A Message to the Teachers and Students in Quebec: Loose Parts and Poetry to Unpack Ideas
Below is the poem written by my class based on their messages for the teacher who was removed from her grade three classroom last week in Quebec. The message is for her and her classroom, but it can be extended to all educators and students in Quebec. We hope that this gets to the people who are impacted the most by the racist law Bill 21. The loose parts lesson that created this poem can be found below the poem.
Dear Teacher
Dear Teacher,
Bill 21 is wrong—
We are so angry this happened.
Everyone deserves to belong,
Everyone is different and that is important,
We are sorry that you are facing this terrible law.
Dear Teacher,
We are confused by this racist law.
Canada should be better and respect everyone—
We would welcome anyone wearing a hijab.
You should not be looked down on,
You should be looked up to because you are unique (as is everyone!).
Even though we are different, we are in this together.
Dear Teacher,
You are welcome here,
AND you should be allowed to teach anywhere.
Everyone should be able to express their culture.
You deserve to teach with the pride of your culture,
AND feel safe teaching.
Dear Teacher,
We want you to know we are thinking about you—
Your hijab is part of your culture, and it is true beauty.
Your hijab is a bottle that opens to help you teach tolerance and diversity in this world.
You deserve to be treated better.
You deserve to teach.
Dear Teacher,
You should never have been removed from your class.
Your life...your choice...your faith,
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms says so.
Come here to BC—you would be welcome,
You deserve to be a teacher.
Dear Students,
Don’t ever change yourself for other people.
It is okay to be different—
Differences are important and special.
We feel gutted by what happened.
It should not have happened.
We hope you can get your teacher back.
Dear Students and Teacher,
You are perfect.
Your class with your beautiful teacher deserves to be together.
Everyone's culture is important and deserves respect.
Stay strong.
By Grade 5 Students
Katzie Elementary
The Background
Bill 21 in Quebec is the ‘Act of respecting the laicity of the State’. If you are like me, you might need to look up what the word ‘laicity’ means. It generally means ‘secularism’ and the reference in Bill 21 is to remove overt and obvious religious symbols from specific places. This bill applies to many specific vocations including teaching.
There is a specific section of the bill that explicietely refers to ‘services with face uncovered’, which includes education. The hijab that caused a teacher to be removed from her classroom last week falls under this category. It is argued by many civil liberties groups that this bill misinterprets the division of church and state in a racist way. It overtly impacts marginalized groups and removes diversity from public view.
This law is a racist law. It breaks the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It breaks both the Fundamental Freedoms in our charter and the Equality Rights. I am sure this law will be challenged to the highest courts, but I am not sure how it was even allowed to begin with.
Fundamental Freedoms
Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Equality Rights
15.(1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
The Inciting Incident
Last week, a grade three teacher was removed from her classroom because of her hijab. A competent, caring educator who worked with eight-year-olds. A teacher who is probably desperately missed by her students while she herself is desperately missing doing what she loves: working with kids.
When the premier of Quebec was asked for a comment on this incident, he said that the school board should never have hired her. Disgusting. Gutting. Racist.
Diversity is vital and reflects the cosmopolitan reality of our world. Kids need to see themselves reflected in school. This helps children know that they belong in school and that they matter. Learning about diversity is learning acceptance and tolerance of others. This is literally what school is about. Kids learn to honour and treasure our differences to create a more accepting world. The fact that the premier of Quebec does not value diversity or see the importance of representation in all places within his province is terrifying.
Historical and modern prejudice is part of the grade five curriculum, and beyond that, I am on a journey to use my place of privilege to practice anti-racism. Given both of these facts, I knew I had to do something in my classroom to address not only Bill 21, but also the specific incident that occurred last week.
The Lesson: Loose Parts to Unpack Challenging Ideas
Using loose parts is a great way to explore abstract ideas or challenging events. I use it throughout many subjects and the prompt today could be seen as linked so social studies or the BC Core Competencies. It was beautiful to watch the kids respond to the prompt and the knowledge they gained through the lesson. You an download a copy of the lesson HERE.
The Prompt:
The Anchor Text:
The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad is a book about a the first day a young girl wears her hijab. The author is an Olympian and proud of her heritage. In her author’s note, she talks about wanting to write a book to teach people about hijab and so that young girls who wear their own hijab could see the beauty in it and see themselves reflected in literature.
If you do not have access to this book, you could use All are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold or you could ask your teacher librarian for ideas.
Final Thoughts
Bill 21 is racist. It is important that educators find ways to talk about hard things—including racism with kids of all ages. Kids have beautiful ideas. They see the world the way it should be. Kids also need to be exposed to diverse populations that reflect the world around them. This allows everyone to learn how to respect and navigate our differences in order to make a better world. It is scary that diversity is being removed from education in Quebec.
Kids need to see themselves reflected in their classrooms, in their educators, in the literature we read, and in the curriculum in order to feel like they are valued and belong. I will keep learning and keep having hard conversations because they are important.
I am thinking of my colleagues in Quebec and sending hope for a strong response to Bill 21 from the courts. Good luck, and as my students said: Stay strong.