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Santa Claus is out at Souris school

By: Jillian Austin

27/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 19

BRANDON -- Santa Claus won't be coming to Souris School this year and neither will any other Christmas themes.

For the first time, the school will hold a Winter Festival instead of its traditional kindergarten to Grade 4 Christmas concert. While the decision is an effort to be sensitive to all faiths and cultures, many parents are upset.

"Christmas trees, Santa Claus, carols... these are all Canadian traditions," said one Souris parent, who didn't want to be named. "As parents, Santa represents giving, so now are we saying to our kids that this is wrong?"

Glenn Wallmann, a teacher at Souris School for the past 34 years, said the choice was made to make sure every student is included and receives an equal education.

The school has become more multicultural in recent years, Southwest Horizon School Division Supt. Dale Peak said, with students moving to the community from places like South America and East Asia.

Faiths that don't recognize Christmas are also represented at the school, he said.

The number of students sitting out while their classmates prepared for the Christmas concert increased. There are currently students in every grade who wouldn't be able to participate.

Wallmann said it was a tough decision, but one he stands by. "Even though I love Christmas things, we felt we couldn't do this any longer. We're doing this for educational reasons... for the good of all the kids."

The Grade 5 students won't be having their usual Christmas musical, either. The school has decided to have a different musical later in the year.

-- The Brandon Sun

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 27, 2009 A6

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19 Commentscomment icon

This really demonstrates our stupidity in this country and how spineless we've become -- does anyone think that Muslim countries would allow women to forego wearing a hijab there just because some might find it offensive?!? Not a chance. They have the backbone to say "this is how it's done here -- if you don't like it, too bad."

Absolute idiocy at its finest.

According to the anonymous parent in Souris, Santa is about GIVING? Really?

Don't get me wrong, I'm no Scrooge. I love Christmas. But last time I checked, Santa seems to be a whole lot more about getting than giving. (Furthermore, isn't Christmas about Jesus or did my parents lie to me? Hmmm... there was all that stuff they said about Santa too...)

Also, are they actually excluding Christmas, or are they just including other traditions as well? I'm all for inclusiveness, but it seems a little odd to omit Christmas as I don't think that would incite children who celebrate Christmas to respect the traditions of others.

Oh, and PapaSmurf: I vote to make them ALL stat holidays, especially Ramadan. :-)

Hey I know! Staff at Souris School that had a hand in making this decision should offer to work December 25th and during the Christmas break to actually get the students who don't participate in the concert AHEAD in their studies. What a great way to enhance their education while letting the majority of families enjoy cherished traditions!! What a win-win situation. If, as Mr. Wallman was quoted as saying, the decision to "cancel "Christmas" at Souris school was for educational reasons this suggestion would solve the problem! Personally, I think that reason is just a "sounds good" excuse for a poor decision. Or here's another idea....parents could pull their children out of class to rehearse for a private concert....I would buy a ticket and encourage everyone I know to buy a ticket....that would be preferable to being led around by the nose or having smoke blown up my....nose.

Good grief. This is sickening. I hope the good people of Souris rally and get one or two deserving people transferred or fired!!! People, people....we have to stop being so passive and stand up for what we want! At our school we also have a small handful of children that do not take part in our Christmas concert but their education does NOT suffer. Their education probably is enhanced as they can work on extra work!! Don't believe the line about the good of everyone's education.........that is garbage....it's just a "sounds good" justification for a poor decision. Chip away and chip away and soon Souris may ban Christmas trees......and Christmas lights......and heaven forbid......fruitcake!! Oh wait...using the word "heaven" probably isn't politically correct. Oh my goodness...the "no concert decision makers" better picket Webster's Dictionary to get that horrible word deleted from their book. OH MY....you have your work cut out for you....better get to steppin'.(hope the square dancers don't take offense to that remark). I know Souris had a lot of hard working motivated people so perhaps they can pull their children from school to practice for a private concert. If so, I will gladly buy a ticket!

It's about time more schools started realizing that the winter holidays aren't just for christians. Xmas is just another folklore (and borderline pagan) holiday anyway. There are soooooooo many non-christians, and fake christians out there that celebrate Xmas and Easter (more like the Easter Bunny for that matter). It's great that we live in a country where schools can actually make decisions without being legally accosted by those who are ignorant of others beliefs.

So an immigrant celebrates his/her festivities and that's considered multicultural and inclusive. We try to celebrate a tradition that we've had for 150 years in Canada and it's noninclusive and offensive?

I'm so sick and tired about hearing about the cultural INsensitivity of these people. I'm not offended if someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah or a Happy Ramadan. Why would anyone be offended by Merry Christmas? My goodness, we are just celebrating the birth of Santa Claus anyways!

All kidding aside, why can't the winter carnival include Santa Claus in the festivities? I'm not Christian, but I don't find that the tradition of Santa Claus to have anything to do with religion, except it occurs on Dec 25th.

So why couldn't the school board take out the baby Jesus stuff, leave Santa Claus in and mix in some education of other cultures' practices and traditions as well?

The spirit of kindness and giving isn't something that should be offensive to anyone, regardless of what faith you are. And if you are offensive to it, please pack your bags and go back to whatever country you came from.

In Canada we are supposed to be open about other peoples' faiths, so why can't the same be expected of our immigrants?

I am not a religious person, nor was our family as I was growing up but the Christmas concert was always great to see and participate in. A few years ago I went to a "Seasonal Concert" at my nieces school and was disgusted that there was no Christmas carols being sung. How are these traditional holiday songs going to be remembered and passed on? It was utterly disappointing when all the music I heard was Elvis tunes.

I agree that all cultures should be represented and proud of their heritage and traditions but it should not be at the detriment of anothers.

Please, please try to stand back and see the positive aspects of this incident. In Canada, conventional wisdom would have it that immigrants all cluster to Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver; and, that few, if any immigrants are willing to live in Canada's (and especially Western Canada's) rural centres. The corollary to this conventional wisdom is the hand-wringing hypothesis that an imputed immigration -imbalance would create non-assimilated ethnic ghettos in Canada's largest cities.

This incident indicates that conventional wisdom needs serious re-evaluation, and that hypothetical hand-wringing might be misplaced. Rural Manitoba appears to be achieving the critical mass of immigration that is necessary for acknowledging immigrants' sensitivities. Admittedly, this acknowledgement now rankles some Canadian-born sensitivities. However, this is likely a small price to pay for two remarkable achievements. The first is dispersion of immigrants to places other than Canada's already burgeoning cities (especially the three largest). The second is introduction of the Canadian mosaic to communities whose last waves of immigration might have occurred 75 years ago.

Two things:

'Canadian' is a nationality and/or citizenship it doesn't depict religion.

You cannot have a 'Canadian tradition' since Canada is made up of many cultures.

Secondly, I went to an elementary with many cultures - we had a winter concert and we had a potluck where everyone brought something from their country, made a flag, and talked about where they came from.

Everyone left a little more informed than when they came in and I'd like to think a bit more tolerant. I see no problem with this.

Diversity should be cherished and shared,to create better understanding among the human race - and for those of you going about about "traditions" and "immigrants" is this not part of what Christmas is all about?

Peace and goodwill to mankind and all that jazz.

I see. And when are we going to do away with that actual statutory holiday know as CHRISTMAS. Not Hanukkah. Not Ramadan. Not Kwanzaa. All valid holy days to their own cultures. But the Canadian statutory, legal holiday is CHRISTMAS.

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