The slander of two candidates for school trustee in St. Boniface is the latest example of fake news that's fast becoming the trademark of the Winnipeg Free Press.
The story by reporter Chris Kitching uses the slimiest newspaper tactics to pass off a smear campaign against the two as a legitimate news story. It might have worked in the Sixties, but today's readers are too savvy to the tricks of biased journalists to overlook the obvious.
The FP's attempt to undermine the campaigns of these two candidates is such a classic example of fake news it should be studied in legitimate journalism classes as a how-not-to produce a story.
The headline reads: 'School trustee candidates ‘parental rights’ campaign literature raises concerns'.
Note the quotation marks around the words parental rights. That is supposed to delegitimize the term by isolating the words and indicating there's something suspicious about the users. They wouldn't use quotation marks if the candidates were running campaigns on human rights or animal rights.
Kitching flags the extreme slant of his "story" in the very first sentence.
"The so-called “parental rights” movement..." he begins. So-called? This is a derogatory term used to indicate there's something negative or wrong about the term, indeed something morally wrong. But that's not the worst of his prejudicial approach.
'The so-called "parental rights" movement---associated with far-right conservatism and anti-LGBTTQ+ sentiment..."
Will you ever see a Free Press story reading "pro-Palestinian protestors---associated with the terrorist group Hamas that committed mass murder in Israel in October"? Of course not.
The use of smear words is reserved for parents opposed to the gender-bending ideology taught students within the Louis Riel School Division.
And remember the headline which stated the story was about "candidates ‘parental rights’ campaign literature"?
Kitching wrote that Marcel Boille’s campaign pamphlet mentions “parental rights,” while "alleging parents are being kept in the dark about what is being taught in schools — a claim denied by board members and teachers who spoke to the Free Press."
Boille doesn't even get a full sentence for himself before Kitching rushes to undermine his point by citing "board members and teachers".
But that's more than Sandra Saint-Cyr, a teacher herself, got.
Kitching only paraphrased her election
pamphlet for her, saying it "makes various claims about activities or
spaces within LRSD schools.
"She believes parental consent should be required in regards to gender affirmation."
He used the cheapest, sleaziest journalist's trick in the book to make sure she didn't get to speak.
He spoke to critics first, then wrote his story and then on a Friday afternoon he emailed her---over the noon hour---when the reporter hopes the subject is having lunch and won't answer.
But she did reply a couple of hours later in the day and told him she couldn't do a phone interview because her "slate is full", he wrote, implying she was lying to duck his questions. He agreed to mail her questions but, he wrote, she hadn't responded "by Friday evening."
Actually his deadline was 5 p.m., hardly the evening. A real news story has no deadline, but the Free Press wanted to print the smear story in its Saturday paper, the most read, before the byelection June 6.
Nothing prevented Kitching from actually citing St. Cyr's campaign literature that critics found so concerning. Let us remedy that oversight.
The
responses from the school division are risable.
LRSD Supt. Christian Michalik said Saint-Cyr’s claims misrepresent the “lived experiences” in the division’s schools. “What troubles me the most is they call into question the integrity of our teachers,” he said. “I worry for the staff that work tirelessly to create really positive and nurturing environments for students.” Winnipeg Free Press
Ward
3 trustee and
bi-sexual activist Ryan Palmquist, told Kitching,“The rhetoric that has
been coming from these two candidates is belligerent, confrontational and
anti-inclusion."
Yet EVERYTHING in St. Cyr's pamphlet about the Louis Riel School Division is TRUE. It comes straight from the LRSD's own policies:
LRSD Admin Protocols: Practices that
Support Respect for Human Diversity
https://media.lrsd.net/media/Default/medialib/ac-respect-for-human-diversity.16654d25621.pdf
• a person’s self-identification is the sole measure of their gender; and that
• all individuals have the right to be addressed by a name and pronoun that corresponds to their gender identity or expression.
2. An individual’s gender identity is considered to be private and confidential information.
5. When a student makes a request related to their preferred name or gender identity and when the student has capacity of consent, parental/guardian consent is not required for students in Grades 7 to 12
2. Schools will use the student’s legal name on transcripts, CUM files and provincial assessments... Schools will use the student’s preferred name wherever possible (e.g., on class lists, timetables, identification cards ... report cards, and high school diplomas)...
*******************
1. Students and employees may access the washroom corresponding to their gender identity or
expression.
2. Students have a right to access the change room that corresponds to their gender identity or
gender expression.
I. Sports
Team Participation
1. Students have a right to participate in any
gender-separated recreational and competitive athletic activities that are
consistent with their gender identity or expression.
1. Students and employees may access the washroom corresponding to their gender identity or
expression.
2. Students have a right to access the change room that corresponds to their gender identity or
gender expression.
I. Sports
Team Participation
1. Students have a right to participate in any gender-separated recreational and competitive athletic activities that are consistent with their gender identity or expression.
3. Students who request increased privacy will be offered accommodations that meet their needs. For example, in some cases this may mean offering private accommodations at no extra cost to the student.
1. School libraries will strive to have the best and most up-to-date collection of age appropriate books on sexual orientation and gender identity issues and topics, including a variety of novels, short-story collections, movies, and magazines for youth that are affirming of gender variance.
Now you can see what her critics are really concerned about.
They are concerned that parents will find out what the teachers at the Louis Riel School Division are teaching.
Kitching emailed St. Cyr a number of questions of the "when did you stop beating your husband" variety.
We have our own question for Ryan Palmquist, Christian Michalik, and the others concerned about the campaign literature:
"What's a woman?"
We can't wait for their answers.
