- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

Premier Doug Ford gave away free hamburgers, hotdogs and t-shirts to a crowd of fans this weekend who came for the freebies and stayed for the speech.

The Premier said: "“It’s not up to the teachers, it’s not up to the school boards to indoctrinate our kids,” he said. “I can't even figure out what school boards do nowadays, by the way."

There will be a lot to say about the comments of the Premier and Education Minister on the subject of outing students and its impacts on their lives. If you want to know the difference between education and indoctrination, and what our local Bluewater public school board is “doing these days”, here is their response to our query about the Premier's remarks.

“Bluewater District School Board is committed to fostering a safe, equitable, and inclusive learning environment that enables every student to learn effectively, reduces achievement gaps, and improves learning outcomes for all, regardless of race, class, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and other historical forms of marginalization. 

"Cultivating an environment where students and staff can be informed about and develop an understanding of each other’s diverse backgrounds and differences is rooted in acceptance, empathy, and creating the ideal conditions for learning, working, growing, and succeeding together.”