Twenty-one ‘non-woke’ trustees were elected to public school boards across Ontario during the province’s municipal elections on Oct. 24, says the founder of the website “VoteAgainstWoke.ca.”
“A movement has started,” said the anonymous founder—who goes by the pseudonym “Matt” to protect his identity—in an email to The Epoch Times.
“This is the first time in Canada we’ve seen a large-scale pushback against the woke.”
Matt started VoteAgainstWoke in late September to help voters understand which trustee candidates advocated for parental choice in schools and were against expanding curriculum items like gender theory and critical race theory.
Twenty-four Catholic school board trustees that VoteAgainstWoke endorsed were also elected.
‘Tipping Point’
PAFE doesn’t publicize its list of endorsed candidates, but Pierre said they saw a marked difference in results this year compared to the last municipal election.“Things have just reached a tipping point in the board with respect to parents being frustrated with the woke ideologies and gender ideology that they’re finding in the schools,” she said.
Margo Shuttleworth, who was re-elected chair of the HDSB this week, previously said the school board supported the teacher’s actions “as prescribed by the Ontario Charter of Human Rights.”
Newly-elected HDSB trustee Xin Yi Zhang addressed the teacher’s actions in an email to The Epoch Times, saying the school board should implement “a dress code for teachers.”
“Students are the clients of the school,” Zhang wrote. “The decision should be made by the parents who have children in the school.”
The 2021-2022 student dress code at Oakville Trafalgar High School, where the teacher works, states that students cannot wear clothes that “exposes or makes visible genitals and nipples.” The dress code does not designate clothing regulations for staff and faculty.
“This issue should be resolved by the current board members,” Zhang said.
Waterloo Board
Three Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) trustee candidates endorsed by VoteAgainstWoke were also elected or re-elected on Oct. 24.At the following board meeting on Jan. 24, trustee Mike Ramsay called on Piatkowski to apologize for his actions against Burjoski, but the chairman refused. Several months later, the board voted to suspend Ramsay.
Bill Cody, a newly-elected WRDSB trustee, said he believes the board has become “disconnected from the parents.”
“We cannot ignore how the accumulated problems within a dysfunctional board affect our kids,” Cody wrote to The Epoch Times.
He said schools need to end all “age-inappropriate curriculum and policies, as well as their politicized and divisive responses.”
“Differing opinions can strengthen decision-making, and can expand possibilities,” he said. “If done respectfully, opinions should be able to be shared, without fear of repercussions, intimidation, or being labeled.”
“It is our kids who suffer the consequences when political agendas turn our schools into battlefields.”