CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Students should be protected from being blindsided by protesters.
That was the message Parker Grimmer, director of the Public Schools Branch, conveyed to one of Charlottetown city council's standing committees on Monday.
Grimmer delivered a presentation to the protective and emergency services committee that he hopes will start a conversation among council to look into drafting a bylaw aimed at protecting children from harmful demonstrations.
This follows demonstrations held last spring outside Charlottetown Rural High School and Colonel Gray High School.
“Public Schools Branch students were, in our opinion, potentially harmed by a self-interest group that was sharing and distributing extremely graphic images and messages,’’ Grimmer told The Guardian on Tuesday.
Such a bylaw would explore creating safe zones around schools.
Protesters are not permitted to demonstrate on school property, but in both cases last year the Public Schools Branch couldn't do anything since the protesters were off school property. In both cases, protesters stood just off school property on the city’s right-of-way. At Charlottetown Rural, that right-of-way can actually put people as close as 50 yards from the school.
Grimmer said the protesters, who came in from off-Island and promised they’d be back, made sure they positioned themselves so that students would have to walk past them to access school grounds.
“And the graphic images and the signs and the language was upsetting and traumatizing to students and the branch,’’ he said. “Administration at the schools were certainly worried that students might retaliate or conduct themselves in a way that would bring negative attention to the students. We were so pleased that that didn’t happen.’’
Grimmer said he feels a responsibility as the director to try to create a safe and caring environment – and that includes more than being on school property. It also means getting to and from school.
“Public Schools Branch students were, in our opinion, potentially harmed by a self-interest group that was sharing and distributing extremely graphic images and messages.’’
- Parker Grimmer
Meeting with the city committee is just a first step. He hinted that the branch might have conversations with other councils and community leaders moving forward.
The City of Calgary is currently working with local school boards on safe zone bylaws after demonstrators targeted students in a K-Grade 6 school last year with graphic anti-choice abortion pictures. There are also a number of jurisdictions in Ontario and Western Canada that are also considering safe zone bylaws.
“For our young people, it is difficult for them (to see these images), and I think the protesters were exploiting that.’’
Grimmer does want to make one thing abundantly clear through this process — this is just at the conversation stage and the branch is in no way trying to shut down any person’s right to speech. Grimmer said protesting outside a mall, for example, where people can choose not to shop due to a demonstration is one thing. Doing it outside a school is quite another.
“(Students) have a right to an education and they have a right to be safe there. We want to preserve safety around schools and protect students from these graphic and emotionally-charged images.’’
Coun. Bob Doiron, chairman of the protective and emergency services committee, said the mayor and city council are always trying to do what is best for the people of the city.
“If we can bring in a bylaw or to work with our provincial partners to bring in Islandwide legislation to assure that our young people are able to attend school without being subjected to graphic images it is something I believe we all should work hard to do,’’ Doiron said.
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