Education director puts off solution to student sermon suppression

Rasa - A solution to the controversial issue of censoring sermons during Friday prayer for Muslim students in the Peel District School Board has been put off until the new year.

News ID: 425870

Date: 18 December 2016 - 15:38

RNA - A solution to the controversial issue of censoring sermons during Friday prayer for Muslim students in the Peel District School Board has been put off until the new year.

Education director Tony Pontes was expected up until a few days before the Monday, Dec. 12, regular board meeting that he would resolve the matter. Instead, he said at the meeting that the board has sought legal advice and didn't want to rush a report.

Pontes anticipates the legal opinion will be examining the Human Rights Code of Ontario, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, as well as the Education Act, adding, "I'm confident it will tell us what we must do and what we can do."

Mississauga trustee Nokha Dakroub was disappointed by the delay. She believes that even the temporary solution to the problem — allowing students to write their own Friday prayer sermons again, provided their principal approves it at the start of each week — "places additional scrutiny on Muslim students."

Changes to the operating procedure around Friday prayer came into effect this past September. Muslim students were to only use pre-approved sermons from a bank created by local imams, as opposed to creating their own which had been the practice for years.

The move erupted with backlash from the Muslim community, with some accusing the board of being Islamophobic.

Pontes put a hold on the procedural change last month. The temporary fix — which still includes students using the sermon bank, if they choose — will continue until a solution is found, now expected on Jan. 10.

He also said more time is needed to digest all of the input gathered on the matter.

The Peel board held a consultation session on Nov. 28 with stakeholders in the Muslim community about the situation.

While responding to a delegation at Monday's meeting — one of several about Friday prayer in recent weeks — chair Janet McDougald disagreed that the Nov. 28 meeting, which was invitation-only and not open to the media, was closed.

"We did not have a closed door, private, secret, whatever, meeting on November the 28th," said McDougald. "Certainly, it wasn't open to the public, but there were invited guests that represented a cross-section of stakeholders."

Brampton trustee David Green, who did not attend last month's consultation, said he received an invitation through a letter from the chair.

Speaking for himself during a break, Green said he was frustrated by how much time the issue has chewed up and said he feels bullied by some members of the Muslim community to hurry a decision.

Delegate Sandra Noe, who spoke on behalf of the Federation of Muslim Women, told trustees the changes to the operating procedure "set a dangerous precedent and adversely affect the students sincerely held faith-based practices and beliefs."

Mississauga lawyer Omar Chaudhry told trustees about how, years ago, he and his peers at John Fraser Secondary School were respectfully accommodated for Friday prayer.

"I was made to feel like we were Canadians," he said.

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