Surrey school districtsa国际传媒檚 rejection of a sa国际传媒淜halistan referendumsa国际传媒� 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 sa国际传媒渃ommunity rentalsa国际传媒� on grounds promotional material for the event depicted images sa国际传媒渙f our school, alongside images of a weapon,sa国际传媒� which according to a statement issued by the district violated the rental agreement.
sa国际传媒漁ur decision is in no way an endorsement of, or criticism of, any political position,sa国际传媒� the statement reads. sa国际传媒淲e have communicated the cancellation to the event organizers and have initiated the refund process for any payments made in connection with the rental.sa国际传媒�
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, sa国际传媒淔rankly, I donsa国际传媒檛 know how it got booked at the first point.sa国际传媒�
If the department in charge of facility rentals would have consulted himself first, he said, as a person who sa国际传媒渒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.sa国际传媒�
Thind noted school rental income is important to the district, at hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for sa国际传媒渧ery important programssa国际传媒� for sa国际传媒渕ost vulnerable students.sa国际传媒�
But as for renting a school for a referendum related to politics outside of Canada, he said, sa国际传媒渨ould have been a first.sa国际传媒�
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. sa国际传媒淭heysa国际传媒檒l be done more transparently so none of these incidents will happen in future,sa国际传媒� he said.
Trustee Gary Tymoschuk, vice-chairman of the school board, said sometimes policies need to be reviewed and revised.
sa国际传媒淎s current chair of the policy committee thatsa国际传媒檚 something that we could look at,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淕arrysa国际传媒檚 saying it should be changed, certainly wesa国际传媒檒l look at it.sa国际传媒�
sa国际传媒淭his would have been a decision at the staff level,sa国际传媒� he said of the current matter. sa国际传媒淚t didnsa国际传媒檛 even come to the board, it didnsa国际传媒檛 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 donsa国际传媒檛 know, I cansa国际传媒檛 say for sure, but once the posters start going out and depicting, you know, essentially violence and a picture of our school thatsa国际传媒檚 when it became a problem, and that is against our policy.sa国际传媒�
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 hesa国际传媒檇 heard of before now.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 a highly contested subject; thatsa国际传媒檚 where you get into some of the real challenges,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淭o avoid any kind of expression of state support for interference in another countrysa国际传媒檚 political problem. Itsa国际传媒檚 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.sa国际传媒�
After all, Prest noted, sa国际传媒渟chools as public institutions are venues of the state.sa国际传媒�
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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