the classroom slowly went up, and a student in grade eight asked, “What happens if a stu- dent wants to sleep in an all-gender cabin, but that person’s guardian says no?” The question of whose rights take precedence was now out of the box. Just in time for the parent consultation meeting.
BRINGING THE COMMUNITY ON BOARD
With 50 percent of the student body indi- cating a desire to take part in an all-gender cabin, the need for a parent consultation meeting was a forgone conclusion. Present were some of the staff, including the princi- pal, our superintendent and a representative from the Gender-Based Violence Prevention Office of the TDSB. Here, adults had to grap- ple with a new legal reality; this meeting was not a request for permission but rather an opportunity to give input into how to make all-gender cabins a reality.
There were questions about whether
wearing underwear around the cabin was acceptable (I couldn’t help but wonder if we would have to cancel the swimming ac- tivities if the answer turned out to be ‘no’) and the logistics of eight cabin mates having enough time to change and get to a program on time. One parent mused aloud that with all of the attention given to the high expecta- tions outlined for the all-gender cabins, they were likely going to be more mundane than the gendered cabins.
AND IN THE END
As any teacher knows, running an overnight trip is fraught with a million details, and usu- ally some challenges. In our case, and by all student accounts, the all-gender cabins were a non-issue. Jordan would later write, “To me personally, being in an all-gender cabin nev- er really seemed like a big deal, but that could have been because we got to choose at least
one person to bunk with, and I trusted most of my classmates.” What strikes me about her thoughts is the mention of trust, because it, along with human rights activism, is at the core of the work we do at City View. Rostine wrote that he “felt privileged” to
be a part of the process, and Guin was sure that some friendships were stronger because of the cabins. At the end of the day and in retrospect, Patia would say, “Difference can be scary at first, because you don’t know how to deal with or understand it. I admit, I was nervous. But if we didn’t have difference in this world, we would all be pretty darn bor- ing. I think change is not only inevitable, but beautiful.” And so it was. n
David Stocker is a member of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto.
ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 31
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