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09 | 06 | 2018 VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 35
FOLK NIGHT SERIES READIES FOR SEASON 13 ARTS PAGE 18
COMMENT PAGE 8
NAFTA TALKS MORE ABOUT TRUMP THAN TRADE
Runners raise more than $10,000 for mental health initiatives
IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN
ONTARIO / EDUCATION
Province, educators at loggerheads over sex ed. curriculum As school year gets started, teachers’ union to take legal action against Queen’s Park ‘snitch line’
VERONICA REINER Elmira’s Clay Williams is no stranger to giving his all in support of mental health initiatives. August 25 marked the end of his fourth Canal Pursuit Annual Run for Mental Health, a 750 km relay run with the proceeds going towards Mood Disorders of Canada. “It was good; we had a fundraising target of $10,000,” said Williams. “And we met our goal on the second day. So we raised the target to $15,000 because that just seems to be the thing to do. It looks like it’ll be around $13,000. This was the fourth annual run, so now we’ve got a running total of close to $50,000.” For the majority of runners, the Defeat Depression Campaign is a significant, personal cause to them. Nicole Armstrong is a participant in the event for the past four years and has collectively raised approximately $2,100. “My brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia about 23 years ago,” explained Armstrong. “And he has bipolar and depression as well. It’s something that he has to deal with every day. So watching his struggles and how he manages his life with the schizophrenia and the bipolar/ DEPRESSION | 6
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FAISAL ALI
Tuesday was back-to-school day across the region, including for students at St. Clement Catholic Elementary School.
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“A Promise made, A promise kept,” has been the recurring motif of the newly minted government at Queen’s Park, and it’s a message that has been delivered on to some extent. Fulfilling a key campaign pledge to revert sexual education in the province to a pre-Liberal era, the Ford government released its revised health and physical education curriculum for the 2018-19 school year. The move has brought the government into direct conflict with the province’s largest union of grade school teacher’s, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO). “[The] ETFO is seeking an injunction against the government to stop this unprecedented and unnecessary attack on kids and professional educators in Ontario,” said Sam
Hammond, union president, at a press conference Tuesday. “Students need and deserve modern day information and answers to their questions. This is about safety, inclusion and preparing students for the world of 2018, not the world of 1998.” The new curriculum – a mash-up of the 2015 school curriculum created under the Liberal government, and the previous curriculum written in 1998 – will be mandatory instruction for Grades 1 through 8. Grades 9 through 12, however, will continue to be taught from the same 2015 curriculum. The decision earned a near-universal rebuke from educators and healthcare professionals in the province, who said it would be dangerous to teach children such outdated information vital SEX ED. | 4
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