The White River Fiasco

Plan to enroll in a Separate School?  Be

vigilant!

            Since the 1970s, the town of White River has had only a Roman Catholic elementary school to serve both Roman Catholic and Public students. 

            In the Fall of 2002, a chain of unfortunate incidents happened there as a result of the mixture of religions and an administration that was not sensitive to a previously agreed-upon arrangement.  The White River situation of a single Roman Catholic community school for all could be repeated in other areas of the province as enrolments drop and schools close.

            The following account is given to raise awareness to the type of problem which could arise because of a government  which practices religious discrimination by providing public funds for a Roman Catholic separate school system.

BACKGROUND

            White River is a community of less than a thousand people on highway 17 located inland, above the eastern shoulder of Lake Superior, 310 km north of Sault Ste. Marie and 380 km east of Thunder Bay. (See map on page 2.)  Like Chapleau to the east and Schreiber to the west, it was a CPR railroad town.  Lumbering now sustains it.  When the highway 17 trans-Canada route was completed through White River in the 1960s, it benefited by a tourist boom of travelers, but traffic is now reduced and summertime in the town is not as busy as previously. 

            White River is a pleasant place made famous by its claim to be the coldest spot in Canada with a recorded temperature of 72 Fahrenheit degrees below zero.   It is also the location of a small but spacious park dedicated to Winnie the Pooh, because it was at the White River train station where his story began.          

            Below a large colourful likeness of Winnie, (See page 10.) a commemorative plaque states that: “On August 24, 1914 Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, V.S., of the 34^th Fort Garry Horse & Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, purchased a black bear cub at WHITE RIVER, Ontario, while enroute overseas.  He named her WINNIE after his home town, Winnipeg.  WINNIE became the soldiers’ mascot, and was left in the care of the London Zoo on December 9^th, 1914, while Lieutenant Colebourn served in France.  In 1919, he gave her to the Zoo for permanent keeping where she was watched and loved by many, including author A. A. Milne and his son Christopher.”  The rest is history.

            In a town of White River’s size, there are not many school-age children, but in the boom times after the CPR wentthrough in the late 1800s, an eight-room Public school was built to accommodate the families of the railway workers.  A good many years later, a Roman Catholic separate school was built.  

            As the 1970s approached, the public school was showing its age with structural and heating problems.  Due to amalgamations, there are no school board records to give the details, but after many public meetings, it was agreed that in June, 1973, the public school would be closed and the students would take instruction at St. Basil Roman Catholic separate school. 

            St Basil is a much newer building (See picture on page 10.) with a gymnasium and a library.   The nearest public school is in Wawa, 100 km away.  There is busing for high school students, but not for elementary-school students.  Although I could track down no formal agreement, it is said that there is a now-unwritten agreement which includes the right of Public students to be excused from religion classes and ceremonies. 

            The mix of Roman Catholic and Public students in the school varies from year to year, but as of May 2005, it is 53% Roman Catholic and 47% Public.  I have received conflicting estimates on the religious persuasion of the White River families. 

THE  BREAKDOWN

            About two years ago I received an e-mail from Mr. and Mrs. Sharpe.  They have two children and lived in White River from 1990 until 2004.  They are not of the Roman Catholic faith, but, because of the arrangement mentioned above, their two children attended St. Basil school starting in junior kindergarten.

            In September 2002, the older was in grade 7 and the younger in grade 5. Since the Sharpes are Christian, they did not mind when school started with the Lord’s prayer, nor did they mind the children participating in some religion classes.  If some did not wish to participate in the Roman Catholic program of religious instruction, they could take a Family Values class.  It cannot be said that the Sharpes were completely happy about this situation, tolerating it would better describe their attitude.

            Another wrinkle was that when the Roman Catholic priest visited on a regular basis, all children from grade 2 and up were required to go and see him individually.  This was for “reconciliation” or “confession.”  Youngsters who were not Roman Catholic and didn’t know what it was all about, were told to go anyway and “just talk”.  Since grade 2 students are at an impressionable age and are used to doing as instructed by a person in authority, to object to this procedure probably never entered their heads.  Parents whose children didn’t tell them what was going on had no idea they were participating in a Roman Catholic confession. 

            When a new principal, Gail Rebek, was assigned to St. Basil in September of 2002, things changed.  The Family Values class was still offered, but it was changed to religion one day and Family Values the next.  If one didn’t take religion, one did homework.  Also, a new program was introduced called “School Rules Olympics”.  In this program, a student who was “good” was awarded a check mark.  If the student had done something “bad”, a B was put beside their name.

            But there was the option of redeeming one’s Bs for check marks.  No matter what faith the student may have been, redemption for Bs was done by attending the Roman Catholic church or singing in the Roman Catholic church choir.  As a result, if one was not a Roman Catholic, and did not wish to attend the RomanCatholic church, one had no opportunity to redeem bad marks for good ones. 

            The situation came to a head when, on Friday morning, at 8:30 a.m., October 25th, 2002, Mrs. Sharpe was told by another mother that the all students would be going to church that morning for a Roman Catholic mass.  Mrs. Sharpe called her husband and at 9:15 he called the school and told the receptionist not to send his children to church.  When told that they had to go, Mr. Sharpe insisted that his children not go, whereupon he was told he would have to speak to the principal, Gail Rebek.

            From this point on, Mr. Sharpe kept a written record of events as they happened.  The record said: “When I spoke to Mrs. Rebek again, I told her that my children are not to be sent to Catholic mass; she insisted that they will be sent to mass.  I told her ‘no’ we are not Catholic and my children should be given an alternative program for the morning.  She told me there would be nobody there to watch the children.  Then she suggested that I pick up my daughters for the morning.  Again I told her ‘no’ there should be an alternate program for them; DO NOT send them to Catholic mass.  She told me it was beyond her control and to contact the Huron Superior Catholic School Board.”

            Mr. Sharpe took her advice and at 9:45 called the Roman Catholic board and explained his grievance.  He was told to speak to superintendent Jack Stadnyk.  Mr. Stadnyk, not available, was left a message  to call Sharpe back.

            Later that day, at 2:00 p.m., Mr. Sharpe said that: “Jack Stadnyk called me back.  I explained my grievance to him and he replied that he wasn’t really aware of what is going on and that he would look into this grievance with an answer or resolution by Sunday night.”