You may remember NTB reported on a similar story earlier this week...
But Canadians aren't stopping there!
Well, more schools are joining in this fight against mums, dads, and happy families.
A Manitoba high school is ditching Mother's Day and Father's Day to "transition to a more inclusive practice."
A memo went out last week from the principal of Dr. F.W.L. Hamilton School stating the school will no longer celebrate traditions like Mother's and Father's Day and will instead encourage non-gender-specific observations of "all those who support our student's [sic]."
The memo reads:
As we continue to learn and recognize the importance of celebrating all people in our community, we have moved away from isolated observances of specific traditions like Mother's and Father's Day.
Student's (sic) are now creating cards and crafts with specific messages and people in mind. This has been a beautiful transition to showing gratitude authentically and organically. Thank you for supporting our transition to a more inclusive practice.
Shockingly, a school in Toronto actually had the guts to put Mother's Day message on their outdoor greeting board. BUT, they later had to apologize for it and take it down because it offended people... BECAUSE OF COURSE IT DID.
And what did this offensive Mother's Day message say?
"Life does not come with a manual. It comes with a mom."
This shocking message was actually chosen by the grade six students at Kew Beach Junior Public School. So yeah... grown adults were offended by a sixth grader's Mother's Day message.
That's where we are today.
Some parents claimed the message was "harmful" and "exclusionary."
Charlotte Dobo was the mother who got super upset over the message. She has four kids, none of which even go to that school... so she took to complaining on the internet.
Dobo posted to a Facebook parent group:
I don't know if this is a terribly misguided attempt at wishing folks a happy Mother's Day or just generally the worst sign possible. I don't feel like this represents the neighbourhood it's in, the cohort of families at this school, or anything really.
So, the school quickly caved, took it down, and apologized for their grave error.
A spokesperson for The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), Shari Schwartz-Maltz, says the grade 6 students "came up with the first quote collectively as they prepare for Mother's Day this weekend, to share how much they care for and depend on their moms" but the school realized how insensitive that really was.
Upon feedback, the school recognized that this quote does not reflect the inclusivity of our community, and took immediate steps to address the issue. The sign has now been updated with a new message of an encouraging acronym for May.
The new and improved sign now reads:
"M: Make this month count. A: Accoplish [sic] your goals. Y: You can do this."
And yes, they really did misspell "accomplish."
The school says they will continue to "mark Mother's Day," but it looks like they just took the mother out of May.