Surrey school district乌鸦传媒檚 rejection of a 乌鸦传媒淜halistan referendum乌鸦传媒� voting event that was set for Sept. 10 at Tamanawis secondary school in Newton over promotional posters displaying an assault rifle being stabbed by a pencil has raised the question whether using public schools for plebiscites related to politics outside Canada should be permitted in the first place.
Typically schools are used as ballot stations for federal, provincial and civic general elections. But this particular event at the Surrey school, before it was cancelled, would have seen Sikh voters weigh in on a non-binding referendum on whether the state of Punjab in India should become an independent nation called Khalistan.
On Sunday (Sept. 3) the school district cancelled the 乌鸦传媒渃ommunity rental乌鸦传媒� on grounds promotional material for the event depicted images 乌鸦传媒渙f our school, alongside images of a weapon,乌鸦传媒� which according to a statement issued by the district violated the rental agreement.
乌鸦传媒漁ur decision is in no way an endorsement of, or criticism of, any political position,乌鸦传媒� the statement reads. 乌鸦传媒淲e have communicated the cancellation to the event organizers and have initiated the refund process for any payments made in connection with the rental.乌鸦传媒�
Surrey-Green Timbers MLA and Education Minister Rachna Singh has not responded to requests for comment. Meantime, Surrey school trustee Garry Thind told the Now-Leader, 乌鸦传媒淔rankly, I don乌鸦传媒檛 know how it got booked at the first point.乌鸦传媒�
If the department in charge of facility rentals would have consulted himself first, he said, as a person who 乌鸦传媒渒nows that community well, I could have told them not to get into this at that time because I knew it will be very, very political, they cannot win both sides. One side will be unhappy regardless of what you do.乌鸦传媒�
Thind noted school rental income is important to the district, at hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for 乌鸦传媒渧ery important programs乌鸦传媒� for 乌鸦传媒渕ost vulnerable students.乌鸦传媒�
But as for renting a school for a referendum related to politics outside of Canada, he said, 乌鸦传媒渨ould have been a first.乌鸦传媒�
Going forward, he said, he thinks the school district will alter its school rental policies to exclude voting events related to politics outside of Canada. 乌鸦传媒淭hey乌鸦传媒檒l be done more transparently so none of these incidents will happen in future,乌鸦传媒� he said.
Trustee Gary Tymoschuk, vice-chairman of the school board, said sometimes policies need to be reviewed and revised.
乌鸦传媒淎s current chair of the policy committee that乌鸦传媒檚 something that we could look at,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淕arry乌鸦传媒檚 saying it should be changed, certainly we乌鸦传媒檒l look at it.乌鸦传媒�
乌鸦传媒淭his would have been a decision at the staff level,乌鸦传媒� he said of the current matter. 乌鸦传媒淚t didn乌鸦传媒檛 even come to the board, it didn乌鸦传媒檛 need to come to the board, again because we have a policy in place. As long as the policy was followed and I believe it was, I don乌鸦传媒檛 know, I can乌鸦传媒檛 say for sure, but once the posters start going out and depicting, you know, essentially violence and a picture of our school that乌鸦传媒檚 when it became a problem, and that is against our policy.乌鸦传媒�
Stewart Prest, a professor of political science at UBC, said using a Canadian school to stage a referendum vote related to another country is not something he乌鸦传媒檇 heard of before now.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 a highly contested subject; that乌鸦传媒檚 where you get into some of the real challenges,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淭o avoid any kind of expression of state support for interference in another country乌鸦传媒檚 political problem. It乌鸦传媒檚 the sort of thing where there may be diplomatic implications for Canadian institutions being seen to be in some sense supportive or at least open to those kind of endeavours.乌鸦传媒�
After all, Prest noted, 乌鸦传媒渟chools as public institutions are venues of the state.乌鸦传媒�
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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