The organization representing Quebec’s Filipino-Canadian community has broken off talks with a Montreal-area school board over its callous treatment towards Filipino-Canadians. Citing attitudes of “recalcitrance, ignorance and arrogance”, the Federation of Filipino Canadian Associations of Quebec has suspended talks with Marguerite-Bourgeoys school board officials following a flap over a student’s choice of cutlery.

Since last April’s spoon-and-fork controversy, the FFCAQ has met with school board officials three times in the past five weeks to discuss ways to remedy the situation and prevent a similar mishap in the future. The association has further filed a civil rights complaint before the province’s human rights commission.

“For the Filipino Canadian community in Montreal and Filipinos worldwide, the issue is not whether the child was humiliated by the educator’s verbal remarks about Filipino table manners and reprimanded, but more about how the school principal further offended the community with statements to the media and how the School Board as employer did not act in a responsive and responsible manner when faced with complaints from the child’s parents and the community,” the FFCAQ said in a statement.

The organization said it has endeavored to educate the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school commission on how its employees’ comments have discriminated against Filipinos and added it regretted the school board’s reluctance to recognize the fact that employees holding management and executive positions have failed to acknowledge their errors.

It also pointed to the school board’s June 7 press release in which it reiterated its earlier position: the incident was a misunderstanding and there was no racist intent. Following the press release, the FFCAQ chided the school board for failing to allow for a constructive and mutually acceptable resolution to the conflict; for refusing to hold some of its employees accountable for their actions; and for its inability to understand modern forms of racism.

The FFCAQ also called the school board to task for attempting to implicate the Filipino-Canadian community and the student’s family—even after meeting with the Philippine ambassador—as parties to blame for the commotion. It further requested that the Cagadoc family reject all mediation attempts proposed by the provincial human rights commission as well as for Montreal’s Filipino community to denounce the school commission’s resistance to racial inclusion, sensitivity and accountability.

“The FFCAQ requests that the Quebec government, namely the ministers responsible for education and immigration and cultural communities, intervene and audit the school board’s policies, programs and measures dealing with racism and diversity. It looks forward to concrete actions from the government, given the Immigration Minister’s recent announcement of the adoption of a plan of action against them” the organization’s statement added.

The FFCAQ moreover requested that Philippine nationals around the world speak up against the school board’s actions. It stated the incident would be considered the next time Canada’s compliance with international conventions and treaties on civil and political rights for ethnic, cultural and religious minorities was examined.

Luc Cagadoc, a Filipino-Canadian student at Ecole Lalande in the Montreal suburb of Roxboro, was disciplined by a lunch monitor on April 11 for allegedly pushing his food onto his spoon with a fork—a technique common among Filipinos. The incident made headlines around the world after the second-grade student complained to his mother, who later filed a formal complaint with the school board.


Copyright ©2006 Danny Chan. About the author