Our region is on the verge of opening itself up to becoming a hub for social conservativism.
For months, social conservative media outlets have published countless columns about our school board (National Post, Toronto Sun, Rebel News, Queillete, True North, etc.). The “anti-woke” authors pepper their articles with catch phrases like “free speech,” “censorship,” and “diversity of opinion.”
It seems like they’ve targeted our Waterloo Region District School Board trustee election.
Don’t be fooled by their rhetoric. They don’t care about “free speech.” There’s a political agenda.
This political agenda has been imported from our southern neighbours. American social conservatives believe they are facing an existential crisis. If they do not regain control over public schools, their values will be lost to future generations. What will become of the Republican Party if they no longer have a solid base of voters?
So they've launched an ideological "cultural war" targeting school board elections (the "School Board Wars"). They back candidates who oppose liberal policies promoting diversity and inclusion (many candidates are openly homophobic, transphobic, and anti-abortion; some are white nationalists).
National organizations such as the Christian anti-abortion Campaign Life Coalition and Blueprint for Canada are engaged in the same cultural war in Canada. Anonymous websites like “Voteagainstwoke.ca” and “Knowyourwrdsbtrustees.ca” have crowdsourced lists of social conservative school board trustee candidates.
Their political agenda is not immediately apparent. In place of “conservative values,” you’ll find a series of catchphrases like: “fairness,” “transparency,” “ideological neutrality,” “diversity of opinions,” and “respecting” “parental values.”
The Canada Anti-Hate Network (Antihate.ca) and Ben & Jerry’s Canada (benandjerrys.ca) have developed online materials outlining these networks. And this week, a series of news articles were published in the CambridgeToday, Waterloo Region Record, The Globe and Mail, the CBC, and Progress Press, alerting us to this issue. I hope it is not too late.
Before voting, take a step back and investigate trustee candidates. Ask yourself, how does the candidate present their politics? Are they overtly concerned with “free speech” or “diversity of opinions,” even “parental rights” and “pro-family?” These should be red flags.
Trustee’s do not determine the curriculum. The provincial government does. Also, investigate those supporting them on their social media accounts. Stroll through the vitriolic comments many of their supporters are making. These are telling.
Do you want the Waterloo Region School Board to become ground zero for social conservativism in Canada? What will become of our community if our school board is transformed into a platform to promote social conservative ideologies?
Beyond the national reputational damage this will cause for our community, can you imagine Waterloo Region becoming a hub that attracts socially conservative, even far-right politicians?
Who would want to move here? How will this impact our community’s most vulnerable and marginalized members, many of them young students?
Ultimately, this is our decision. Not the social conservative media personalities living in Toronto, and elsewhere. We decide whether we want a warm and welcoming community, or a cold and exclusionary community. I hope our collective response is “Hate does not define our community. Take your divisive politics elsewhere.”
Knowing us, I am sure our response will include a “thank you,” “please,” and “sorry.” It will likely be polite. And that is already telling us something about who we are and the kind of community we want to live in.
Greg Bird is an associate professor of sociology in the Cultural Analysis and Social Theory MA Program at Wilfrid Laurier University.
He lives in Kitchener.
