In the woke world, things are seldom what they seem

"Me want skool!" is good enough for the Toronto District School Board

The Toronto District School Board (hereinafter "TDSB") is the wokest in the fairyland of Canuckistan. And in a country which includes such hotbeds of wokeism as the Waterloo Region District School Board which forbids any discussion of gender ideology, pronouns or sex change operations * [Isn't there a more PC name for that? Ed.], that's really saying something.

The TDSB is not only the wokest in the land, but the biggest. Its catchment area encompasses numerous "ethnic" neighbourhoods, including Little India, the notorious Jane-Finch `hood, and a part of Scarborough which, to look at it, is majority Chinese... and so it is.

The ultra-progressive TDSB is all in favour of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) of course. As Mr Socks sez, "Diversity is our strength!" (Cue guffaws from most Canadians. See "Shocking news: Majority of Canucks think diversity is causing problems!", WWW 25/11/23. To serve various diverse sections of the community, the Board has established several dozen Central Student Interest Programmes (CSIP), both at the secondary (opens in a new tab)and elementary (opens in a new tab)level, including those specializing in arts, athletics, science, math and many others. 

But it seems some groups need a little more equity than others. According to the TDSB website, 20% per cent of the spaces in CSIP are reserved for students who are Black, Indigenous, Latin American and Middle Eastern, while 50% cent of the spaces in math, science and technology programmes are for students self-identifying as female.

That doesn't sit well with the Chinese community (or the south Asians, for that matter), who, along with the "old stock Canadians" (read: palefaces), are regarded as "privileged", thus not deserving of extra help. Trustee Weidong Pei of Ward 12, Willowdale, told CTV News Toronto the policy doesn't address the socio-economic barriers standing in the way of enriched education, but instead creates more division in schools and waters down talent. 

What to do? The performance-based process of entry, which had been criticized for "favouring students from wealthier families" (read: racist!) had to go. So, in 2022, the Board trustees voted to move away from a model that only accepts those with demonstrated strength and/or ability, by removing all tests, exams, auditions and grade-entry requirements from CSIP applications.

In came the new, woker, "interest-based model", which is now "under review". Trustee James Li of Ward 13, Don Valley North,  told CTV, "When we implemented the program in 2023, we didn't ask the students to prove or demonstrate anything. We only asked the students to write their name down, which was disappointing." Now, he continued, "We expect them to demonstrate that they're interested in [an enriched programme] to the point where they want to go above and beyond the curriculum, and they're ready and willing to work towards it.”

Mr Pei calls the expression of interest requirement "meaningless". "The formal expression of interest is not being evaluated. An entry consisting of 'Me want skool' is given the same weight as a student filming themselves playing 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on the tuba!

"Everybody I know, including me, is concerned about socio-economic barriers, but the policies don’t adjust for socio-economics, they use self-identified race as a proxy for socio-economics. The average Asian family's income at TDSB is below the overall average of TDSB families, and South Asians' incomes are even lower. Yet Asian families are considered a privileged group."

Ah so... but Messrs Pei and Li should know that in Emperor Justin's Canada, affirmative action (read: reverse racism) is the New Equity. So let it be preached. So let it be done.

* See "Court victory for teacher silenced for transgender-book criticism", National Post, 25/11/23. 

UPDATED: Ontario Premier Ford nixes "Progressive Conservative" resolution against teaching gender ideology

Agent 3 is in Toronto this weekend, following the annual convention of the Ontario Progressive Conservative [sic] Party. One of Walt's favourite conservatives, Tanya Granic Allen, is there, making the more mainstream Tories uncomfortable by reminding them that many people who voted them into office last June did so because they expected a PC government to reverse the course set by the previous Liberal government on matters such as "progressive" sex education and gender ideology.

Mrs Granic Allen has an axe to grind, having been dumped by PC leader Doug Ford just before the election in which can only be described as an act of political cowardice. Premier Ford, as he is now, didn't want to appear too politically correct, lest going too far rightward cost him the election. Mrs Granic Allen and her many followers voted for the PCs anyway, and are now calling in their markers.

