Some have complained, justifiably, that the anti-bullying bill seems to allow Catholic schools an out when it comes to the names of these clubs.
The guidelines in use at these publicly funded schools, in 2011, stress that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law,” and “do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity.” In 2011, not 1988, the Ontario Catholic Bishops’ official advice is that gay students be instructed never to act upon their sexual orientation in any way. They are amazing symbols of progress, and offer great hope for more, but they are verboten in publicly funded Catholic schools because the Pope says so. This brings us to the issue of gay-straight alliances in Ontario high schools. This is a move back in the direction of zero-tolerance, and it invites exactly the same sorts of problems. All of those students likely would have qualified as bullies under this bill.
The Ontario Liberals have moved conspicuously away from the “zero-tolerance” school safety policies instituted by their Tory predecessors, partly because they were seen to discriminate against minority and already-disadvantaged students and partly because they led to expulsions that seemed absurd once the media exposed them to a wider audience. If school officials exercised proper judgment, they would likely ignore this law in many cases if they didn’t, it would probably lead to yet another crisis. This would seem to include garden-variety teenage gossip, for example - which can legitimately be defined as bullying, but shouldn’t get anyone kicked out of school. Article contentīullying, as defined by this bill, is “repeated and aggressive behaviour” by a student that is intended to cause, or that the student “ought to know … would be likely to cause, harm, fear or distress to another individual, including psychological harm or harm to the individual’s reputation” - provided that “said behaviour occurs in a context where there is a real or perceived power imbalance.” This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.