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Reprinted from March 13, 2011
The port city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, population 110,000, sitting at the top of the Great Lakes system on Lake Superior, would not be, at first glance, a hotbed of civil disobedience. However, on Thursday, March 10, 2011, Alexandria Szeglet, a 15 year old Grade 10 student at St. Patrick High School, found herself embroiled in a controversy over a strip of green tape with the word "choice" written on it. The Thunder Bay Source, a local weekly newspaper in the city tells the story.
Several years ago, another student, Alexandra Calnan, started a pro-life student group at this Catholic high school. This 19 year old is now a student at Lakehead University having graduated from high school in 2009. Every year, this group organises an event, a "Day of Silent Solidarity" at the high school during which students wear a red piece of tape with the word "life" written on it and do not talk for a full day to display their belief in the injustice of abortion. This event raises money to support the group's activities which include attending right-to-life events and the group’s Project Mommy, which furnishes care packages to young mothers at the school.
Szeglet, apparently wanting to state her disagreement with the anti-abortionists, showed up at school with about 25 pieces of green tape with the word "choice" written on it which she distributed to fellow students. She was subsequently told to take off the tape or go to the school office. The office said that what she was doing was not an approved scheduled event and as such, she had to remove the tape. She refused and was sent home.
At this point, the story becomes somewhat unclear but it seems other students followed this act of defiance. A representative of the school board has said 15 students were sent home and two or three were given two-day suspensions but the local weekly newspaper, the Thunder Bay Source, has written that calls to its newsroom were claiming that as many as 35 were given two-day suspensions and another hundred were sent home.
The Source quoted John De Faveri, Director of Education of the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, as saying that "the students who were sent home for the day were not removed from school for wearing the sticker, but for not taking it off." Supposedly, students who were issued two-day suspensions after they refused to remove the stickers and swore at school staff. "On the issue, pro-life is part of the Catholic stand. The pro-choice students were not appropriate in the context of a Catholic school."
The Source went on to report de Faveri as explaining that the school has a process for the approval of any student initiatives, including the alteration of the school uniform or an event. The pro-life group had apparently gone through this process and did receive approval for both their Day for Silent Solidarity and the wearing of the red tape with the word "life" written on it, but de Faveri could not say whether the green-tape initiative would have also been approved. He did underline, however, that while opposing views are accepted, there is a process. The school does have a code of conduct and students must comply with authority.
Media Coverage
Thunder Bay's weekly newspaper The Thunder Bay Source published two articles on this incident and The National Post picked it up. However, Thunder Bay's daily newspaper The Chronicle Journal was silent on this issue.
The Thunder Bay Source - Mar 10/2011
Students sent home By Jodi Lundmark
The Thunder Bay Source - Mar 11/2011
Pro-life Support By Jodi Lundmark
Reactions
The two articles published online at TBNewsWatch.com "Students sent home" and "Pro-life Support" are followed by dozens and dozens of comments covering numerous issues raised by this incident:
- Does the school have the right to enforce a dress code?
- Is a piece of tape in violation of the dress code?
- Is this really about the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate?
- Should Catholic Separate Schools continue to be funded?
- Should the issue of abortion have ever been allowed in the school in the first place?
- Freedom of speech vs. freedom of the Catholic school to dictate what it feels is right.
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