Campaign Life Coalition claims thousands of students in eight provinces walked out of schools between May 31 and June 4 due to their national Pride flag walkout day campaign.A CLC report online highlighted some of the responses.Kamel El-Cheikh from HandsOffOurKids.ca personally organized walkouts at four French public schools in the Ottawa area.At Michaelle-Jean Public Elementary School in Nepean, 591 of 738 boycotted the flag. Classes apparently had to be consolidated for the remaining 147 students, 50% of which asked not to take part in Pride activities.At L'Odyssee Public Elementary School, also in Nepean, 160 students walked out of their classrooms and went home with their parents on June 3 following an Instagram live broadcast by Kamel, which he began just before the planned “Pride” Flag raising, and in which he called out to local parents to come take their kids out."The parents came, and took their kids home, leaving school staff bewildered," CLC reported."Kamel’s protest actually delayed the flag raising, so by the time staff hoisted up the LGBT emblem, many kids were already out of the school!"At Michel-Dupuis Public Elementary School in Ottawa, 225 students stayed home June 3, as did 50 from Gabriel-Roy Public Elementary School in Orleans. CLC claimed a 70% average absence rate from 31 French public schools in Ottawa.Elsewhere in Ontario, another parent from St. Maurice Catholic School in Toronto told CLC that at least eight families would keep their children out of school.One mom with a child at James L. Dunn Public School in Windsor shared with CLC that she had recruited up to 20 families to keep their kids home, adding:“I won’t co-parent my children with strangers! We can do this!” she said.Another mom at Primrose Central Public School in Melancthon, Ont., told CLC she knew of ten families participating in the walk-out.“I feel that this can be super confusing for kids to be given a ‘choice’ of their sex, especially when they are not mature enough to even think of all the complications/ implications it can have on their lives! It is a parents responsibility to teach this, not the schools!” the mother said.Eight provinces in total participated in the walk-out campaign, compared with seven the year before. No participation was reported in PEI and Newfoundland. .CLC advocacy did not prevail on all Catholic school administrators, however--even in Ontario. Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School in Burlington has changed its Twitter ("X") logo to Pride-themed colours and made Friday a Pride awareness day.
Campaign Life Coalition claims thousands of students in eight provinces walked out of schools between May 31 and June 4 due to their national Pride flag walkout day campaign.A CLC report online highlighted some of the responses.Kamel El-Cheikh from HandsOffOurKids.ca personally organized walkouts at four French public schools in the Ottawa area.At Michaelle-Jean Public Elementary School in Nepean, 591 of 738 boycotted the flag. Classes apparently had to be consolidated for the remaining 147 students, 50% of which asked not to take part in Pride activities.At L'Odyssee Public Elementary School, also in Nepean, 160 students walked out of their classrooms and went home with their parents on June 3 following an Instagram live broadcast by Kamel, which he began just before the planned “Pride” Flag raising, and in which he called out to local parents to come take their kids out."The parents came, and took their kids home, leaving school staff bewildered," CLC reported."Kamel’s protest actually delayed the flag raising, so by the time staff hoisted up the LGBT emblem, many kids were already out of the school!"At Michel-Dupuis Public Elementary School in Ottawa, 225 students stayed home June 3, as did 50 from Gabriel-Roy Public Elementary School in Orleans. CLC claimed a 70% average absence rate from 31 French public schools in Ottawa.Elsewhere in Ontario, another parent from St. Maurice Catholic School in Toronto told CLC that at least eight families would keep their children out of school.One mom with a child at James L. Dunn Public School in Windsor shared with CLC that she had recruited up to 20 families to keep their kids home, adding:“I won’t co-parent my children with strangers! We can do this!” she said.Another mom at Primrose Central Public School in Melancthon, Ont., told CLC she knew of ten families participating in the walk-out.“I feel that this can be super confusing for kids to be given a ‘choice’ of their sex, especially when they are not mature enough to even think of all the complications/ implications it can have on their lives! It is a parents responsibility to teach this, not the schools!” the mother said.Eight provinces in total participated in the walk-out campaign, compared with seven the year before. No participation was reported in PEI and Newfoundland. .CLC advocacy did not prevail on all Catholic school administrators, however--even in Ontario. Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School in Burlington has changed its Twitter ("X") logo to Pride-themed colours and made Friday a Pride awareness day.
