Ah, Yes of Course, Bullying

Which is what it appears that the Ontario government is attempting to do with the Catholic school boards.  It's a dilemma, all right, a right royal conundrum.  The issue of discrimination and exclusion and bullying is a difficult one.  In a just society there would be an all-inclusive, general social sense of welcome and acceptance to everyone.  And in Canada, the general consensus is that this is what happens. 

But people are individuals and distrust and dislike of others is endemic to human nature.

Most people can find it far more socially useful, fair and just to accept other people as they are.  The differences that exist are, in fact, fairly minimal.  As Shakespeare said it so movingly, we suffer in like manner, we experience emotions and needs similarly to one another; we have far more in common with each other than our differences would have us think.

Young people can be brutal with one another.  For the most part they are socialized at home, and adapt the values and sensitivities of their home situations; what they see their parents value and how their parents react to situations resonates with them.  Peer values are also vital to teens' maturity and sense of well-being, and all too often someone becomes the symbol of everything no one wants to be associated with, and that person becomes the odd one out.

The reasons may be numerous; those from a different ethnic background, those who are from visible minorities, those whose physical characteristics make them stand out; the socially awkward, the shy ones, those with slower intelligence - and, of course, those whose gender orientation is different than the mainstream.  Any of those 'differences' by which the majority single out the 'odd one' and exclude them and subject them to discrimination becomes emotionally hurtful.

They all take their toll.  Young people are exposed to quite ugly and unfair situations where they are singled out for treatment that harms their self esteem.  This kind of corrosive relationship with their peers takes a dreadful price, sometimes resulting in a life-long inability to trust, to be happy with themselves, to fit into society.  And sometimes a more ultimate price-tag is associated with being excluded and demeaned.

Bullying others is the mark of immaturity and lack of empathy.  When the province took the step of enacting legislation that would have the effect of outlawing bullying, encouraging schools to engage in programs that support the equality of all people, it's little wonder that they expected that all school boards would take it upon themselves to urge their administrations to take part in the effort at teaching the merits of acceptance and equality.

However, in the very specific instance of religious jurisdiction in separate school boards, where Catholic authorities are resisting the imperative placed upon them by Queen's Park to agree to the entire anti-bullying program by helping to nurture friendship clubs within schools inclusive of supporting gay rights, the province is going a step too far.  When the Catholic authorities protest that this abridges their Charter rights, they are correct.

On the other hand, as has been pointed out, the Catholic separate school boards are supported by public tax funding.  As such, they have an obligation, however difficult it is to square, to obey the dictates of the political body that funds it.  Yet to succumb to the demands of the government of Ontario would be to compromise their religious values, and that too is wrong.

The solution is simple enough and one long overdue.  Tax support should fund one school system only, and that should be a completely secular system.  Separate school boards can and do exist representing the ideological and religious needs of many other groups, and they are self-funded.  So too should the Catholic separate school system be prepared to withdraw itself from dependence on the public purse and be self sufficient.

And then and only then can they totally detach themselves from the insistence of the Ontario government that they become an integral part of a new initiative whose purpose is meant to give nurturance and support to a minority of young people whose orientation has been the subject of derision and oppression.