Rally expected at WCDSB meeting, pride flag ban on the agenda

2SLGBTQ+ activists and allies are set to stage a rally and speak Monday evening at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board’s meeting, during which a discussion will ensue about a ban that would include Pride flags.

Activist and politician, Brooklin Wallis, said she’s registered as a delegate at the meeting, saying of the ban, “this is an attack on not just the Pride community, the rainbow community, but also against any dissenting ideas or differences.”

For Wallis, the worst part of the motion to the Board is that it applies to both indoors and outdoors. This means not only will schools be banned from raising any flag other than Canada’s and Ontario’s, but it also prohibits flags on a teacher’s desk, or a pride flag symbol on student posters or stickers.

Wallis said she sees what the motion means by saying the Ontario and Canada flags represent everyone.

But, she argued, “the Ontario flag might represent all Ontarians, but it’s not saying to any specific marginalized group that you’re accepted, especially when those marginalized groups have historically been oppressed by the Ontario government, or by the Canadian government.”