A western Manitoba school division’s plan to reintroduce the playing of “God Save the King” during morning announcements is back on despite being met with controversy.
Mountain View School Division chairperson Jason Gryba confirmed the plan will go ahead during a school board meeting on Monday evening.
“We will be following the (Schools Patriotic Observances Regulation),” Gryba said at the end of the meeting.
“That will be implemented based on legal counsel that we’ve had.”
Gryba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The decision has been a contentious one within the board as the majority of trustees with the division, which oversees 16 schools in and around Dauphin, Man., voted last month to pause the plan to see whether it is legally required and supported by area residents.
Trustee Scott Lynxleg, who is from the Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Reserve, said he was disappointed with the chair’s decision to move forward despite concerns that the board heard from community members who worry the change could affect Indigenous staff and students.
“It wasn’t a good night for reconciliation,” Lynxleg said in an interview on Tuesday.
“We’re going backwards instead of forwards.”
Gryba originally issued the directive in early January that the royal anthem must be included in morning announcements at division schools, along with O Canada and land acknowledgments.
The move was based on a little-known provincial regulation that say O Canada must be played at the start of the school day, while “God Save the King” should be played at the end of the day. The practice has not been enforced for decades, and the Manitoba School Boards Association has said it’s unaware of any other boards that maintain the tradition.
Gryba has said the board must abide by all federal, provincial and local legislation.
The anthem is considered a musical salute to the British monarch. Indigenous groups have spoken out against it as colonization at the hands of the monarchy.
Lynxleg said he has tried to voice his suggestions on creating a more inclusive environment in the classroom, but those have been “swept aside like putting dirt under the rug.”
“I thought we could work together as a board of trustees, but it hasn’t been happening so I would like some more support from the government.”
Tracy Schmidt, Manitoba’s education minister, said her department has not heard from the school division but would welcome any conversations around the issue.
She said the division should not be concerned about any legal repercussions should it choose not to follow what some have called an outdated regulation.
“No. That’s a very clear no. The department has not been following up with Mountain View or any other school division enforcing that part of the Public Schools Act.”
Schmidt likened the regulation to the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, another aspect of the legislation that still remains on the books but has been deemed unconstitutional by the courts.
The province is in the process of undergoing a broader regulatory review of education.
Schmidt would not say when that work would be completed or whether a decision to remove “God Save the King” would be included.
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