Ontario helping students to help themselves

Wynn was talking on the sidelines of an event being held at Brampton’s Roberta Bondar Public School whose Grade 4 (now in Grade 5) students were being honoured with the Canadian Centre for Diversity’s 2008 Discover Diversity Award for their outstanding effort in expanding their knowledge on faith and culture.

Addressing the children earlier, the minister stressed Ontario’s diversity is a huge advantage. She also engaged them in a series of questions while requesting a show of hands- an exercise that threw up some interesting numbers: an estimated 90 per cent of the children knew English plus two other languages, while approximately 60 per cent of them had already visited areas outside Canada.

“Back when I was studying in Richmond Hill, virtually all of us knew only English, while most had never travelled out of Canada, or even Ontario,” she informed the kids.

She pointed out knowing more than one language is a big advantage since it then enables the person to think of the world in more than one language, thereby widening their horizons.

Joan Hamilton, the school’s principal, explained that as part of the Discovery Diversity Schools Program, some 125 students had visited three faith centres. a synagogue, and Anglican church and a Hindu temple.

She added the exercise helped the children realize we’re really all the same, with just some little differences. “We learn we’re all part of one family.”

Using what they learned about the different faiths, the children wrote their own songs which they later performed and videotaped. The students submitted the videos to the Canadian Centre for Diversity where they were reviewed by a panel of appointed assessors.

They also performed several of the songs at the function, one of which went:

“We are part of one family,

The Sun and the Earth, and You and Meâ?¦”

Handing over the award Charles Coffey, chairman, Canadian Centre for Diversity, noted it is important to reach out and understand other perspectives.

Coffey emphasized that even beyond the obvious economic reasons, embracing diversity is a social imperative.

Quoting the Aga Khan, he said: “We cannot make the world safe for democracy unless we first make it safe for diversity.”

He agreed diversity may lead to issues of communities tending to interact within themselves, and this could be a challenge both in the country and in broader society.

“But we can also get emerging leaders to start talking outside their communities,” he said.

Complete at the source