Cynics Unlimited

Does a child in Canada have a right to education, regardless of citizenship or legal status? The debate is raging in Toronto over Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Frank D’Amico’s response to social worker Nadia Saad regarding the registration of an undocumented student:

Activists are calling for the resignation of a Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee after he suggested that an undocumented immigrant student applying to Catholic schools should “apply for Canadian Citizenship ASAP.”

Both legislation and district policy state that the school district cannot discriminate against undocumented immigrants who apply. In an e-mail to Nadia Saad, a university social-work student who was working with an undocumented student, Frank D’Amico said that they were lucky he didn’t answer an earlier phone call, “because my first call would be to immigration Canada.

“If you want to live in Canada, take our Canadian jobs, use our Social Programs and Health Care … I strongly suggest becoming a citizen. I am forwarding your concern to the RCMP and to immigration Canada.”

The e-mail was in response to an earlier e-mail Ms. Saad had sent numerous trustees about difficulties finding a placement for a student whose parents were undocumented immigrants. In her original e-mail, she referred to a phone call with a school board administrator that she claimed was skeptical of undocumented immigrants; Mr. D’Amico’s response was that “unless you’ve been on another planet for the last Decade, I will remind you, 911. [sic] September 11 the day that changed the world.”

Saad provided portions of the original letter to Cynics Unlimited:

Not only were this TCDSB administrator’s questions unnecessary, unethical, intrusive and condescending, they, along with her tone of voice, reflect a dangerous underlying ideology that is deeply prejudiced and reeks of entitlement. It is extremely troubling to think of what sort of private information might have been shared unnecessarily with this demanding and intimidating administrator had it been the mother of the boy – anxious, fearful, and non-adept in English – communicating with her as opposed to the social worker, and how such information might have been used (against the family).

Furthermore, the administrator’s questioning is problematic in that it contradicts the afore-mentioned TCDSB policy on Students Without Legal Immigration Status, and section 49.1 of the Ontario Education Act which states:
A person who is otherwise entitled to be admitted to a school and who is less than eighteen years of age shall not be refused admission because the person or the person’s parent or guardian is unlawfully in Canada.
Both the TCDSB policy and section 49.1 of the Education Act should in no respect be viewed as generous, benevolent, unique or complementary gestures. In fact, they are obligations in accordance with international law, as is outlined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, which states that each child is entitled to free and compulsory education, on the basis of equal opportunity. Such a fundamentally human and moral obligation to recognize the right to education – not to mention, to be aware of the policies of your own institution – seemed to have been completely lacking where this particular administrator is concerned.

However, it is my understanding that this is not an isolated occurrence: the report compiled by Social Planning Toronto entitled Policy Without Practice: Barriers to Enrolment for Non-Status Immigrant Students in Toronto’s Catholic Schools highlights as one of its key findings the fact that TCDSB administrative staff are unaware of their own board policies and of their legal obligation to admit children lacking immigration status. This report was completed in 2010 and forwarded to the TCDSB, which has given no response of its receipt nor acknowledgement of the findings of the report.

To conclude, it deeply concerns me that TCDSB administrators are acting inappropriately, unethically, and against their own policies, as gatekeepers to a fundamental human right which is clearly acknowledged by TCDSB policy. I urge the TCDSB to thoroughly educate your school principals, teachers and administrators on the policies I have discussed above, as well as on the international law and human obligations underlying them. If the attitude and ideology of other professionals is anything like this particular administrator who was involved in the above conversation, then I would also recommend everyone undergo extensive training in anti-oppressive practice in order to understand how systems of privilege and oppression operate, are reinforced, and must be worked against.

And so the debate that has divided America for the past decade or so has migrated north: should Canada show compassion to undocumented entrants or force them to abide by the rules before providing any benefits?