‘Courage’ on Harmony Day
Students in the Central Okanagan will celebrate the goals of diversity and tolerance but also learn about the realities of racism and intolerance during Harmony Day activities on Wednesday.
While ‘courage’ is the district’s designated theme for the 2020-2021 school year, the committee planning events to mark the 14th annual Harmony Day have added additional topics.
“Along with courage, we have also added the themes of antiracism and equity,” reads part of a report from deputy superintendent Terry-Lee Beaudry going to school trustees on Wednesday.
From 9:30 a.m. to noon, students across greater Kelowna will take part in an online ‘living library’ with virtual presentations from six speakers.
The featured presenter is Kevin Lamoureaux, an indigenous scholar from the University of Winnipeg.
Other speakers are Kelowna human rights activist Rawle James, Tor Broughton, a transgender student at Kelowna Secondary School, and Poppy Chairborpan, an international student at Mount Boucherie Secondary in West Kelowna.
“I hope that everyone will soon be able to realize the importance of LGBTQ+ acceptance in our school system because I know how important a supportive school system was, and still is, to me,” Broughton, then 13, wrote in a June 2019 letter to the editor of The Daily Courier.
Participants in the ‘Living Library’ come from a variety of backgrounds and will share their personal stories of perseverance and gratitude with a view toward inspiration, advocacy, and change-making, the district’s promotional material for Harmony Day states.
This year, the district has sold T-shirts and masks with the word ‘courage’ in English and 30 other languages to students and staff.
For Harmony Day events, and for use throughout the year, the Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association have bought a number of resource books and distributed them through local schools.
The books have titles such as ‘Antiracist Baby,’ ‘This Book is Antiracist,’ and ‘Stamped – Racism, Antiracism, and You.’