from the Pride-themed Rainbow Tent at the Nutrien Children’s Festival of Saskatchewan.
The email prompted a strong backlash from parents, students and the unions representing teachers and support staff at Catholic schools. On Thursday, protestors converged on the GSCS head office.
While speaking with protestors, Hickey acknowledged “a trust has been broken.”
Protestors asked Hickey what steps the division is taking to move forward.
Hickey said he’s looking forward to working with staff about ”how to support students and better welcome them into our schools.”
At the start of the week, the office's windows were splattered with fluorescent paint and covered with heart and unicorn stickers.
The paint was still visible on the office's windows during the protest Thursday afternoon.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.