Peel schools to fly flags for Pride
The Peel District School Board announced it will raise the rainbow Pride flag and an Indigenous flag at all of its schools and sites in June.
The motion was approved by Peel’s board of trustees Tuesday night, the school board said in a series of tweets. The decision was made “in the spirit of equity, inclusion and reconciliation,” the board wrote.
LGBTQ advocates have been pushing for the board to fly the rainbow flag for Pride Month in June. School board policy had prohibited its 257 schools from flying any flag other than those of Canada or Ontario.
The board’s director of communications Carla Pereira confirmed the decision to the Star, and said the board is discussing which Indigenous flag to raise. She said the board is consulting Indigenous communities in the area.
Pereira said the school board’s intention is to have both the Pride flag and Indigenous flag raised for the entire month of June.
The school board also tweeted a statement from its chair, Janet McDougald: “The Board’s motion to raise the Pride and Indigenous flags is about acceptance and inclusion, but it’s also about hope,” the statement reads. “It’s about understanding that everyone should feel proud of who they are and that public education plays a role in upholding the inherent dignity and worth of all persons.”