Surrey school district鈥檚 rejection of a 鈥淜halistan referendum鈥� voting event that was set for Sept. 10 at Tamanawis secondary school in Newton over promotional posters displaying an assault rifle being stabbed by a pencil has raised the question whether using public schools for plebiscites related to politics outside Canada should be permitted in the first place.
Typically schools are used as ballot stations for federal, provincial and civic general elections. But this particular event at the Surrey school, before it was cancelled, would have seen Sikh voters weigh in on a non-binding referendum on whether the state of Punjab in India should become an independent nation called Khalistan.
On Sunday (Sept. 3) the school district cancelled the 鈥渃ommunity rental鈥� on grounds promotional material for the event depicted images 鈥渙f our school, alongside images of a weapon,鈥� which according to a statement issued by the district violated the rental agreement.
鈥漁ur decision is in no way an endorsement of, or criticism of, any political position,鈥� the statement reads. 鈥淲e have communicated the cancellation to the event organizers and have initiated the refund process for any payments made in connection with the rental.鈥�
Surrey-Green Timbers MLA and Education Minister Rachna Singh has not responded to requests for comment. Meantime, Surrey school trustee Garry Thind told the Now-Leader, 鈥淔rankly, I don鈥檛 know how it got booked at the first point.鈥�
If the department in charge of facility rentals would have consulted himself first, he said, as a person who 鈥渒nows that community well, I could have told them not to get into this at that time because I knew it will be very, very political, they cannot win both sides. One side will be unhappy regardless of what you do.鈥�
Thind noted school rental income is important to the district, at hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, for 鈥渧ery important programs鈥� for 鈥渕ost vulnerable students.鈥�
But as for renting a school for a referendum related to politics outside of Canada, he said, 鈥渨ould have been a first.鈥�
Going forward, he said, he thinks the school district will alter its school rental policies to exclude voting events related to politics outside of Canada. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l be done more transparently so none of these incidents will happen in future,鈥� he said.
Trustee Gary Tymoschuk, vice-chairman of the school board, said sometimes policies need to be reviewed and revised.
鈥淎s current chair of the policy committee that鈥檚 something that we could look at,鈥� he said. 鈥淕arry鈥檚 saying it should be changed, certainly we鈥檒l look at it.鈥�
鈥淭his would have been a decision at the staff level,鈥� he said of the current matter. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 even come to the board, it didn鈥檛 need to come to the board, again because we have a policy in place. As long as the policy was followed and I believe it was, I don鈥檛 know, I can鈥檛 say for sure, but once the posters start going out and depicting, you know, essentially violence and a picture of our school that鈥檚 when it became a problem, and that is against our policy.鈥�
Stewart Prest, a professor of political science at UBC, said using a Canadian school to stage a referendum vote related to another country is not something he鈥檇 heard of before now.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a highly contested subject; that鈥檚 where you get into some of the real challenges,鈥� he said. 鈥淭o avoid any kind of expression of state support for interference in another country鈥檚 political problem. It鈥檚 the sort of thing where there may be diplomatic implications for Canadian institutions being seen to be in some sense supportive or at least open to those kind of endeavours.鈥�
After all, Prest noted, 鈥渟chools as public institutions are venues of the state.鈥�
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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