At the convention today, they voted in favour of a resolution to no longer recognize gender identity theory, which the resolution calls "a highly controversial, unscientific liberal ideology. The actual wording of the resolution is:
Be it resolved that [the] Ontario PC Party recognizes "gender identity theory" for what it is, namely, a highly controversial, unscientific "liberal ideology"; and, as such, that an Ontario PC Government will remove the teaching and promotion of "gender identity theory" from Ontario schools and [their] curriculum.

Although the resolution was adopted as party policy, it is not binding on Mr Ford's Progressive Conservative government. However, Walt suggests to Mr Ford that he would do well to listen, as his government reconsiders the sex education curriculum, to the voice of the people who elected him. As a former PC prime minister of Canada once said, "It's a long road that has no ashcans!" [What does that actually mean? Ed.]

MEANWHILE, in Australia, which now has laws enshrining a person's right to choose their "gender identity", a conservative senator is taking the heat for comments during a debate on a proposed Day of the Unborn Child, in which he "declared [his] gender" to be female in an attempt to shield himself from criticism over his stance on abortion.

National Party Sen. Barry O'Sullivan made the comments in Parliament on Wednesday, saying he was tired of being attacked for his beliefs.

Senator O'Sullivan’s motion to ban pro-abortion activists from the Day of the Unborn Child failed 32-12.

UPDATE ADDED 20/11/18: Ontario's Premier Doug Ford, elected in June on his promise to respect the wishes of voters who are sick of having gender ideology rammed down their throats (or some other orifice) by "progressive" governments and the lamestream media, wimped out on this one, annouoncing yesterday that he would use every means possible to NOT give effect to the resolution passed by members of his own "Progressive Conservative" [sic] party.

Just another politician who says whatever it takes to get elected, and then turns his back on those who put him in office. The deporables -- see "Bernier's People's Party of Canada wows Toronto 'deplorables'", WWW 20/11/18 -- won't forget!

FURTHER READING (added 20/11/18): "Tanya Granic Allen says Doug Ford has an 'authoritarian bent' in his decision to 'end' gender identity theory resolution", by Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, in The Post Millennial, 20/11/18.

Liberals move to enshrine LGBTQ(etc) rights in Canadian law

Yesterday was Be Nice To Transgendered Folks Day, or something like that, in Canada. The Canuck Prime Minister of Photo Ops, a flaming heterosexual, posed for numerous selfies with persons of indeterminate gender. And the Premier of Ontario, the first openly lesbian head of government in North America [perhaps the world? Ed.] got together with her husband... no... wife... no... [try "spouse". Ed.] got together with members of the loving LGBTQ2S community for a family portrait. Here `tis.

One of Walt's assiduous Ontarian readers sent the pic along with this note:
For all my friends who live outside of Canada, the person in blue is the Liberal Premier of the Canadian Province of Ontario.
The Person in grey and white is the "wife" of the Liberal Premier of the Canadian Province of Ontario. 
As for the rest of "The Family" - no comment!
I promise I will never laugh at California again!
Ontario's first family -- really brings a tear to your eye doesn't it!

Well, no. Walt's are quite dry. Had they been misted over, I would have missed the news that, to mark BNTTF Day (or whatever it was), Canada's Liberal government introduced in Parliament a bill, C-16, to add "gender identity" to that country's assorted human rights acts and codes, so that poor oppressed people who aren't happy with the way God made them can change to "the other" without fear of not being able to get a job or a house or a seat in the women's washroom!

Agent 3 points out that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been illegal in Canada for years, but apparently the laws didn't specifically mention the transgendered crowd, so Bill C-16 is going to remedy that omission. There will be no "bathroom laws" in Canada, so everybody's happy now, except perhaps normal people. But who [or what. Ed.] is "normal" these days?

Further reading: "Sorry, Liberals, But Gender Is Not a 'Social Construct'", Conservative Read, 17/5/16.

God's opinion of "Caitlyn" Jenner

In "Choosing one's identity", Walt suggested -- or meant to suggest -- that there was something unnatural, or just plain WRONG, about making yourself out to be black when you're white, or a woman when you're a man. Who are we, I meant to ask, to try to change our identities from the ones God gave us?

