On swearing an oath to the Queen
Re We shouldn’t force students to swear oath
to the Queen, Opinion March 13 Students in Halton region are not being “forced” to swear allegiance to Canada’s head of state, as Bob Hepburn’s headline implies. His article itself states that students or their parents can opt out.
It would be interesting to know if students in the U.S. (where belonging to the nation is taken seriously) can opt out of reciting the pledge of allegiance. And can they do so on the grounds (as given by the article) that the U.S. “means nothing” to them or that it is “in some cases a symbol of historical oppression”? Anthony Hunt, Toronto Bob Hepburn may have very legitimate concerns about Canada’s head of state and our Constitution but these shouldn’t be used to hide a very serious defect in our education system, which Hepburn conveniently fails to address.
Until we change our Constitution, the Queen and her successors will be our head of state whether we agree with it or not. What Hepburn fails to address is the fact that students who attend religiously affiliated schools are subjected every day to the propaganda of the Roman Catholic Church or some other religious body.
The concept of God and “creationism” is foisted upon the very same students who Hepburn says shouldn’t be exposed to our existing system of government and the head of that government.
Are these kids taught to think critically about the untold misery that was and is the result of religion as well as that caused by colonialism?
Not only does our Constitution need to be updated but our education system needs to brought into the 21st century. John Blake, Picton, Ont. It should be noted in strong terms how enormously lucky we have been in the past half century to have had Elizabeth II be our monarch. And as we evolve, I suspect that we will continue to be well served by her heirs because they have or will be well trained in what their role is and what their role isn’t, and that there is an out if the successor determines that he or she is not up to the task. Brian Williams, Belleville, Ont. Whether you approve of our system is not in question. But stop calling our monarch foreign. Armin Laufs, Hamilton I find this reprehensible. If I had a son or daughter in a Halton school I would consider challenging this in the courts. And if this failed I would remove my son or daughter from such a system.
If the school board goes ahead with this ridiculous idea then they should have at each recital a teacher inform the students of the reality that none of them can aspire to become “head of state” of Canada as this position is reserved for a “foreign born” person — yes the person they are “mumbling” allegiance to. Tony McGran, Scarborough The Halton Catholic District School Board, and other Catholic boards, must be consistent and automatically allow exemptions for all students to opt out of swearing allegiance to the Queen and to opt out of attending religious courses and activities. After all, they are publicly funded institutions. Malcolm Buchanan, Hamilton I used to think that swearing an oath to the Queen was ridiculous, outdated, antiquated, irrelevant, goofy, pointless and irrelevant. Then along came Donald Trump.
Now, I’ll gladly swear an oath to the Queen anytime, and do anything else that reminds me that we’re Canadian and not American, a parliamentary democracy and not a republic, and enjoy a society whose roots lie in Commonwealth and not revolution. Nestor Repetski, Toronto