UPDATE: The CSDCEO says that Zain’s application was not in fact completed, while Anne Zaidi states that she was not given the opportunity to submit the application form for non-Catholics for her Muslim son.
CORNWALL, Ontario – A Cornwall mother is disappointed after a French Catholic elementary school in Cornwall refused her son’s enrollment in Junior Kindergarten due to his religion.
Anne Zaidi, her husband, and their children are Muslim and moved to Cornwall from Toronto. When they arrived in the city, she asked on social media for school recommendations, and was given positive reviews for École élémentaire catholique Notre-Dame, a school under the French Catholic Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien (CSDCEO).
Her son Zain was too young for Junior Kindergarten at the time, but she was encouraged by the reviews, and the statement on the CSDCEO’s website that they were inclusive to those of all backgrounds.
Zaidi’s family rented a home right across the street from Notre-Dame, and in Sept. 2018 she enrolled her son in the third-party daycare program that is at the school. Zaidi says that at no point was she given any indication that her son Zain would not be able to graduate from the daycare program and start right away in Junior Kindergarten at Notre-Dame.
“When I was starting him in daycare two years ago, I looked onto the school website and confirmed that it said they accept children of all backgrounds as long as the parents show eagerness to have their child attend,” reads a post Zaidi wrote on her social media. “This was nice as I’m originally from Toronto and the Catholic schools there only allow children of a Catholic parent because of the number of Catholic people in the GTA. I then double checked with the daycare and they also said that they’ve started accepting non-Catholics now And children from the day care are often given priority registration as they’ve been going to the school already.”
However, on Jan. 20, she found out that her son would not be allowed to enroll as a student at Notre-Dame and the reason her family was given by the vice-principal was because Zain, and his family, were Muslim. Zaidi then spoke with the teacher at her son’s daycare.
“His teacher said the principal came by two weeks ago with the registration form,” Zaidi wrote on social media. “She also double checked that they take people of all backgrounds and at first she said yes. But then she said you know other than Muslims and Jehovah’s witnesses. His teacher told me her heart just sank because all she could picture was Zain. She said it’s so upsetting to see one of the most deserving and eager families be told that their son cannot attend.”
Zaidi said that she was heartbroken because her son has already made friends at Notre-Dame in his daycare and the Junior Kindergarten class. She called the vice-principal at Notre-Dame to lobby her case.
“I tried to tell her that we have no issues with him learning the Catholic religion and participating,” she states. “We value the Abrahamic traditions of Catholics and wanted Zain to learn in an environment that instills faith in God as we feel this will help guide him in his life. However she said that didn’t matter. I said your website says you take people of all backgrounds if they have a reasonable reason, to this she said by all backgrounds we mean all types of Christians.”
Zaidi said that her family felt so strongly about sending their children to Notre-Dame, that they had bought a house nearby to ensure that they would be close to the school.
In an interview with Seaway News, Zaidi said that she would not send her son to Notre-Dame or any CSDCEO school, even if they changed their stance on the matter, saying that she worried about her family being welcome.
In response to questions submitted to the school board by Seaway News the CSDCEO responded with the following statement.
“At the outset, let me reassure you that the CSDCEO schools are inclusive and welcoming. Our schools welcome students who are eligible for French-language education under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Education Act and its regulations,” reads the statement from the CSDCEO, translated from French by Seaway News. “Regarding the student who is not baptized and therefore does not have a baptist, if the parent wishes to enroll him in an elementary school of the CSDCEO, he must first fill out form ED-125 “Request for ‘admission to a Catholic elementary school’. This is evaluated by the admissions committee. In this case, the request has not been approved. All details relating to the CSDCEO admission policy are contained in Guideline 320 and Bylaw 320-R1, which are available on our website.”
According to the by-law referenced by the CSDCEO states that the board would accept students from non-Catholic backgrounds if their parents support the values and beliefs of Catholic schools, but that they reserve the right to protect the Catholic character of the CSDCEO.
“Notwithstanding its desire to welcome and integrate into its schools certain non-Catholic students who apply for admission, the Council intends to protect its Mission as Catholic Council and the Catholic climate of its schools by all the means that it can. by the Education Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code,” reads a translated section of the by-law.
“Saying you only take Catholics, that’s one thing, there are places like that in Toronto, but don’t say you accept those of all backgrounds if you don’t,” Zaidi said.
Zaidi is a third-generation Canadian. She explained that her mother went to school in Toronto and her parents were married in Richmond Hill.
“We consider ourselves multicultural as Canadians but there are schools in our country, government funded schools, that are promoting discrimination,” Zaidi states in her social media post.