One reader has had the temerity to ask where I get off saying changing one's identity is somehow contrary to God's law? OK, I'll tell you where...

Deuteronomy 23:1 - An eunuch, whose testicles are broken or cut away, or yard [= penis] cut off, shall not enter into the church of the Lord.

That's the Douay-Rheims translation. The King James Version (and yes, I do have one), reads: He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.

A little more colourful, isn't it... Either way, the Word of God says clearly that if you're born with that dangly bit between your legs, you'd best leave it there.

Further reading: "Race and gender: I feel therefore I am", by one of Walt's favourites, Margaret Wente, in the Globe and Mail 19/6/2015.

UPDATED 19/6: Choosing one's identity

I'm old. [How old are you? Ed.] I'm so old that I can remember when the doctor or midwife said either "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" and so it was. The baby didn't have any choice about its "sex" (as it was quaintly called back then) or "gender" (the politically correct term nowadays).

So also with race. Whether it was recorded on the birth certificate or not, it was generally accepted that a baby would be whatever his/her parents were (assuming they were of the same race) or "mixed" or "coloured", whatever, if the parents were of different races.

Now, thanks to the meeja hype about Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal, we know that times have changed... really changed!

Behold this pair of celebrities! The one on the left is not a male. The one on the right is not white. Whoda thunk it to look at them?! But hey, this is the 21st century. It's not about what God or nature intended, or who your parents were, or what the doctor said when you popped out. It's about who you think you are and who you want to be! Thus endeth the lesson.

UPDATE: Further reading: "Race and gender: I feel therefore I am", by one of Walt's favourites, Margaret Wente, in the Globe and Mail 19/6/2015.

Parents to pull kids out of school to protest ON pro-LGBT sex ed plan

Ontario's lesbian premier, Kathleen Wynne, met last week with a token handful of parents opposed to her new sex education curriculum, which normalizes homosexuality, transgenderism, and premarital sex. Shortly after the meeting she again refused to budge on their call for a serious consultation with parents. She announced that there would be no changes in the content of the curriculum, and no delay in implementing it.

Starting in September, Ontario teachers -- even in taxpayer-funded "Catholic" schools -- will start telling kids as young as six everything the state things they need to know about homosexuality, gay "marriage", and the ins and outs of sex [Watch it! Ed.] including the deviant varieties.

Given the intransigence of Premier Wynne and the queer lobby in Ontario's Minister of Education, concerned parents are going ahead with plans for a student strike, now set for the week of May 4th. LifeSiteNews quotes one organizer as saying the curriculum is in conflict with the religious beliefs and cultural values of many families.

For Ghada Melek, of The Well Informed Parent, it is the content that is most disturbing. Ms Melek told LifeSiteNews she got together with about 30 professionals in the Brampton area to analyze the sex ed curriculum and to gather the expert opinion of psychologists, doctors, and child educators. They found 22 objectionable or age-inappropriate components and drafted their own alternative curriculum. When they presented their draft to the government, they were patronized with clichés and their recommendations were rejected.

Ms Melek said the biggest problem with the sex ed curriculum was its promotion of gender identity with primary school students. "We propose putting it off to Grade 10. Introducing it earlier, when children may be innocently exploring gender roles, is too risky. It might lead children to draw the wrong conclusions about their own identities."

The Well Informed Parent group's research also indicated that teaching about "sexual consent"” in Grades 7 and 8 is also problematic, because it might make children think that if they aren’t having sex by then they are abnormal. "It normalizes and legitimizes pretty dangerous behaviour."

The group also found the curriculum overestimated the effectiveness of condoms in prevent sexually transmitted diseases. They are supporting the strike, and encouraging those who can’t afford to take a week off to at least pull their children out of school on the first day, May 4th.

For more information on the planned strike, click here to go to the Facebook page "Parents & Students Strike: one week no school".

To sign up for the latest news, and join the strike, click on Ontario Parents & Students Strike. Tell them Walt sent you!

Further reading on WWW: "What's really in Ontario's new sex ed curriculum", VIDEO with Ezra Levant.