The Edmonton Public School Board has decided to create holidays to mark Diwali and National Indigenous Peoples Day in 2022-23 after a group of advocates asked the board to make its holiday calendar more inclusive.
“There were four days of faith or days of cultural importance that were being requested. We accommodated two of them, ”EPSB President Trisha Estabrooks said after the board meeting Tuesday night. “We heard from several former Edmonton public students today who shared stories about how important it is to have their faith recognized.
“We recognize, and I want our community to hear this as well, that this is a first step … but there is a commitment from this board of trustees that this conversation will continue, that we are on our way to truly becoming anti-racist and divisive. more inclusive school “.
Estabrooks noted that the EPSB is talking about bringing an “anti-racist lens” to all the decisions it makes regarding the school calendar and believes that theirs is the only school division in Alberta that has published an interfaith calendar.
“Today was a long but important meeting, and I really appreciate the voices we heard today,” he said.
A group of advocates told EPSB trustees that they missed an opportunity to recognize other cultures and religions when they shortened the school year by five days in 2020 due to financial pressures.
Those non-school days were added to the long weekends and fall break was extended.
READ MORE: Edmonton Public plans to add 5 more days off to the school calendar
Instead, an interfaith group said that free time should be used to celebrate a broader section of holy days.
“We need to ensure that our diverse communities and diverse students feel included, welcomed and seen,” explained Daman Kaur Grewal, president of Sangat Youth. “It’s a way of getting rid of ‘us versus them’, the kind of otherness you can feel.”
The group had asked all students to have the day off for Bandi Chhor Divas, Diwali, Eid-ul-Adha, Eid-ul-Fitr, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Lunar New Year, Winter Solstice, and Yom Kippur.
“We are not talking about a change in instructional hours. We don’t want to change that. We just want to make better use of the days we already have, ”said Omar Yaqub.
The advocates come from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, and together they managed to get more than 1,000 people sign your petition.
Indigenous, Sikh, Hindus, Muslims, Chinese; many, many, many different communities have come together. We have synagogues, mosques, temples, and incredibly, many, many Christian groups, ”Yaqub said.
Kaur Grewal was an EPSB student and said the school often triumphed over her family’s Sikh holy days.
“We have these important days or events, and we go to the Gurdwara, our place of worship, in the afternoons, and if you have an exam the next day or an assignment for the next day, I can tell you that there have been many ‘I’ve missed’.
She hopes that a new and more inclusive calendar will help teachers plan lessons and that schools schedule events during the holidays.
“Maybe tomorrow will be a really important day and I know that the students will participate in their cultural or religious event; they may not be able to meet the deadline for the next day, ”he said.
READ MORE: For some Canadians, it is not easy to celebrate religious holidays
Estabrooks said he knows that “the school calendar impacts tens of thousands of families in our city” and added that he wants to continue to engage with families and communities on the issue.
“I really hope the conversation continues,” he said. “The only situation I don’t want us to get into is where we give days or vacations and then we take them off.
“There is still a lot of work to do in this area … In the future, hopefully, we can take some more important steps.”
According to the Education Act, there is no academic penalty for being absent on a religious holiday, but the advocacy group says it is all about inclusion.
They also hope it will lead to learning, for children of all backgrounds.
“It’s going to spark the conversation. There will be kids in the class who have never heard of it, and they will turn to their neighbor and say, ‘Is it something you celebrate?’ ”Kaur Grewal explained.
“Maybe they will talk about it, maybe they will find similarities between their own faith, customs, traditions and events, or they will learn something new and take it home.”
The calendar of various religions presented to the board It can be found here.
–With files from Phil Heidenreich, Global News
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Reference-globalnews.ca