Juno News - Ontario minister demands grad ceremonies stay “apolitical” after “anti-colonial” memo

00:00:00.640 Did Ontario's Education Minister admit that schools have become a political breeding ground?

00:00:08.080 It seems to be according to this letter. This letter, which was sent to me this morning by

00:00:15.440 some sources at multiple boards, is basically telling them to knock off the politics in schools

00:00:22.000 or else. And it comes just over a week after I published this article about how the Hamilton

00:00:30.500 Wentworth District School Board was preparing for an anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-oppressive

00:00:36.720 graduation ceremony, but they called it a commencement. So commencement basically means

00:00:43.760 that it was inclusive for everybody. So even if you weren't graduating, you could still go to the

00:00:48.300 ceremony. In this memo, this leaked memo exclusive to Juno News, it was revealed that the board would

00:00:56.380 have a land acknowledgement at this graduation or commencement ceremony, but that nobody would

00:01:01.180 have to stand for O Canada. They called Canadian citizens, citizens of Turtle Island as well.

00:01:08.540 But back to the letter, it starts off by praising school boards for all of their efforts,

00:01:14.300 but then quickly goes into saying that graduation ceremonies are not appropriate forms for organizing

00:01:23.180 or administrators to express political views or promoting personal or institutional positions

00:01:29.020 or engaging in divisive or contentious issues of any kind. The education minister said that

00:01:36.460 ceremonies must be strictly student-centered and apolitical, inclusive, and respectful.

00:01:45.020 If you've seen any of my reporting, you know that schools have been doing anything but

00:01:49.140 being inclusive and leaving divisive politics out of school.

00:01:53.620 Included in the letter, Kalander says that if school boards don't comply, that he won't

00:01:58.480 hesitate to use any tool at his disposal within the Education Act.

00:02:03.440 Has he been following my reporting?

00:02:07.440 But seriously, how political do schools have to become for a politician to take action?

00:02:13.440 So this is a letter, very interesting.

00:02:15.440 Will he actually take action?

00:02:17.440 He's said strong words in the past.

00:02:20.440 But if you're interested in reading more about this article, check out the link in the description.

Juno News - March 23, 2026